Archive of Our Own ^beta

Chapter Text

The sun sets over the city. Long shadows are cast over the park. No one is here. All the children have left with their parents. Not a thing moves or makes a sound. Then--

A sound like wind, like lightning. There, then gone. A flash and two boys appear and drop onto the ground. 

Elsewhere in the city, people walk and go about their day. Venders hawk wares. Heroes walk their patrol routes. People in their homes watch the latest news or their latest cartoon.

And then, Death Himself stirs.

Two hundred and fifty three years. 

This is how long Arisato Minato rested within the seal, bearing the burden of the apocalypse upon his shoulders while his faithful attendant searched for a way to free him. 

“Excuse me?”

Inko startles. She nearly manages to lose her grip on her groceries but catches them just in time. After checking to see that nothing was broken by her jostling, she turns to look where the voice came from. There stood two boys, dressed in school uniforms. One carries the other on his back, the latter fast asleep on his shoulder. Anachronistic headphones hung from the asleep one’s neck, and a bright yellow scarf was wrapped around the shoulders of the one carrying him.

The young man smiles at her apologetically. Inko relaxes at the sight of it. For some reason, this young man felt familiar. Like… like an old friend she hadn’t seen in a long while. Had she seen him before?

“Yes?” She asks, somewhat hesitantly. “Can I help you?”

“Would you mind pointing us in the direction of the nearest police station?” The young man asks her, adjusting his friend on his back. “I’m afraid I’ve gotten a bit lost.”

“Oh. Of course! You just turn left when you reach the video rental store down the road that way and then right by the grocers. It’s just down the street from there. Do you need anything else?”

The young man shakes his head. “No, ma’am. Thank you very much for the assistance.” He bows shallowly, careful not to shift the burden on his back too much.

Inko bows right back. “It’s no problem at all. Do you need someone to go with you? I wouldn’t mind.”

The young man smiles at her. “That’s very kind of you, but we’ll be just fine. Thank you again.”

“Have a nice evening,” Ino tells them, before turning and continuing on her way.

She thinks nothing more of the encounter.

Tsukauchi has been working on paperwork for a finished case for a while when Sansa shows up, coffee mug in hand and an apologetic look on his face. 

“Hello Tsukauchi-san. Nearly finished with that?”

Tsukauchi looks over the file on his computer with a critical eye and nods slowly. “Just about. Did you need something?”

Sansa nods. “There’s a pair of boys who just came in. Teenagers, maybe 16 or 17 by my best guess. They say they’ve lost their home and all identification and need help getting into the foster system. We’d call Child Protection Services if it weren’t for the fact that one of them can’t wake up and neither of them can be found in the system,” Sansa tells him. “Need a proper ID before we can get them involved. I’m hoping your quirk might help out in an interrogation, see if there’s anything strange going on that I’m not picking up. You up for it?”

Tsukauchi thinks it over for just a moment before standing and stretching. He’s a bit stiff from sitting for so long. An interrogation sounds like a nice break from the paperwork too. Especially since it’s not a pair of criminals he’s talking to but a pair of teenage boys in need of help.

“Sure thing,” he tells Sansa, picking up a notebook and a pen to take notes with. “Lead the way.”

Sansa brings Tsukauchi to Waiting Room B, one of the rooms they have for ‘soft interrogations’ with civilians and other people who don’t need the one sided mirror and handcuffs treatment. There’s a voice recorder in the corner table, currently turned off, and a pair of boys sitting on one of the two couches. Or, well, one of them is sitting. The other is laying down, fast asleep. The boy who’s awake looks down at the boy who’s asleep with a soft expression, barely glancing up when Tsukauchi and Sansa walk in.

“Good evening,” Tsukauchi greets. “I’m Detective Tsukauchi. I’ll be asking a few questions, if you don’t mind.”

The boy looks up properly and smiles. He looks familiar, somehow, though Tsukauchi can’t place where he’s seen him before. His hair is black and slicked back, his eyes are a bright blue. There’s a mole underneath one of his eyes and a bright yellow scarf wrapped around his neck. All in all, in the world of quirks where people could have all sorts of mutations and colorations, he looks a bit plain. Handsome, sure, but plain. 

“Of course, Detective. I’d be happy to answer your questions,” the boy says. He lays a hand on his chest in what looks like a habitual motion and bows his head. “My name is Mochizuki Ryoji. This is Arisato Minato. What are your questions?”

Interestingly enough, the second name pings as the truth, but the first… Not a lie, but not the whole truth either. Tsukauchi makes a note in his notebook. “First things first, may I have your ages and birthdates?”

Ryoji gets a complicated look on his face. “Ah. That is… somewhat difficult to answer. I don’t have an age for myself that I can give you, and Minato’s is somewhat complicated due to the circumstances that left us homeless. Suffice to say that we are physically 17. Minato’s birthdate is April 12th. Mine is… Ah, I suppose it would be November 4th?”

Truth. Though how it was possible to have complicated ages, Tsukauchi wasn’t sure. It was possible that Ryoji simply believed this to be true and was suffering from some kind of mental illness, but Tsukauchi didn’t want to discount that he was telling the truth just yet. Quirks could do all sorts of things. Perhaps they could even mess with age. A de-aging quirk perhaps? Were these boys actually adults? He makes another note in his notebook. 

Next he asks, “Do you know why your friend won’t wake up?”

Ryoji sighs. “He’s been in something of a coma for a very, very long time. He should wake up soon, though how soon I don’t know. A few minutes, a few hours, a few days? It could be any of them, really. I doubt it will be much longer than a week, however.”

Another truth. Tsukauchi nods, makes a note about calling the hospital for a check up, and then moves on. “How did he come to be in a coma?”

“That’s related to how we lost our homes and our identification,” Ryoji tells him. Truth, Tsukauchi’s quirk tells him. “And how our ages are complicated to explain.”

Truth. “That’s no issue,” Tsukauchi tells him. “You just need to explain to me what happened, and then we can get you to CPS and to a new home.”

Ryoji smiles. “Thank you. Though, I should mention that we can’t be separated.”

Truth. “Oh? Can I ask why?” Tsukauchi asks. He makes another note.

“It’s… Hm. How to describe it? I suppose that you could say I’m a part of him.”

“A part of him? How so?” Tsukauchi asks. He pauses at Ryoji’s next words.

“I’m not human. It’s because of Minato’s ability that I can appear before you like this.”

Truth. 

Oh. 

Tsukauchi stares at Ryoji for a moment, taken aback. When he manages to reorder his brain and say something, what comes out is, “You’re his quirk.”

Tsukauchi has only ever met one sentient quirk before in his entire life. A young boy by the name of Tokoyami, who’s quirk had taken the form of a sentient, talking shadow extending from his body. Dark Shadow, as the quirk was called, was a sweet quirk, if a bit nonsensical--though that could have been from Tokoyami and Dark Shadow’s age at the time. They were only about 9 when Tsukauchi had spoken to them in the aftermath of a villain attack. Still, the fact remained that sentient quirks were incredibly rare, even rarer than animals with quirks.

And here was the most human looking and coherent quirk that Tsukauchi had ever even heard of.

The boy, the quirk, smiles at him brightly. “We generally call what I am a ‘Persona’ .”

“Persona, huh?” An actual living quirk. Wow. It would explain the blip that his quirk had when Ryoji introduced himself too. 

Nedzu would get a kick out of hearing about this, when Tsukauchi would inevitably get a hold of him. It wouldn’t surprise him if Nezdu ended up offering the two a place at UA. At 17, the two were at the right age for their third year. They could fit right in among the others in the general studies course. “Are you or have you ever been registered as Arisato-kun’s quirk? In Japan or elsewhere?”

Ryoji shakes his head. “No. I have never been registered as a quirk anywhere in the world.”

“Are you aware that it’s illegal to not register your quirk?” Tsukauchi asks, making more notes in his notebook as he does.

“I am aware. But the circumstances surrounding Minato’s awakening prevented him from doing so.”

“Awakening?”

“To the power of Persona.”

“I see… Would you mind explaining the circumstances that lead to Arisato-kun being unable to do this?”

Ryoji pauses, then sighs. He places his hand on his chest again and says, grimly, “I don’t believe that you will believe me.”

Truth. “I swear to you that so long as you tell me the truth, I will believe everything you have to say,” Tsukauchi swears.

For a long moment, Ryoji is silent. His lips twist, his expression pained. Then, he speaks. “About 250 years ago, there was an entity called Nyx that nearly brought about the end of the world. There was a small group of children who gathered together to fight against this end. Minato was among them.”

Truth. Tsukauchi pauses in his note taking and stares. “You’re saying that Arisato-kun was alive 250 years ago?”

“Yes. This is the reason for the complication regarding our ages,” Ryoji says. 

Another truth. Tsukauchi frowns. “How is Arisato-kun still alive if he lived 250 years ago?”

Ryoji bows his head for a moment, before raising it. “Nyx was powerful. There was no way that a group of children, no matter how determined, could prevent the end that Nyx sought to bring about. So Minato took a drastic action. He used himself as a seal. In a place outside of time and space, a place I can only refer to as the ‘Sea of Souls’, he slept while keeping Nyx at bay and preventing the fall. It is only today that he was able to escape the seal, and he has yet to truely wake.”

Truth. 

All of it, truth.

Tsukauchi stares at this boy, this quirk, claiming to be from the distant past, a past before quirks. It sounds insane, of that there is no doubt. And yet. And yet. His quirk registers his words as truth.

For a moment, Tsukauchi says nothing. Then he stands and says, “I need to make some calls.”

