Chapter Text
Despite the chaos still happening throughout the facility and the abandoned warzone they stand, in the air around them is silent. She’s a few steps ahead of the small group that had gathered, but she assumes they’re all looking at the same spot, the spot where mere seconds before two violent criminals and a toddler had stood.
“What the hell Asui?!” Shinsou is the first to break out of his stupor, using his advantage of awareness to storm up and shove her. Normally, she’d be able to stand her ground from such an attack but right now she’s distracted and thus stumbles from the force. “We had him and you just handed him back to the villains.”
Her classmate towers over her but Tsuyu has never been one to back down, especially when it comes to protecting others so she straightens her back and steels her gaze. “They’re not villains to him, they’re his family.”
“They just tried to kill us! Of course, they’re villains!” The shortest of the four slurs which comes as a surprise as Tsuyu genuinely forgot he was there due not to his short stature but because of how useless he’d been this whole time.
“It doesn’t fucking matter, the kids a villain in the making anyways.”
At that, Shinsou whips around to face their explosive classmate. “The kid is a damn toddler, not a villain!”
Bakugou throws his arm up, showing off what appears to be a patch of grass growing on his forearm and around to his elbow and continues yelling, “Do you see my fucking arm, what the hell even is this? That kid is a freak-”
“Don’t fucking call him that! He was scared of you and who could blame him, you act more like a villain than a hero in training!”
“You bastard, take that back!” As he has before, the blonde boy charges forward but before a fight is able to break out he’s stopped by a hardened arm.
“Woah guys, calm down!” Kirishima rushes out, his voice worried but still calming. “What’s going on? Where’s the kid?”
Bakugou huffs but takes a step back and crosses his arms much like a petulant child. “Frogface gave him back to his family,” he grounds out with a mocking emphasis on the last word.
Now it’s Kirishima who whips around, this time looking at Tsuyu with wide eyes and a gaping mouth. “What?! Why would you do that?”
“They love each other,” she says simply because really that's all there is to it.
“The hand and mist guys are villains!” He reasons.
“Love isn’t exclusive to ‘good’ people. Plenty of villains are kind to their families and plenty of heroes are terrible to theirs.”
Shinsou stops their bickering because judging by her classmates' faces this is something they won’t budge on, this is not a debate. “Whatever, we can’t fix anything now, let's just see if we can find our classmates.”
She easily takes the dismissal for what it is and turns heel toward one of the winding paths only to almost slam into a new face. Todoroki Shouto, the only kid in her class she couldn't get a good read on, and Tsuyu was good at reading people. Now though, he shows more emotion than he has in the past few days they've known each other combined. All she can gather from that expression is that he's thinking although from context she can assume whatever is on his mind has to do with the interaction he likely just witnessed. Not wanting to face any more of her classmates' scorn, she steps aside and continues into the facility, ignoring the background noise of Bakugou spewing insults and derogatory nicknames at their stoic classmate.
Nothing of consequence happens until support arrives in the form of their teachers scouring the facility and sending them back to the entrance where an EMT looks them over before allowing them to be questioned by one of the dozens of officers swarming the place. By the time Tsuyu is physically cleared, word of her actions has obviously spread.
While waiting she'd heard clips of officers interviewing her classmates asking about the order of events, where they ended up, and what they did after they were separated. She gets those questions, yes, but they quickly morph into did you know the villains, did you have any prior knowledge of the attack, and why, why, why? Once again and unsurprisingly none of her answers satisfy the officers and they don't stop asking until they are called away to deal with the hoards of villains that are being taking into custody.
Almost two hours after they arrived at the USJ, they are finally allowed to go home but it seems the consequences of this visit will live on as she catches sight of a scathing glare. She matches Shinsou's gaze head-on, standing tall and not faltering in her exit. Tsuyu made her decision and she refuses to denounce anything she’s said or done, no matter what the world says.
