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“hE's MiNe!”
“Interesting,” Aleister Crowley said, eyes narrowed, fingers folded, and not caring for the man who attempted to contact him regarding Academy City’s current rescued child. “Now, why would you think that?”
“i ReScUeD hIM! i PuT hIm BaCk ToGeThEr!”
“From what our doctors say, what you did wasn’t putting the boy back together,” Crowley said. “Or should I say whatever hacks you got to work on the poor boy. Whatever they did was certainly not putting the boy back together again. Poor thing.”
“HIs FaMiLy ThReW hIm AwAy! ThEy DiDn’T wAnT tHe BoY! tHeY hAvE a ChIlD tO rEpLaCe HiM!”
“And I wonder about that as well, “Alester Crowley said. “The Todoroki is traditional, private, so how…”
“QUiRk MaRrIDgE.”
“Ah,” Crowley said. “The old adage of the specialists who should be helping the children, blaming the parents, telling the parents they’re broken beyond repair, and that they should not have any more children, that daring to do so is cruel because they’re irresponsible for risking the child born being with special-needs issues related to their Quirk like this child.”
Whoever contacted him chose to fume as Crowley spoke.
“Or should we go into how couples are accused of being involved in a Quirk marriage, even if they aren’t, simply because their child is born defective as far as society is concerned, and the combination of Quirks is seen as the direct cause for the way the Quirk manifested in the child, thus leading to one of the few ways someone is able to procure a divorce in Japan, which in turn has led to many deciding to abandon these children rather than sharing joint custody.
“mInE!”
“Of course, you would think that, as you’re likely one of the proponents behind the maligning of the traditional omiai, many old families use as a Quirk marriage because old families have control and power that can work against you, but these children? They’re a free source of Quirks for you to take and experiment with, but you’re mad we rescued the children who were under one of these orphanages you run, finding the eldest son of the number two hero in your care?”
“mInE!”
“Funny how Endevour and his wife didn’t divorce upon finding out the risk to their children, given it’s legal grounds to…”
“iSn'T iT pRoOf ThEy DoN’t WaNt ThE cHiLd?”
“Oh? How so?” Crowley asked.
“ThEy DoN’t BeCaUsE iT wOuLd BeCoMe PuBlIc KnOwLeDgE!”
“You mean like the circumstances of the boy’s supposed death?” Crowley let out a chuckle. “So that has nothing to do with the Todoroki being an old, traditional Japanese family that prides itself in maintaining its family’s privacy, and that they have ways of ensuring this?”
“MoNeY!”
“Perhaps. I mean, it is financially beneficial for her family to be able to flaunt having a connection to the number two hero, though that’s become a bit difficult now that she’s been entered into a mental health institute for her own welfare, or so I’ve heard via rumor. What a stigma, having a daughter in a mental health institute. Certainly not something that works in Endevour’s favor either, but then I guess for her it’s about being cut off with any source of income, as this is enough for her family to cut her off?”
“pRoOf!”, and “i'Ll GeT tHe BoY bAcK!”
“Well, if you try anything, perhaps I should just get Endevour involved?”
—silence—
“I thought so, and I think you know that if I deem you enough of a threat—“
—more silence—
“Well, perhaps All Might isn’t needed?”
The screen clicked off, the threat gone.
“As I thought,” Crowley said, not bothered by All For One’s threats. “My pity goes to those parents, but if the boy wakes, I’ll see what we at Academy City can do for him. U.A. is certainly a prestigious school, but special cases…”
At the end of the day, Academy City was better prepared to deal with a child who self-harmed with their Quirk, who needed serious intervention when it came to repairing his body, but if anybody could do it—
“Heaven Canceller with our technology is certainly it.”
Not that Crowley wouldn’t admit he wouldn’t himself be using the boy towards his own means.