Sensation comes slowly. It’s an unfamiliar feeling after so long asleep. It creeps in over his fingers and his toes, over the beating of his heart against his ribs. Suddenly, he can feel his hair against his face, the fabric of a blanket laid over his body, and the softness of a bed underneath him.

That’s not right, he thinks distantly. He should be asleep, fighting and fighting against Erebus inside the seal, that never ending battle to keep the end of the world at bay. He knew when he created the seal that he would never again escape it, and yet.

And yet.

Arisato Minato wakes up.

He blinks his eyes open slowly, squinting against the brightness of the overhead lights. He raises a hand to his head, the weight of physicality foreign after so long. Awake. He is awake.

“Good morning, Minato.” It’s Ryoji’s voice. It comes from his left.

Minato turns his head and lays his hand down upon the bed once more. Ryoji is seated in a plastic chair next to his bed, a yellow scarf wrapped around his neck and dressed in the same clothes he wore at school. 

He’s in the hospital, Minato realizes. Of course he is, he’s been dead for how long?

“You’ve been asleep in the seal for a very long time, Minato,” Ryoji informs him. “But Elizabeth and I worked out a plan to get you out without ending the world. Today is April 3rd, 2262. It took 253 years to get you out.”

Two hundred and fifty three years… So long. Centuries passed by within the seal and he wasn’t there to see any of it. And with that much time passed…

Ah. His social links are all gone. His friends, his precious friends, all dead and gone.

Minato inhales sharply, tears coming to his eyes. Ryoji reaches out and cups Minato’s cheek. “They lived long and happy lives,” Ryoji tells him, knowing without asking exactly what Minato is thinking. Of course he does, Minato thinks. They are one. I am Thou and Thou art I.

“We’re currently in a hospital in Musutafu City. A lot has happened while you were asleep, Minato. There’s so much I have to tell you… Quirks, Heroes, Wars, Discrimination, and so much more…” Ryoji closes his eyes and takes a deep breath. When he opens them again, he looks determined. He withdraws his hand from Minato’s cheek. He can’t help but miss the warmth of his palm. “Allow me to begin.”

So he does.

Chapter Text

The day since awakening in the hospital has been busy. Doctors came in and out of the room, asking questions, drawing blood, and performing tests. All tests have come back normal thus far, and Minato himself feels perfectly fine. Just tired, but that’s not unusual. This is the first moment of real peace that he and Ryoji have had since he woke up and Ryoji gave him a brief overview of what has changed since he died.

It’s quiet in the room, AC whirring in the background as Mintao flips through a magazine one of the nurses had given him earlier; Ryoji reading over his shoulder. It’s a simple thing, a magazine focusing on heroes. He’s reading an article about a minor local hero who debuted a few months back--a Mount Lady, apparently--when there’s a knock on the door.

The door slides open a moment later, a plain looking man in a trenchcoat stepping through. Behind him is another person, a creature dressed in a suit who looks like a rat.

Or, Minato thinks to himself, perhaps they aren’t a rat. Perhaps they are simply a person with the appearance of a rat. Quirks have mutated humanity beyond Minato’s comprehension while he was in the seal. He is still struggling to comprehend the sheer variety of powers available at humanity’s fingertips now. And yet, it is undeniable. One look at the doctors and nurses working at the hospital Minato resides in is enough to confirm that.

And so, the rat must be a person.

“Good afternoon, Arisato-kun,” The man greets. “I’m Detective Tsukauchi Naomasa. This is--”

“Am I a dog, a mouse, or a bear? Who knows! I’m Nedzu, Principle of UA!” The rat(?) exclaims, walking around Tsukauchi to bow theatrically to Minato and Ryoji.

Ryoji lets out a soft laugh from where he sits at Minato’s bedside. Minato smiles at that. This person, eccentric though they may be, is good. So Minato greets them with a bow of his head.

Tsukauchi sighs but says nothing while Nedzu takes over the conversation completely. 

“I must say,” Nedzu tells them, “I’ve seen quite a bit in my career as a pro hero, but I never expected to meet someone with a quirk from the pre-quirk era! It’s simply fascinating! You and I must have a conversation over tea some day. But before that, I have an invitation for you!”

Minato tilts his head in question.

“I’d like you to come work at UA!”

Ryoji smiles and places a hand on his chest. “I think you're going to have to give a bit more detail than that, Nedzu-san.”

Nedzu nods with a wide smile stretching his face. “Of course! As you are 17, you should be in your third year of high school, correct? But the matter is, due to your unique circumstances, there is no way for you to attend school normally. There is simply too much you’re missing due to the more than 200 year skip since the last time you attended school. Thus, my proposal: Live with one of our pro hero teachers and become a teacher’s assistant. The teacher you assist will tutor you in their down time on the things you have missed since your sealing in another dimension, and in exchange you will teach the younger generation some of what you’ve learned while fighting Nyx!”

Minato blinks at the offer. Then he begins to think it over.

It’s the truth that he wouldn’t be able to attend school normally. With no money to pay for tuition, nor knowledge in developments in science, literature, math and history that have occurred in the last 253 years, there was simply no way for him to pass the entrance exams to enter a school normally. And without money, he couldn’t hire tutors either. It was possible that whoever his foster parent would be could pay for it, but Minato didn’t want to rely on that.

Teaching, though…

Minato was a fighter, that much was true. He was a field leader who’d lead his friends in SEES into battle time and time again. Battles in Tartarus, not to mention Streaga and the Full Moon Shadows… Minato could confidently say he was a skilled fighter who could adapt to and fight in a number of different conditions. He could play a variety of roles in a team as well, due to the nature of his power as a Wildcard. Teaching those skills to the younger generation--Minato had already done that in a way for Ken. In turn, Ken had taught Minato things as well. He was a good kid, and easy to teach. Minato wouldn’t mind doing that again. Minato tells Nedzu this.

“That’s fantastic! As an educator who believes in the will of the young and the potential of heroes both future and past, it is my duty to give you every opportunity to grow and to pass your knowledge onto the next generation! Before we proceed, I would like to ask a few questions, if I may?”

Minato nods to give his go ahead.

“Wonderful! First of all, would you like to be a Professional Hero?”

Minato pauses. 

He honestly doesn’t know what he wants to become in the future. When he’d worked with SEES, he hadn’t given his future much thought. He’d joked once about having a 30 year plan, and it was true enough that he planned to attend college and get some sort of degree…But what that degree would be? He wasn’t sure. Near the end, he was leaning towards therapy, but…

A Professional Hero? He still wasn’t 100% sure what that would mean. He’d read manga plenty of times before, and understood the concept of a superhero, but what did that mean in the context of the modern day? Doing detective work, and beating up bad guys? Who were the bad guys in this context? Purse snatchers? Yakuza? Was this something that Minato wanted to pursue?

“I think it would be good for you.”

Minato turns to Ryoji. Ryoji knows what's going through his head. They’re one, after all. Persona and Persona user, if a rather unique example of one. Ryoji feels what Minato feels. Minato feels what Ryoji feels. And right now, Ryoji is being sincere. He honestly thinks that this is a path that Minato should take. 

Minato believes in the potential of humanity. He believes in their wills and their dreams--the strength that allowed him to stand against Nyx and Erebus in the Great Seal came from the people he met along his journey. If he could help people like them? People like Maiko who tried to run away while her parents fought through a divorce. People like Akinari who struggled with his illness and desperately wanted to live, despite knowing that wasn’t possible. People like Bebe and Mamoru and Mutatsu and Chihiro. 

Minato likes helping people. Perhaps… Perhaps he could help people like this.

So Minato looks to Nedzu and says, “I’ll try.”

Nedzu claps his hands together and says, “Fantastic! My next question is one I suspect you’ll get quite commonly. How does your quirk work?”

“I’m a manifestation of a part of his soul,” Ryoji tells Nedzu. “A physical manifestation of the mask he wears in day to day life, summoned by his determination in the face of the reality that one day he will die.”

“The false gun,” Nedzu realizes. “That’s how he summons you.”

Minato and Ryoji both nod. “It’s called an evoker,” Ryoji explains.

“Hmmm…” Tsukauchi says, bringing his hand to his chin, “That’s a somewhat complicated quirk. When you register Ryoji in the quirk registry, please put in an explanation like the one you gave us.”

“We will,” Ryoji assures them.

Nedzu smiles a wicked little smile and says, “Final question! Given the circumstances, I doubt you have, but have you ever heard of Eraserhead?”

Aizawa Shouta, also known as Eraserhead, is not a very sociable man. So when Nedzu first brought his plan to Aizawa, he was understandably displeased.

“The thing I don’t understand is why it must be me?” He had asked. 

“Because we can’t be certain how powerful his quirk is. If Nyx truely had the capability to end the world as Ryoji claimed, then there is certainly more to his quirk than has been revealed to us. If there is ever a time where we need to shut his quirk down, you are our best option,” Nedzu had said. Then, eyes twinkling, he said, “In addition, Kan’s apartment lacks an extra room for guests.”

Unable to argue, Aizawa had agreed. 

Now, standing before a pair of young boys somewhere in their late teens, Aizawa still isn’t sure he’s the best pick for this position. But he is, ultimately, a teacher. One who believes in the potential of the younger generation. And thus he nods his head in greeting and introduces himself. “I’m Aizawa Shouta. You’ll be living with me from now on.”

One of the boys, Ryoji the sentient quirk Aizawa thinks, waves with a bright, somewhat melancholy smile. The other bows.

“Please take care of us,” he says. 