The whole school was given a long weekend to recover from the attack or, at least the students were, Tsuyu notes as she walks through the vast halls of UA being guided by a version of Ectoplasm and passing Present Mic along the way. While she is a student and thus was given the same three days off as everyone else, she was also called in by the principal himself, likely for her to answer the same questions once again. She wouldn’t mind the questioning, however, this time instead of a quick statement after a traumatic event, it was a scheduled meeting, likely with more in-depth questioning or consequences which is what leads her to the present, walking down the halls of her new school with two of the people she hated most in the world: Asui Beru and Asui Ganma. Some may say it’s wrong to hate your parents. They raised you, they provided for you, you wouldn’t be alive without them, they’d say but to them, she’d say fuck off (she wouldn’t really, but god does she want to). First and foremost the feeling is mutual, Tsuyu knew her parents hated her before she even started elementary school. Back then she was saddened by the knowledge she'd gained, what child wouldn’t be upset that the two people who were supposed to love them most in the world didn’t? The sadness lasted a few years but being forced to care for her brother when she could barely care for herself made for a good distraction from those emotions.
Despite her wandering thoughts, Tsuyu is alert and stops along with the rest of her group as they reach a large door with a small plaque adorning it, golden letters spelling out the name Principal Nedzu. Her math teacher lifts a fist to rap against the door which is received not with a verbal response but by the door opening on its own. The man stands off to the side and allows them to enter before closing the door, trapping her in a conversation she knows will end badly one way or another.
She hadn’t even gotten through a week of school but even then, she has very rarely seen the inside of any of her previous principals' offices so walking in she is as prepared as her company. The room is large with the space feeling bigger due to the outward-facing wall that, like most in the school, consists of large panes of glass which allow the mid-spring sun to shine into the room. In contrast, the furniture takes up more space, making not only the room seem smaller, but the people inside it as well. It’s an intimidation tactic she knows well thanks to her father and the friends he brings over a few times a week. It is scary at first, being a 5-year-old who is already at a height disadvantage thanks to their mutation, having people loom over them, saying things they can’t understand but when that’s your life for over a decade you learn to save that fear for the times you’re really in danger, lest you be on the brink of an anxiety attack every second of the day.
One of the last things she notices is the actual occupant of the room which, with his small stature, isn’t all that surprising. From past press conferences, previously about alumni achievements, and most recently about the USJ, she knew what the principal looked like, she also knew he wasn’t a human with a mutation quirk but rather an animal with an intelligence quirk which to her knowledge, is incredibly rare. Despite the knowledge she has, it still comes as a slight surprise to see him in person although she quickly tries to hide her shock, having been gawked at frequently throughout her life.
The creature smiles from his oversized seat and gestures to the seats opposite his desk. “You’re just on time, please have a seat, we have much to discuss.”
Tsuyu moves first taking the chair closest to the wall, she’d rather be wedged between a wall and one of her parents than stuck between both of them which is what would have happened had she hesitated. The two, as always, don’t notice her strategy and take their places beside her, allowing the meeting to commence.
“I won’t insult you by asking if you’ve heard of the recent attack on your daughter’s class, instead, I will ask if you’ve been informed on what happened during these events?”
“No,” the man, thankfully sitting furthest from her, responds shortly only to be hastily reprimanded.
“Ganma, please. I apologize we haven’t asked about the specifics, we wanted to give Tsuyu the chance to recover first,” her mother says, playing the perfect parent. She easily resists the urge to roll her eyes or make any move really, having long since learned to stay in line, especially when her parent's reputation was on the line.
“I understand, however, the events of the USJ and actions taken by your daughter there are the reason for this meeting so please allow me to explain. During the attack a young boy, estimated at 4-5 years of age, was present. We do not have any information on why he was there, however, we do know he was related to the leader of the group, Shigaraki Tomura. One of the students, Kirishima Eijirou, was able to rescue the boy and another, Bakugou Katuski, was able to separate him from Shigaraki. Bakugou obtained an injury from the boy's quirk so he corrected course to land near Asui and two of her classmates, Shinsou Hitoshi and Mineta Minoru, at which point he handed the boy over to Shinsou. This is where the problem arises. Shinsou asked for assistance with the child which your daughter granted, however, once she had the boy she proceeded to hand him over to the villains, against the better judgment of her classmates.”