Aizawa leads them outside to his car and then drives them to his apartment. While he’s waiting in traffic for a light to change, he glances at his new charges in the rear view mirror. “You’ll have to share a room. That alright with you?”

Ryoji glances at Minato, who nods, before looking at Aizawa and saying, “That’s perfectly alright. I do have to ask though, will we be buying clothes sometime soon? I’d rather not have to wear the same set day in and day out, and neither does Minato.”

“We’ll go shopping tomorrow to pick up some essentials. You can borrow some of my clothes while we wash your current set.”

“That would be wonderful, thank you.”

They arrive at the apartment quickly. Aizawa opens the door and one of his cats comes running. “This is Mochi. The other one is Bastard. Bastard will scratch if you get too close, but Mochi likes attention.”

Minato smiles at this and reaches down to pet Mochi, who rubs up against the hand with an audible purr. 

Aizawa then shows the two their room. There are a pair of beds with bedding on them, hastily purchased and assembled after Aizawa was told he was going to take care of a pair of teenagers.

“This is it. Feel free to decorate however you want to. There’s no curfew so long as you let me know that you’re going out and where you’re going. Any questions?”

Aizawa’s not sure what he expected out of a pair of teenagers, but the first question he gets is from Minato and it’s about food of all things. But apparently Minato used to cook at the dorm that he lived in. He wants to continue that here.

Aizawa scratches the back of his head. “I’ll supervise the first time you cook. If I deem you good enough, you can cook on your own after that. Sound alright?”

Minato nods and then takes a seat upon the bed, testing the give. It’s not the best mattress, Aizawa knows, but it was the only one he could get on such short notice.

“Is there an allowance or will we be expected to get a job?” Ryoji asks.

“You’ll get paid for your work as a teacher’s assistant. Paycheck won’t come for a bit, so I’ll pay for things until then. Don’t worry about paying me back,” Aizawa tells him. “Any other questions?”

They shake their heads, so Aizawa directs them to the kitchen. He takes some left overs from the fridge and heats them up in the oven. Ryoji and Minato speak to one another in low murmurs while Aizawa works.

“He seems nice.” Aizawa overhears Ryoji say. “I think this place will be good for us.”

Minato is quiet for a moment, before murmuring something back. The only word Aizawa could hear was “link”. Ryoji smiles and nods to whatever is said. 

Aizawa takes the food out of the oven and sets it on the table. He directs the boys to where the plates and utensils are, then grabs some cups.

“I’m not the best cook,” he tells them as they sit down and start taking from the leftovers. “So sorry if it tastes a bit strange.”

They eat.

“When does school start?” Ryoji asks.

“About a month from now. You’ll have time to start getting acclimated before then. No need to worry about uniforms, as teacher's assistance you can wear whatever.”

Minato lets out a hum and Ryoji nods in understanding. 

It’s not a fantastic start, Aizawa thinks as they clean up after dinner, but it’s still the start of something. He’s not great at this, is more used to teaching kids in a classroom setting than raising them and giving them a home, but he’ll do his best.

He’s a hero after all.

Chapter Text

Minato, Aizawa discovers, is incredibly smart. 

When Aizawa begins teaching Minato and Ryoji about the modern day quirk laws, Minato is quick to pick up on concepts that other students that Aizawa has had would struggle for days with. Ryoji, too, picks up concepts quickly, never more than a step behind Minato. 

They cover quirk law first. Given the nature of Minato’s quirk, or what Aizawa understood of it, it was imperative that they cover that as soon as possible. The complicated nature of laws surrounding sentient quirks and their usage made Ryoji’s situation somewhat tenuous.

“One thing you need to know is that you cannot summon Ryoji in public,” Aizawa explains, “Not just because of the way you summon him, but because public quirk usage is illegal without a licence. Summoning him at home is perfectly legal, as is summoning him during class for practice or demonstrations, but nowhere else. Ryoji, your existence as a quirk means that so long as you have been summoned in one of these situations, you may exist and follow Minato as you wish. But should you be dismissed, you will need to wait until Minato is permitted to summon you again.”

Aizawa does not understand Minato’s quirk. Not really. It was explained to him by Nedzu, for certain, but the mechanics of it? Where does Ryoji go when not manifested? Is he conscious during those times? Does Ryoji himself have powers?

Aizawa still teaches them. He goes over the laws, as well as the history behind those laws. About the wars that occurred when quirks first manifested, about the rise of vigilantes in the USA and their spread to other countries, to the legalization of the profession less than a hundred years ago.

Minato and Ryoji absorb it all. 

It doesn’t feel like enough.

Aizawa walks into the apartment at nearly 3 in the morning, back from a late night patrol, to find Ryoji sitting at the dining table drinking tea. 

“Ah, you’re back late,” Ryoji says with a smile.

“You’re up late,” Aizawa returns, taking his goggles off from around his neck and setting them on the table. “Any reason for that?”

Ryoji keeps smiling. “I don’t sleep.”

“You don’t… Sleep?”

“I have the capacity to, but it feels strange to, so I usually don’t. That's why I asked for all those books when we went shopping,” Ryoji explains. “It can get a bit lonely at night, without company.”

“I see,” Aizawa says. He pauses for a moment before going to the kitchen. There’s some leftover hot water on the stovetop, so he makes himself some tea with it. When he returns to the dining room with it in hand, he finds Ryoji staring out the window with a melancholic look on his face. 

“Want some company?” He asks. “I can’t stay up too much longer, but I can stay for a little while at least.”

Ryoji brightens.

Geeze, these kids, Aizawa thinks as he takes a seat across from Ryoji.

“Anything happen on your patrol?” Ryoji asks.

Aizawa shakes his head. “It was a quiet one. A mugging, but that was it. Anything happen while I was gone?”

“No. Minato went to bed a bit before midnight, and I’ve just been relaxing since then.”

Aizawa hums and takes a sip of his tea.

They sit in quiet companionship for a bit. Then, Ryoji says, “There’s a full moon out tonight… It’s making me nostalgic.”

“Nostalgic?”

“There were a number of enemies that Minato had to fight during his journey. The strongest of them always appeared on a full moon.”

‘Journey’. Minato and Ryoji always referred to their battle against Nyx as a ‘journey’. It made little sense to Aizawa, but then again he wasn’t sure what it would have been like fighting as a vigilante in an era before vigilantes existed even in America. 

Full moons, huh?

“Do you want to talk about it?” he asks.

Ryoji shakes his head and looks down at his tea. “Not at the moment,” he says quietly. “Not without Minato around, anyways.”

Aizawa can understand that much. He too has nightmares he doesn’t want to talk about, cases which haunt him to this day. It was one of the lesser talked about things in the Pro Hero community. The bad days, the memories, the losses. So Aizawa drinks some more tea and drops the subject.

It’s a nice night. It’s the first he spends with Ryoji like this, but it’s far from the last.

The first time Minato and Ryoji are brought to UA, it's about three weeks before the school semester starts. Minato wasn't sure what he expected from a school that teaches people to be Pro Heroes, but it wasn't the massive building in front of him. 

Aizawa scans his badge at the gate and waves the two of them in. They walk through, marveling at the architecture of the building and the sheer size of the campus. It reminds Minato of the first time he saw Gekkokan High, but even that pales in comparison to the building before him. How do they pay for it all?

“UA gets subsidized by the government, but a good deal of the school is paid for by donations,” Aizawa tells them when Minato asks. “The rest gets paid for through ticket sales to events like the sports festival and the school culture festival.”

Aizawa gives him a look when he asks if the sports festival and culture festival really generates that much money. “The UA sports festival has surpassed even the Olympics in popularity in Japan. There are even numerous fans overseas.”

Minato blinks and processes this information. Then he asks why.

“Because the UA sports festival allows quirk use--encourages it even. The Olympics don't. That makes it much more restrictive in who is allowed to participate, and in a number of people's opinions it makes it more boring as well,” Aizawa explains. “We'll be doing the sports festival a few weeks into school, so be prepared for that. You won't be able to participate, but training in class will get more intense in preparation. Come on, this way.”

Aizawa leads them to the labs on UA grounds. It's there they meet a shorter man in costume. The helmet he wears makes it near impossible to see his face. “Hello there. I'm Powerloader. Nice to meet the both of you.”

“it's nice to meet you too,” Ryoji says with a smile. 

“We’re here to talk costumes, right? Got any ideas?”

Minato still isn't sure that being a Pro Hero is the route that he wants to take, but it's also something he wants to try. So he tells Powerloader about the uniform that he wore at SEES and asks for something akin to that.

“Hmm… Alright I can work with that,” Powerloader says. “Maybe add some more pockets for supplies… Do either of you fight with weapons?”

“Swords,” Ryoji says, “We fight with swords, both of us. I can make my own, but Minato will need one made.”

Powerloader nods easily. “That can be done.”

“I didn't know you could make swords,” Aizawa says. 

Ryoji smiles. “ A sword, not swords. It's not something other people can wield, as it's a part of me.”

Aizawa slowly nods. “I see…”

They discuss for some time longer about the details of the outfit. From the number of pockets, to the way the sword sheath will hang on the belt, to the material of the pants and jacket--they discuss it all. It takes about three hours total to finish designing the outfit and the design of the sword. When they are done, Minato is satisfied with the costume and feels a little better about this Pro Hero thing.

“You're good,” Aizawa tells Minato one day after they're finished sparring, Ryoji sitting on the side lines for now. It's strange, fighting without a persona by his side, but Aizawa wanted to be certain that Minato was capable without Ryoji by his side.

Minato lowers the wooden blade he was given for practice and nods. He knows he's good. He had to be to defeat as many shadows as he had. 

Ryoji bounces over, scarf trailing behind him and hands Minato a bottle of water. He takes it gratefully and drinks. Aizawa is a fast and relentless opponent. His capture scarf is difficult to avoid and near impossible to get out of. His martial arts are excellent as well. He's better than even Akihiko was at hand to hand. Minato only barely kept up.

“Not good enough,” Minato says after he's finished drinking.

Aizawa watches Minato carefully, then nods. “But you'll learn.”

And so Minato learned.

“Do you know why the meeting was called?” Ryoji asks.

Aizawa sighs. “Its just a pre-start of the year meeting to make sure that everyone is ready for the new school year. An opportunity to bring up potential problems and other things like that. You're coming along so we can make sure everyone knows who the two of you are.”

Minato nods in understanding and Ryoji makes a sound of comprehension. The two of them follow Aizawa through the halls to a meeting room. Aizawa opens the door and steps through. Minato and Ryoji follow.

“Greetings Aizawa!” says a boisterous voice, coming from a large man with blonde hair. “And who are these two?”

“I'm Mochizuki Ryoji and this is Arisato Minato,” says Ryoji, introducing himself with a slight bow. Minato bows as well, glancing around the room at its inhabitants.

There are a number of people in the room, all of them dressed in their hero costumes. It makes them look a bit ridiculous in Minato's opinion, but this was the new norm. Heroes. And Minato might be one of them one day.

That was still a strange thought.

“Greetings Young Mochizuki, Young Arisato. I’m All Might. The two of you’re the teacher's assistant that Nedzu mentioned?”

Minato nods and Aizawa moves to take a seat. Minato follows suit and Ryoji takes a seat next to him.

The people around the table begin to introduce themselves. There's Midnight, dressed in what looks like BDSM gear, and Present Mic, whose hair sticks up in a curved line. There's also Snipe and the little old lady whose name was Recovery Girl, as well as Thirteen in the space suit, and Vlad King. Then there was Ecoplasm and Cementoss, with the appearance of an actual block of cement, and finally Lunch Rush, who was apparently the school's cook.

Minato listened carefully as each person was introduced and did his best to remember who was who. He greeted them each in kind and was rewarded with smiles all around. 

It was nice. These people would be his coworkers for the next while as Minato learned under Aizawa and picked where he wanted to go next. He would live and work with these people, develop friendships with them, and fight alongside them. They weren’t SEES, but they were good people who wanted to help other people nonetheless.

Nedzu appeared shortly after everyone finished introducing themselves and started the meeting. It was a fairly boring meeting. They went over class rosters, lesson plans, and the beginnings of event planning. 

“And last but not least,” Nedzu says after they finish discussing the Sports Festival, which was a much larger event than Minato had anticipated even knowing that it was apparently more popular than the Olympics. “I'm sure you've already met Arisato-kun and Mochizuki-kun. I'd like you to be aware that Mochizuki-kun is in fact Arisato-kun's quirk! In addition, due to certain circumstances, the two are unfamiliar with the modern day. Please be kind to them when they do not understand something.”

“Unfamiliar with the modern day?” Present Mic asks. “How is that possible? Are the little listeners suffering from amnesia? You two aren't, are you?”

“Its not that we're suffering from amnesia, no,” Ryoji tells them. “It's more that we're from a distant past and are unfamiliar with the modern day as a result. You could think of us as time travelers,” he jokes.

“...How distant a past?” Snipe asks.

“That's the fascinating thing!” Nedzu says. “They're from 253 years in the past!”

Murmurs broke out across the table as the heroes tried to comprehend this. 

“But isn't that before quirks? By about 50 years at that. If I remember correctly, the glowing baby was only born around 2060.”

“Correct! The glowing baby was born on the 15th of November, 2062! And yet, we have confirmation that these two boys are in fact from the year 2009!” Nedzu says excitedly.

Minato listens to the conversation as it progresses. There’s disbelief coming from some of them, fascinations from others. All of them are surprised, some are even shocked. It seemed even in a world of super powers, time travel wasn’t within the realm of belief.

“Really?” Midnight says, sounding fascinated. 

“May I ask what the confirmation is?” Thirteen asks. “Not that I don’t believe, I’m just curious.”

“We have had both their testimony confirmed by a lie detection quirk,” Nedzu tells them, “and the historical records I took the liberty of looking up! While the records aren’t complete, I was able to find records of both Mochizuki-kun and Arisato-kun attending Gekkokan High, including school photos!”

“May I ask why Young Mochizuki and Young Arisato are working as teaching assistants if they’re really from that far in the past?” All Might asks. “Eraserhead is the homeroom teacher for 1-A, so the boys will need to work closely with heroes for this job.”

“If you’re speaking in terms of combat, the boys are strong in hand to hand and sword fighting. They’re skilled at working together to take down threats or working individually to take down larger groups,” Aizawa reports. “You don’t need to worry about the boys falling behind in that regard.”

“Thank you for the kind words, Aizawa-san,” Ryoji says, placing his hand on his chest.

“In truth, I believe they should assist you, All Might, with combat exercises. They certainly have the experience necessary to teach such a class,” Aizawa continues as if he hadn’t heard Ryoji.

“High praise coming from you, Eraserhead,” Vlad King says. “Alright. I’d be glad to help out with acclimating the two of you to the modern day. Eraserhead, let me know if you want any help.”

Aizawa grunts, “Will do.”

Minato watches as agreement comes from the rest of the people at the table. It feels good that he’s so accepted here. He wonders if that acceptance will stay, when they find out who Ryoji is and what Minato can truly do. He wonders what they would do if they knew Minato had died.

Suddenly, Minato feels tired. So tired.

The meeting closes soon after, teachers standing and picking up their things. A few--Vlad King, Hound Dog, Midnight, and Present Mic--come over to give Minato and Ryoji their phone numbers. After a month, using the touch screen of his new phone is easy enough. Aizawa pulls the two of them away from the crowd and out into the hall. They leave.

One week until school starts. Minato wonders what the new school year will bring.

Chapter Text

Midoriya Izuku has no idea what the new school year will bring.

He’s kinda terrified, but at the same time he’s really excited. He’s going to be a Hero! He’s going to UA! He’s… Attending school with Kacchan again!

Oh god!

He takes a deep breath after seeing Kacchan arguing with that student who called him out twice during the practical test. So he’s in Kacchan’s class again. But things will be okay, he assures himself. He has a quirk now after all, so things will be okay. The teachers won't automatically side with Kacchan because he has a quirk and Izuku doesn’t. Things will be a-okay. 

Things happen rather quickly after that. The student Kacchan was arguing with notices Izuku and goes over to introduce himself. Then the girl Izuku saved (!!) during the test shows up. The three of them talk. And then the teacher shows up.

They all quickly rush to their seats while the teacher walks in, followed by two older teenagers (?) in costume. 

“I’m Aizawa Shouta. I’ll be your homeroom teacher,” their teacher introduces himself. “This is Arisato Minato and his quirk, Mochizuki Ryoji. They’re my teacher's assistants, so you’ll see them around in class a lot.”

Arisato bows and Mochizuki waves to the class with a small smile.

His quirk? That was fascinating! A real life sentient quirk! And one that looked so human too! The rate of sentient quirks happening was less than 0.000001%! That was even rarer than Animals with quirks! And here they were! He wondered how the quirk worked. Was Mochizuki a permanent existence? Did Arisato summon him? If so, then how? Did Ryoji go somewhere when not summoned? If so, where? Did Ryoji himself have any abilities? If so, what? How did their relationship function? Were they telepathic? Did they have to communicate out loud or could they simply--

“If you could refrain from speculating on the nature of their relationship and leave that for later, that would be preferable,” Aizawa says, sounding tired.

Izuku then realizes he’d been mumbling again and shuts his mouth with an audible click. He bows his head, embarrassed.

They’re handed PE uniforms and told to change into them and go down to the field. When asked about orientation, Aizawa is quick to dismiss them. UA allows teachers to do whatever they want, apparently. 

When they’re at the field, they’re told they’re doing a quirk apprehension test. Everyone gets really excited, right up until Aizawa tells them the person in last place will be expelled. Then the atmosphere gets much more serious. 

The test is an unmitigated disaster.

Izuku can’t use his quirk without breaking his bones. It’s useless in most of these tests because of that. And without being able to use it, watching other people in his class accel at the different tests was a special kind of torture. 

In the end, he discovers Aizawa is actually Eraserhead, manages to prove that he won’t become useless by only shattering a finger instead of an arm, and still manages to get last place despite his efforts.

Only for Aizawa to reveal it was a ruse the entire time.

It’s Arisato and Mochizuki who take him to the nurse’s office in the aftermath of everything. 

“I’m Midoriya Izuku, it’s nice to meet you,” he introduces himself as they walk.

Arisato nods in greeting, a small smile on his face, though a concerned one if the glances at his finger were anything to go by. It’s Mochizuki who greets him more enthusiastically.

“It’s nice to meet you! Are you feeling okay?” Mochizuki asks.

“I, um--well. It hurts, but it’s nothing I can’t handle!” Izuku tells them with a determined smile. “It’s my dream to be a hero, so if I can’t handle this much, then what can I do?”

“It’s okay to need help,” Arisato says quietly.

Izuku blinks in surprise--those are the first spoken words he’s heard from Arisato since seeing him in the classroom. But then he smiles again, warmth blooming in his chest. “Yeah, I know. Thanks though.”

“Can I ask why you have such difficulty with your quirk?” Mochizuki asks with a tilt to his head.

“I--erm. That is--uh,” Izuku stumbles over his words, “I didn’t… um. Really get the chance to, er, practice with it yet?”

“Did you only awaken to it recently?” Arisato asks.

Izuku startles.

“Bakugou was saying something about you being quirkless,” Mochizuki points out. “It makes sense if you did, and it would explain why you’re having such issues with it.”

Izuku looks down at the ground as they walk, then slowly nods. “The first time I used it was during the entrance exams,” he admits. 

Mochizuki whistles. “Wow. No wonder you’re having problems. Do you want any help? Minato has experience with late awakenings, too. He was 16 the first time we met.”

Izuku’s head whips up so fast that he nearly gets whiplash. “You were 16?!”

“The requirements for summoning a Persona are specific,” Ryoji explains. Arisato nods and brushes his hand against the silver gun at his hip.

“Can I ask what those requirements are?” Izuku asks, curious out of his mind what requirements are so specific that Arisato didn’t discover he had a quirk until he was 16. 

Arisato and Mochizuki glance at one another, then nod. Arisato pulls the gun from his hip and shows Izuku. “It’s called an Evoker.”

“It’s what Minato uses to summon me,” Mochizuki says. “He, well…” Mochizuki sighs. “Before I tell you this next bit, please be aware that an Evoker is not a real gun. It doesn’t hold bullets and won’t even make a sound when fired.”

Izuku nods slowly, coming to a halt as he listens. 

Mochizuki motions to the gun and says, “To summon a persona, Minato needs to point the Evoker at his head and fire.”

Izuku freezes.

Oh.

Oh.

Quirkless suicide statistics fly through his head. 20% of people are quirkless, but only about 1% of people under the age of 20 are quirkless. It’s becoming rarer and rarer with every generation born. Discrimination against quirkless people is becoming harsher and harsher too--job statistics, bullying statistics, and college graduation statistics for quirkless people are all too terrible to think about, so Izuku tries not to, given he was among their number. One of the reasons he was so hopeless when told he couldn’t be a hero is that Izuku honestly didn’t think he could get a job at all if he couldn’t somehow become a hero. The number of young quirkless people who commit suicide is…

“Please don’t misunderstand,” Arisato says. “I knew the Evoker wasn’t real when I did it.”

…That made Izuku feel better, honestly. To know that Arisato hadn’t…

God, he couldn’t even think it.

To discover you had a quirk in that manner…

God.

“Okay.” Izuku says and starts walking again. “Thanks for telling me.”

Ryoji smiles and Minato nods. 

They're quiet for a moment. Then Izuku asks, “...Would you be willing to help with my quirk?”

“Of course,” Arisato says.

Izuku smiles at them, relieved. Warmth bubbles up in his chest. “Thank you.”

That would be when they arrive at the nurse’s office.

“Did you know Midoriya Izuku only awoke to his power the day of the entrance exam?”

Aizawa turns sharply to look at Minato sitting in the front seat of his car. 

“He what?”

“Ah,” Ryoji says cheerfully. “That’s good. Then you didn’t know.”

Izuku is still running on the high of making a number of new friends when he gets home. Not only that, but two of them even knew that he didn’t get his quirk until the entrance exam! And were even in the same situation as him! Sort of. Arisato didn’t get his quirk from someone else, after all. 

Still. Such a gruesome method of using his quirk… Izuku wondered what it was like, finding out you had a quirk in such a manner. What were the circumstances surrounding it? A play maybe? Maybe Arisato was playing a role in a school play and found out that way? Or was it something else? …What if it really was some kind of attempt?

Izuku shook his head. No. He was not going to think about it. What was important was that he had four new friends in the form of Uraraka, Ida, Arisato, and Mochizuki. Arisato and Mochizuki even promised to help him with his quirk! 

Izuku was practically bouncing just thinking about it!

What kind of training would it be? Did they have ideas for what they wanted him to do? Izuku sort of wanted to ask, honestly.

…Arisato and Mochizuki did give him their numbers. Maybe he should text them?

Would it be weird? Texting someone just an hour or two after seeing them last? Izuku didn’t really get the chance to speak with them after they took him to the nurse’s office, but they did wave him farewell when Izuku left the classroom to go home.

A chime interrupted his thoughts. Izuku was so unused to the sound of his phone going off that he almost didn’t realize that’s what it was. He fumbles for his phone, dropping his bag on his bed and sitting down next to it. It was a text from Mochizuki.

Mochizuki: This is Ryoji! :D 

Mochizuki: Wanted to let you know that Aizawa didn’t know that you only just got your quirk. 

Mochizuki: He wants to say sorry for not knowing. Says he wouldn’t have been as harsh on you if he had.

…Arisato and Mochizuki told their teacher? And Aizawa was sorry?? Izuku stared at the texts dumbfounded for a moment. Then he quickly presses the call button before he can talk himself out of it.

The call picks up immediately. “Hey there!” Mochizuki greets him. “Didn’t expect you to call so fast.”

“Hi!” Izuku says, somewhat nervous. This was his first time calling a… friend… since Kacchan… “I-- um. You told Aizawa what I told you?”

“Yeah, sorry about that,” Mochizuki says somewhat apologetically, “It just occurred to me you might have wanted to keep that to yourself, huh? Yeah, Minato wanted to be certain that Aizawa knew so he wouldn’t treat you unfairly. If you’re that new to your quirk, you’re going to need extra help learning to control it, so it’s no good if the people who’re supposed to help you can’t because they don’t know, you know?”

Izuku blinks. He slowly nods. Then he realizes that Mochizuki can’t see him and says, “Yeah. Sorry. Just… Wasn’t expecting to get a text about that.”

“No problem, I get it,” Mochizuki says. “It does mean that we have permission to give you lessons after school in the school gymnasium. Or, one of them anyways.”

Izuku’s heart flutters in his chest. “R-really?! That’s great! Which gym should I go to?”

Mochizuki laughs lightly over the phone. It’s a good sound. “Gym B. We’ll be starting with getting a baseline idea of how your quirk works and then proceeding from there. Aizawa wants to observe the first lesson, but we’ll probably be left alone after that.”

Izuku nods eagerly. “Okay. That’s great. I’ll see you at school tomorrow.”

“See you soon,” Mochizuki says cheerfully. “Minato and I look forward to working with you.”

Izuku hangs up after that and stares at his phone. For a moment he’d been worried. But it turned out things were just fine. Arisato was worried about him and Aizawa, huh?

It was the first time in a very long time that Izuku had friends who cared enough about him to talk to teachers. There was a girl he’d known once during primary school that had tried to stand up for him. Kacchan had quickly shut that down…

Izuku frowns, a twinge in his chest at the thought. But he quickly pushes the thought aside and slaps his cheeks for good measure. He has friends now. A quirk now. He was enrolled in UA, learning to be a hero. He even got over the first major obstacle in front of him in the form of the quirk apprehension test. Life was good. He smiles to himself.

Life was good.

Chapter Text

There was a pair of HeroTubers that Fumikage liked to watch sometimes by the name of TwoInOneCrafts. They were an enby person and their sentient quirk living in Yokohama, a pair who made some of the most thought provoking art Fumikage had ever seen. Their paintings were dark and atmospheric and had a quality to them that made Fumikage go back to them again and again and again. But. The artwork wasn’t what attracted Fumikage to the channel in the first place.

Initially, Fumikage had clicked on a video because it had been another person with a sentient quirk.

These days, Fumikage loves Dark Shadow. These days, Dark Shadow is more like a brother than a quirk, a dark conjoined twin who resides in the recesses of Fumikage’s mind. But that wasn’t always the case.

When Fumikage woke up two months after his fourth birthday with another presence in his mind, he’d been terrified. His father had a simple crow mutation quirk and his mother was quirkless, so Fumikage hadn’t really known what to expect from his quirk. But it certainly wasn’t the living shadow that had sprung forth from his chest, nestled in his heart. 

For a long time after that, Fumikage hadn’t liked Dark Shadow. Dark Shadow was called that in the first place because four year old him had been scared of the dark and his quirk got stronger and harder to control in the dark.

Control. In those days, Fumikage hadn’t thought of Dark Shadow as a person. It took time before he realized that Dark Shadow had feelings too. That Dark Shadow was a sweet person who just wanted to help people. That he got wilder in the dark wasn’t his fault.

So they’d come to an accord--an accord that had grown into a friendship and then into a brotherhood.

Still. 

It’s been difficult.

Fumikage has never met another person with a sentient quirk. He knew they existed, of course. TwoInOneCrafts was proof enough of that. But in person? On the street or in class or in stores? At that concert his father took him too or at the convention he'd convinced his mother to buy tickets for?

So when Arisato Minato and Mochizuki Ryoji walked into homeroom behind their teacher and his sleeping bag, Fumikage had to pause.

Mochizuki Ryoji looks so human, he thought. Then, is he really a quirk? Then, I want to meet them.

He didn't get the chance to speak with them that first day. Too distracted by the test and by Dark Shadow and by his classmates. By the time he'd tried looking for them, they were gone.

Fumikage had gone home that day, the two of them on his mind. He'd wondered what their relationship was like, if it was anything like Fumikage’s and Dark Shadow’s. He wondered what he could say to them, if they did talk. Would it be awkward to ask about their connection?

It was a mad banquet of darkness, these thoughts. No answers, only questions and a deep bubbling feeling in the pit of his gut that told him this was a bad idea.

He still longed though. He still ached to talk to someone else like him, someone who understood.

Would they understand?

Fumikage didn’t know. 

The next morning, Fumikage spent time seeking them out. He knocks on the teacher’s lounge, only to be told they weren’t there, that they were in the library instead. So Fumikage went there.

He found the two of them huddled together in two chairs pushed close together, Arisato reading a book and Mochizuki pointing to things in the book and whispering things to Arisato. They looked cozy. Comfortable. At ease with one another’s presence.

Fumikage wonders if they have always been like that.

Fumikage walks up to them, bag in hand, and takes a deep breath. Then he starts talking. “Greetings. Might I speak with you this fair morn?”

Arisato and Mochizuki look up from the book. They smile at him, eerily in sync. Mochizuki waves a hand towards the seat across from the two of them. “Sure. Take a seat.”

Fumikage takes a seat, and Dark Shadow peeks out over Fumikage’s shoulder as he does so. He waves excitedly at Arisato and Mochizuki, to which Mochizuki laughs lightly and waves back.

“I--” Fumikage starts, then stops. He still has no idea what to say to these two, only that he desperately wants to talk to someone like him. “I--”

Mochizuki puts a hand on his chest and asks, “Are you alright?”

Fumikage nods sharply. “I am.”

“Then did you need something?” Mochizuki asks.

Fumikage hesitates. Just as he is about to try and explain, Dark Shadow bursts in and does it for him. “Fumi wants to talk to someone like us!”

Arisato blinks. Then slowly nods. “What’s your name?” he asks Dark Shadow.

“I’m Dark Shadow! This is Fumi! Fumi’s the best!” Dark Shadow says, as excited as ever to be speaking to someone other than Fumikage.

Fumikage sighs. “I’m Tokoyami Fumikage. It’s a pleasure to meet you.”

“It’s a pleasure to meet you too, Tokoyami. You wanted to speak to someone else with a quirk like your’s, huh?” At Fumikage’s nod, Mochizuki continues, “Anything in particular you wanted to talk about?”

Fumikage shakes his head. 

Arisato and Mochizuki exchange a long look, an entire conversation without words happening in that moment. Then they look at Fumikage again. “Hmmm,” Mochizuki hums. “What about you, Dark Shadow?”

“Are you in his head like I’m in Fumi’s?” Dark Shadow asks immediately.

Mochizuki laughs lightly. “That I am. I’m born from Minato’s heart and reside in his thoughts, even when I’m not physically manifested.”

“Do you summon yourself or does he summon you?” Fumikage asks.

Arisato and Mochizuki exchange another glance. “It’s a little of both,” Mochizuki says, “Leaning more towards the later than the former.”

Fumikage nods. 

“And you?” Arisato asks. 

“It can be either,” Fumikage says. “Dark Shadow can summon himself, but I can summon him if need be as well.”

“I like to nap,” Dark Shadow chirps. “School is boring.”

Mochizuki smiles. “You think so? I rather like attending school, you know. I get to meet all kinds of people when I do.”

“Math, blegh,” Dark Shadow responds.

Arisato smiles at that. It’s a small smile, but a content one. 

The conversation continues. It’s a light one, about the various teachers that they’ve both had. Mochizuki had only attended a small amount of school, apparently, but he had a few stories about some teacher called Mr Ono who was obsessed with the Sengoku era and a few other weird teachers.

It’s nice. They don’t talk about anything serious--nothing about their quirks or their relationships with them, but… It’s still nice. Fumikage wants to do this again.

The bell rings, warning students to get to class as quickly as they can. Mochizuki hands over his phone. “Put your number in and I’ll text the two of you. Sound good?”

Fumikage nods. “Yes. Let us be comrades in the darkness.” He takes the phone and inputs his number. Then the four of them turn and make for class.

They’re only on time by a little bit, but every bit of the conversation was worth it.

“The battle trials were a disaster,” Aizawa tells All Might flatly.

All Might sighs. “I--well.”

“You should have stopped Midoriya and Bakugou much earlier than you did. In addition, you shouldn’t have done battle trials just yet either. You need to evaluate their combat capabilities in a safer way than setting them on each other.” Aizawa continues to scold All Might. 

Minato watches the scolding session from the sidelines, observing the hulking form of All Might bending his head for Aizawa as the four of them--Aizawa, All Might, Minato, and Ryoji--go through the footage of the trials. 

It was immediately apparent with the first trial that All Might had no idea what he was doing as a teacher. A fantastic Hero he may be, teacher material he was not. At least, not yet.

“Minato,” Ryoji whispers to him. “I need to tell you something.”

“Hm?” Minato hums to let Ryoji know he was listening.

“There’s something I need to do with Elizabeth tomorrow, so I’ll need to head back to the sea.” Ryoji tells him. Then he says, “Afterwards, she should come back with me though.”

The idea of seeing his faithful attendant again was an exciting one. How long has it been since the last time he’d seen her? He fought her shortly before Nyx, Orpheus Telos and Chi You at his side. He believes… That was the last time he saw her. 

Had she changed since the last time he saw her? It had been more than two centuries since they spoke last. He needs to thank her for freeing him, even if he’s not sure how she managed it without ending the world. Still, if she’s still around, where has she been? He asks Ryoji this.

“She’s been taking care of some things in the Velvet room. She should be just about done by now,” Ryoji tells him. “I shouldn’t be gone for more than a day or two at most. I’ll need to leave sometime tonight.”

Minato considers this, then nods. “Alright.”

Minato will miss Ryoji while he’s gone, even if it’ll only be for a short while. Since waking up, Ryoji has been by his side constantly. To have him gone is… Like missing a limb.

Still, if Ryoji says he needs to go, then Minato will let him go.

“You’ll need to pick a class president. Arisato, you handle it.” Aizawa says, before zipping up his sleeping bag and settling in for a nap.

Immediately, the class erupts into ‘ pick me ’s and ‘I wanna be president’ s and ‘I’m the best for this’ s. Minato sighs, picks up a marker, and starts writing on the board.

Voting Rules for Class President

• One vote per person
• No voting for yourself
• Voteing is anonymous on a slip of paper
• Ryoji will tally the scores.

When he is finished writing, the class has calmed down. So he turns and picks up a stack of paper and has it passed around. 

The class votes, and Midoriya comes out on top with 5 votes. Yaoyorozu comes out second with 4 votes, and becomes vice president.

“I want Iida to become president instead of me! He handled the media break in panic much better than I ever could and I believe that he would be a far better president than I would!”

So the president changes again.

“You’re unsummoning Mochizuki?” Aizawa says at dinner that day, surprised. “I thought you’d keep him around for much longer. Do you need a break energy wise?”

Minato shakes his head, but it’s Ryoji that answers. “I have something I need to do in the sea of souls. I can’t act as Minato’s persona during that time, unfortunately.”

Aizawa narrows his eyes, but nods slowly. “Can I ask what’s so important in that place?”

“It’s personal,” Ryoji says. “But it’s also important. It’s something I’ve been doing every year since Minato got sealed.”

Aizawa doesn’t understand. Not in the slightest. He doesn’t understand their relationship, doesn’t understand the seal, and doesn’t understand why Ryoji wants to go now. But he sighs anyway and nods.

“Alright. You’ll miss the USJ trip then. I’ll be sure to let the other teachers know. Arisato, will you be okay during that time?”

Minato nods easily. It's only a day, after all. Minato has other personas he can call upon if trouble comes around, even if the teachers are currently unaware of those personas. So Minato will be perfectly safe.

The next day is the USJ trip. Minato is perfectly prepared.

Chapter Text

The kids in class 1-A seem like good kids.

They’re not much younger than Minato is. Only a year or two, no more than that. And yet there was a dearth of experience between Minato and these kids. He watches them as they load themselves onto the bus from where he has taken a seat, chattering with one another about one thing or another, and thinks, Was I ever that young?

Aizawa takes his seat next to Minato and one of the students, Mina?, takes a seat on the other side. The bus starts and they take off and Minato wonders where Ryoji is, what he’s doing, when he’ll get back. 

He feels the personas he has closest to him shift in his mind, the soft sound of phantom laughter and the quiet murmurs just soft enough he can’t understand. Personas are often like this when he doesn’t have any particular one pulled forth.

“Hey, hey,” The girl next to him says, poking him on the arm. “Where’s Mochizuki-kun?”

He doesn’t know. Somewhere in the sea, though where Minato can only guess. He turns to this pink haired girl with black yellow eyes and tells her, “He’s busy with something.”

“How far can he get from you?” Asks one of the other students. Minato glances their way and sees him dressed in a yellow costume. 

“I don’t know,” Minato tells him.

“Eh?” Midoriya says, sounding surprised. “Have you never tested it?”

Minato shakes his head. “No need to.”

All of his battles have been close range. There has never been a need to send a Persona far out to attack or perform recon, especially since he’d had Fuuka on his side to navigate. 

He misses Fuuka. He misses spending time reading with her or time on the roof gardening with her. He misses having her presence in his ear, a reassuring sound telling him he has backup should he ever need it--and sometimes he did.

He misses all his friends in SEES like a limb that’s been cut off. Some vital part of him is bleeding still, an open wound yet untended to. Having Ryoji around helps. It helps so much to have Ryoji by his side. But. But.

His Social Links are what kept him going, in the Seal. Knowing without a shadow of a doubt that they were living their lives on earth, stepping forward into the future. Mitsuru taking control of her company, Fuuka delving into her electronics. He wonders if Akihiko kept up his boxing win streak, if Junpei got together with Chidori again. Ken, who had so much life ahead of him, and Yukari who struggled with her mother. All of them…

The kids chatter about Midoriya’s quirk, about how similar it is to All Might’s. Minato listens with half an ear, but otherwise lets himself doze half awake, half asleep until they arrive.

When they do, they all pile outside the bus and walk into the building--a massive domed structure with several areas each with different disasters. Minato had been briefed on today’s lesson. It was mostly theoretical--going over how different disasters could and would impact them and the people they’re rescuing and the different ways they would need to adjust their approach to keep the people they’re rescuing safe. 

The pro hero Thirteen meets them inside. She introduces herself to the kids and starts on her lecture, talking about her own quirk and the destructive potential of all quirks--their capacity to hurt and even kill. It’s a good speech. It’s just as she finishes that Minato feels a shift in his head--What?--and turns. There’s a shadow in the center of the plaza, a cloud of black smoke from which people begin to spill forth. 

“Is this part of the lesson?” he hears one of the students ask.

“No!” Aizawa says. “Those are real villains!”

Then things start to move quickly.

Minato draws the sword he’s been given from his waist, stretching out his limited senses to try and figure out how many villains there are.

“Protect the students!” Aizawa tells him, before leaping down into the fray, immediately turning into a whirlwind of attacks, taking out villain after villain after villain.

A man teleports behind him, between the crowd and the doorway.

“Greetings. We are the League of Villains. We have come here to kill All Might,” the man says, shadows like fire, like smoke, shifting and covering his form. Minato goes to subdue him, but before he can take more than a couple steps, two students have already leapt at the man and attacked. 

It does nothing. Shadows then spill out all over the platform. When they disappear, most of the students are gone.

Minato… Minato looks around him. There are so few students left on the platform, the rest scattered in the different zones. A flood of people fight Aizawa in the center platform, a man covered in hands stands watching, a hulking beast standing guard next to him. The villain made of shadow stands by the door, blocking the exit. And Minato…

Children are fighting for their lives, Minato thinks. Children are fighting for their lives against grown men, killers all of them. And the teachers fought just as hard to protect them. Aizawa in the center of the crowd--and Thirteen raises her arms too to attack. These people were villains. Villains, not in the legal sense that Aizawa had defined for him more than a month ago now, but villains. Monsters in human skin who would harm the innocent for their own goals, taking their lives and cutting that claim short. And then there was that monster--that thing in the center of the platform with its skin as black as pitch and its brain exposed to the world--it was a monstrosity that grated on Minato’s senses, not quite alive and not quite dead.

If he does nothing, they would die.

Once upon a time, Minato sacrificed his life to protect the world. He killed himself so that Messiah could turn him to the shield that protected the world from apathy, from the quiet death. He did it because he had seen the ugliest parts of humanity. He did it because he has seen the most beautiful parts of it. He did it because he, who had once been the most apathetic of them all, had come to believe in the people he had met over the course of his journey. These tiny, weak people, so insignificant in the face of everything but so precious nonetheless--perhaps even more because of just how small they are.

Minato had become the Universe for a reason. That reason is children just like this, the children of the class he’d been an aid for for all of just a few days. 

And because he is the Universe, he could not stand by and watch.

Minato puts a hand on Thirteen’s arm. “Don’t.”

He calls out to those souls that resided within him, the consciousness of beings far more powerful than him with whom he had forged contracts. Someone, he thinks to them, Would you lend me your hand? Several answer. One stands out the most. 

Alright, he thinks. Then go.

Minato pulls his evoker from its holster. He places it to his head.

He smiles.

“Persona”

He fires.

A sound like shattering glass, one that could be heard almost crystal clear by everyone on the main platform. Heroes and Villains alike turn to look, almost as if some supernatural force compels them to. Blue light swirls behind Minato, coalescing into a shape with six great wings.

I Am Thou, Thou Art I

The being was tall and pale.

From The Sea Of Thy Soul I Have Come Forth

Pale golden hair spills down his naked shoulders, his modesty covered only by a strip of pure white cloth.

I Am The Bringer Of Light

His body held no imperfections. It was a body which was so beautiful it could not be called human.

The One Who Defied God

Twin horns spouted from his head and arched up into the air.

Answering The Call Of The Universe

A benevolent smile appeared upon the man’s--no the angel’s--face, feeling somehow sinister in nature.

I Am Helel

Like a crack in an otherwise perfect mirror.

And I Have Come To Reign Hell.

The being raises his hands. The Villains turn to run, but there is no escape from what happens next.

Light. 

It shone down from the heavens, a light so pure it scarred those who looked upon it. It shone down upon those villains who tried to flee. It shone down upon those villains who drop to their knees, sobbing. It shone down upon those villains who tried to fight. None escaped Helel’s wrath. All fell before the Morning Star.

Just like that, it was over. Just like that, all had been felled.

Bar three.

“YOU!” the man covered in hands screamed with rage. The man made of shadow shuddered, having moved to wreath the man covered in hands in shadows that sent the light elsewhere the moment that he noticed the being about to act--protecting his charge from the monster which hovered over the shoulder of the boy they had deemed not a threat. Beside them, the Nomu regenerates from its minor wounds, letting out a low clicking sound as it did. Soon it stood up just as straight as before.

“NOMU! KILL HIM!” the man covered in hands screams.

“Shigaraki--” The man made of shadow tries to say. “We need to go. We need to regroup.”

“KILL HIM! KILL HIM! KILL HIM!”

The monstrosity--the Nomu-- launched itself forth. Helel laughs lowly. “How cute,” he comments to Minato. He stops the Nomu with a single hand. He grabs the Nomu’s arm and casually rips it off. When it regenerates he does it again. Then, with a single kick, the Nomu is sent flying across the plaza, the place where it lands shattering into wide spiderweb cracks.

Helel drifts forward. “It’s been far too long since I’ve faced an opponent as weak as this. Minato, you need to summon me for things like this more often.”

Minato sighs. He wishes things like this happened less often. Having heard his thoughts, for they are one--I Am Thou, Thou Art I--Helel only smiles.

The Nomu gets up and runs forward. Again, Helel bats it away like a toy. The UA students who had been trapped in the zones and made it back to the plaza look on with horror as blood splatters across the ground.

“We need to go!” the man made of shadow roars, dragging Shigaraki through. Shigaraki screams.

“CHEATER! YOU CHEATER! YOU FUCKING CHEATER!

And then, with the disappearance of the black fog, silence once again reigned.

Aizawa Shouta kneels in the center plaza, surrounded by the--hopefully just unconscious--bodies of the villains who had just attacked. He stares, uncomprehendingly, at the thing that hovers over the shoulder of the boy he had taken care of for just over a month now. 

“Because we can’t be certain how powerful his quirk is. If Nyx truly had the capability to end the world as Ryoji claimed, then there is certainly more to his quirk than has been revealed to us. If there is ever a time where we need to shut his quirk down, you are our best option.”

That was what Nedzu had said, when Aizawa asked why it had to be him that took Arisato Minato and Mochizuki Ryoji in. 

With one move, a single shot, the boy who claimed to have saved the world more than 200 years ago just halted a villain invasion in its tracks. Still, the angel he summoned hovers there, watching over the people with an amused smirk.

“Summon me again, Minato,” the thing says, its voice like liquid silk so smooth and pleasant it was on his ears, “I’ll always come when you call.”

Then, with a tinkling sound like glass shards falling to the floor, the man shatters and vanishes. Just like that, he is gone.

Aizawa takes in a shuddering breath. Then, he stands.

Powerful indeed, he thinks hysterically. Powerful indeed.

And what of Ryoji? It hits him suddenly. If Minato can summon something like this, can do devastation like this in but a moment, then what can Ryoji do?

Aizawa makes his way up to Minato, the only one moving among the people in USJ. It’s so quiet that he can hear his steps, so loud in his ears.

When he gets close, Minato puts away his evoker and pulls out his phone. He calls someone. “Hello. Can you send pro heroes and the police? We’ve just been attacked.” 

“No,” he says. “The villains have been taken care of. The students are safe.”

“Yes, there was an attack. No one is dead, to my knowledge.” 

“Yes. Thank you.”

Minato taps the end call button on his phone and turns to Aizawa, one hand stuffed in his pocket and the other still holding his sword. He opens his mouth to say something.

That is when All Might bursts through the door.

Chapter Text

The interrogation room is quiet. The sound of the air conditioning whirls loud in Minato’s ears as he sits and waits. 

He knew this was coming.

They were not SEES after all. They know nothing of Personas, nor what it takes to wield them. They know nothing of the power at Minato’s fingertips, the strength that he has forged over the course of his journey. And because of that, they are afraid.

But it was worth it. The students are safe.

The door opens, and Tsukauchi walks in.

Minato waits for the interrogation to begin.

“How?”

This is the largest question that rests in the minds of all the teachers, once they learn of the incident. Camera footage, what little of it there is, is reviewed. Students are interrogated. Villains arrested and questioned. Minato himself is brought in and sat in an interrogation room.

Nedzu clears his throat and taps the papers in his hand against the table. Teachers who are murmuring to one another quiet instantly and turn their attention to the front.

“Greetings, everyone. We have quite the meeting to conduct today, so if I may have your attention…” Nedzu says.

“Is it true?” Midnight asks, a serious look on her face. “Did Minato-kun really…?”

“Yes,” Nedzu says. “Arisato Minato singlehandedly defeated more than 100 villains with one move, and then… apprehended another. Though two were able to escape to an unknown place, the rest of the villains are in custody largely due to his actions.”

“He summoned an angel,” Aizawa says, eyes glued to the table. “Or a demon. I don’t know which.”

“Yes…” Nedzu says. He turns and presses a button on a remote. The TV screen behind him flickers on and what footage they have of the incident from USJ is displayed. The screen is fuzzy, but it clearly displays Minato placing the Evoker to his head, firing, and summoning a creature behind him. 

“Tsukauchi. If you would?” Nedzu says, referring to the man who was quietly standing by the table, waiting to be addressed.

“Of course.” Tsukauchi says. He breathes in, then out, then starts his explanation.

“Acourding to Arisato, the creature he summoned is called Helel. Named such after the angel from biblical texts, he claims that Helel is… Well. Helel. As in the actual angel. He explained that the angel is a physical representation of the belief in that angel solidified into physical form. That it hails from a place called the Sea of Souls and that Arisato is capable of summoning him as a Persona due to a contract the two have made. He said that so long as he is summoned, they are one. They share thoughts, feelings, actions, and even physical health. It…” Tsukauchi sighs. “To be honest I didn’t understand everything he said to me.”

“You’re saying that thing is an actual angel from the actual bible,” House Dog says with disbelief.

“No,” Tsukauchi says. “Arisato said that it was more complicated than that. They are more closely related to thoughts and souls and belief…” Tsukauchi makes a frustrated sound.

“What about Mochizuki-kun?” Present Mic asks.

“He said that Mochizuki is more complicated than that as well. That he is a persona, but not a normal one. That the contract that the two of them have is… different,” Tsukauchi explains.

“...Does Mochizuki have the same sort of power that Helel does?” Eraserhead asks.

Tsukauchi clears his throat, uncomfortable. “Yes.”

“Nedzu.” Eraserhead looks up from the table and over to the rat. “Just what kind of kids have you charged me with?”

Nedzu smiled grimly. “That is just what we’re attempting to figure out.”

There is a part of Izuku that is terrified. 

He hates that part of himself, because that’s his friend. The same person who promised to help him with his quirk, who told Aizawa just how new he was to it out of concern for him. This is the person who has been a quiet, steady presence in class, assisting with picking class presidents and helping in class when they’re working on individual assignments. 

Arisato Minato is kind.

Arisato Minato is kind.

Izuku keeps telling himself that. Has to keep reminding himself of that. Because now every time he thinks of his friend he thinks of the searing light that reigned down from the heavens and left destruction in its wake. He thinks of the blood that splattered on the ground when the villain attacked the angel and the angel ripped off the villain’s arm.

He thinks of the cracks in the stone, of the calm demeanor of his friend--as if he had done this before, as if this was an everyday occurrence--and of the way that the very air had seemed to crackle with power around his friend. He thinks of these things and he wonders.

Who is Artisato Minato? What does he want? Why can he do the things that he does? Just what kind of quirk does he have?

“Midoriya-kun?”

Izuku looks up from where he’s looking at the ground to see Tokoyami in front of him. Tokoyami’s expressions are hard to read, given his bird’s head, but he feels… hesitant.

“Y-yes?” Izuku stutters. He grips the straps of his backpack and tries to smile. He’s mostly unhurt now. The injuries he accrued while getting himself and his two classmates out of the Shipwreck Zone have been healed. Still, there is a part of him that aches.

“You… You’re friends with Arisato-san, correct?” Tokoyami asks. “And you witnessed his actions at the USJ?”

“U-um. Yes. Yes I did.” Izuku nods. His lips tremble. He reflexively frowns as he thinks of the searing light, of the angel’s appearance, of the sheer presence that the thing had. 

“May I request that you describe it to me?”

“U-uh?” Izuku blinks and looks at the ground, then back up at Tokoyami. “Can I ask why?”

“I didn’t see it,” Tokoyami admits. “I was in the Downpour Zone and didn’t make it out until the villains had been knocked out and the angel unsummoned. I would ask Arisato-san, but he hasn’t been released from interrogation yet.”

Izuku takes a breath. Then he lets it out. He closes his eyes and brings to mind the angel. 

“Did you hear it? When it was summoned?” Izuku asks.

Tokoyami nods. “I did. It was a mad banquet of darkness, but I could hear it clearly. It introduced itself as Helel, I believe. Was it truely…?”

“It was an angel…” Izuku mutters. “It… It sh-shone not l-like a candle, b-but, u-uh. But like the stars. Just close. It was…” Izuku falls silent. Then he mumbles out, “The sheer weight.”

Tokoyami nods, as if he understood. He didn’t. Not really. Izuku didn’t think anyone who didn’t see it in person could really understand what it was like to stand in the presence of that thing. 

“Thank you,” Tokoyami says. “For describing it. I must ask one more thing… Does this change your opinion on Arisato-san?”

“N-no!” Izuku says, jolting up straight. Then he pauses. “O-or. Maybe? I just…”

Tokoyami goes quiet. Then he nods. “Thank you. Have a nice day, Midoriya-kun.”

With that, Tokoyami turns and leaves, leaving Izuku to his thoughts.

Minato feels it the moment that Ryoji returns to him.

It’s a comforting weight, death wrapping his arms around Minato’s shoulders for all that Ryoji wasn’t manifested. He hums quietly to himself, a small smile gracing his lips, and closes his eyes to lean into the feeling of contentment. 

“Minato-kun?” Aizawa says quietly. “Did something happen?”

“Ryoji is back,” Minato says, just as quiet. “Would you mind if I summon him?”

Aizawa has been like this since the attack. Quiet. Wary. Watchful. Stunned. It hurts, a little, to be treated like this when Minato has done nothing but protect him and his students, but Minato expected it when he pulled out his evoker to summon Helel. He knew that even in this new world of superpowers that Personas were not the norm--far from it. And even among SEES Minato had been an anomaly.

Aizawa is silent for a moment. He places his spoon down next to his bowl and looks Minato dead on. “May I try something when you do?”

Minato tilts his head and gestures for Aizawa to continue.

“I want to try erasing your quirk.”

Minato blinks. Then sighs. 

So it has come to this.

“You may try.”

Aizawa nods. Minato stands and pulls his evoker from where it rests at his hip. Personas shift in his head, indistinct and excited, but it is Ryoji who pulls forth the most. Minato then places the evoker to his temple and fires.

Aizawa stares at him. His hair floats around him in a wave, his eyes shine bright red. It does nothing to stop what happens next.

The world shatters. It bends. Then breaks. Blue lights shines and coalesces into the form of Minato’s other half. Ryoji appears next to him, scarf wrapped around his neck and utterly relaxed. 

“It’s not a quirk.”

This, Aizawa says with certainty.

Minato nods. Ryoji smiles apologetically and says, “In this modern day, you and the police would never have believed us if we told the truth. The power of Persona is an old one, older than quirks, and it functions based on a different power system. Even then, the power of the Wild Card, Minato’s power, is different still.”

Aizawa deactivates his quirk, his hair settling down around his shoulders. He sighs and rubs his face with his hands. “Kids,” he says, laughing half heartedly, “What am I going to do with you?”

Ryoji takes Minato’s hand and nods towards the door. “She’ll be here in a moment.”

Minato smiles.

“Who will be?” Aizawa asks. 

“A being of Power,” Ryoji says.

“A friend,” Minato corrects.

Just then, the doorbell rings. Then it keeps ringing. Over and over and over again, it rings. Aizawa walks to the door and opens it, only to find a woman dressed in blue outside the door. Her hair is white and cut into a bob, and her eyes are a bright, unnatural gold. Something about her presence gives him shivers. 

“Greetings! My name is Elizabeth,” the woman says brightly. In her hands rests a thick tome. She tucks it under one arm and bows. “I believe it is customary to greet new people like this?”

“Who are you?” Aizawa asks, not letting her in. “And how do you know Minato-kun and Ryoji-kun?”

“I believe I already introduced myself?” Elizabeth asks in confusion. “My name is Elizabeth.”

“Not your name,” Aizawa says. “I meant what are you?”

“Ah!” Elizabeth exclaims. “Then the answer is simple. I am a being of power. I was Minato’s Velvet Room attendant during his journey, managing his Personas for him and assisting with the creation of new ones. When Minato sealed away Nyx, I assisted Ryoji in searching for a way to free Minato.” She smiles. Something about it feels off to Aizawa.

“Is that true, Minato-kun?” Aizawa asks.

“She is my friend,” Minato says. “A good friend.”

Aizawa sighs. Then he steps to the side and lets the strange woman into the house. 

Elizabeth eagerly steps inside and walks over to where Minato stands with long, deliberate strides. Then she sweeps him into a hug. Minato returns the hug without hesitation, for all that this is the first time he’s ever held her like this, it feels… good. Familiar. Like coming home.

“I missed you,” Elizabeth says. “I’m sorry it took so long.”

“Thank you,” Minato says, holding her close. “I’m just glad you came.”

“I will always come when you call,” Elizabeth says. 

The two separate, stepping back. Ryoji takes his place by Minato’s side once more, fingers intertwining with Minato’s, and smiles.

Aizawa watches all of this in silence. Then he grimaces. 

“I think,” he says with gravity, “That it’s time you told me everything.”

Minato looks from Ryoji to Elizabeth and then to Aizawa. “It’s a long story,” he warns.

“I figured as much,” Aizawa says. “I want to hear it anyway.”

“Shall I make some tea?” Elizabeth asks before walking away to the kitchen without waiting for an answer. 

Ryoji laughs softly and then follows. “I’ll make sure she doesn't break anything.”

Minato and Aizawa once more take their seats at the table with their dinner. Minato thinks back to the beginning of everything, and wonders how, exactly, he should explain. Then he decides that his arrival to the dorm is as good a place to start as any.

“It was the sixth of April when I first arrived at Iwatodai Station. Everything was normal until midnight stuck…”

It is a long story. But Minato thinks that once it is told, everything will be okay.