The creature pauses, letting the explanation sink in and watching reactions with beady yet intelligent eyes, “As a school known for its heroics program, I’m sure you can see why this information leaking to the public would paint us in a bad light, especially due to how selective we are of our hero course students. With these facts, the board of directors and I have regretfully decided to expel Asui from UA high school.”
Out of everything Tsuyu had been ready for, she hadn’t expected that. Expelled. She’s been expelled from the hero school, the school she’d set her sights on the moment she’d seen news of a recently debuted hero outing his abusive grandfather. He’d said for years the rest of his family didn’t believe him and those that did covered up the disgusting actions done by the man but the moment he went pro his words suddenly had power, power she’d craved for years, power she’d lost from doing what was right. What's worse is being expelled from UA isn’t just being kicked out of one school, it’s a huge black mark on your record that no other school worth their salt will look past, especially hero schools. Asui Tsuyu would never regret doing what she believed was right, but god does she want to.
The train ride back home is stifling, the air of fury wafting from both her parents seems to infect the entire car, making all passengers uncomfortable and while the train generally isn’t loud by any sense it is almost silent now, only adding to the foreboding feeling tying her stomach in knots. The short walk from the station to their front door isn’t much better but even then she knows it's the quiet before the storm.
The second her shoes are off her father has an iron grasp on her arm and drags her out of the entryway. He carelessly tosses her into the more spacious living room but she’s able to recover quickly, especially because both her siblings are in the room. She’d guess with how upset he is at her specifically he wouldn’t turn his ire on the 9 and 5-year-old but his anger can be unpredictable and she would never chance it so like days before, she stands tall only this time it's against a villain. Behind her the two smaller figures quietly make their way further into the house, already knowing to hide out in their rooms until the storm passes. Her mother has a similar idea, abandoning her child to face harsh consequences to insignificant problems. She never partook in the abuse but she never stopped it either so she’s not any better in Tsuyu’s book.
It seems that was what he was waiting for as the man stomps over to her once they are alone. He grabs her long, green hair, wrenching her up and closing the small distance between their sizes. “What did I tell you about going to that damn school?”
Obediently she follows the script of the performance they’ve been enacting for 15 years, “That it’s a privilege.”
“And what did you do?” he spits out, literally as small droplets of saliva fall onto her face.
“I disrespected that privilege.”
“You did and I do not allow disrespect in my house.” With that he throws her to the floor this time giving no time to recover before rearing back to deliver a kick to her right side, a kick enhanced by their family's naturally strong legs. Their legs may have a higher muscle mass but that’s not the only frog-like characteristic she inherited, she also has weaker bones. She'd planned on being a rescue hero, more specifically a coastal one so it would've been rare for her to face any dangerous villains however she'd still anticipated it and started working with her enhanced flexibility and agility to combat her weaknesses but those aren’t skills she can use when it would only worsen the beating when she was inevitably caught. Another two kicks come, one in almost the exact same spot and the next in her stomach, knocking the wind completely out of her. She's able to recover her lost air but any breath too deep feels like her lungs are being stabbed. With them it's a fine line between pain and a trip to the hospital and through years of experimenting her father knows it well.
He's done for now at least but the man still takes the time to gloat in his work. “If you all just listened I wouldn’t have to do this but you and your bratty siblings insist on disrespecting me. You, especially are getting too old for this so next time you step out of line, it won’t be you I’m doing this to.”
She looks up at him, feeling the fire in her eyes, and hisses both in pain and as a threat, “Don’t you dare.”
“What did I just say?” he starts for the hall and Tsuyu immediately knows why. She scrambles off the ground, body protesting against every movement.
“Don’t bring them into this.” She ducks under his arm and stands as the last guardian before her siblings’ bedrooms. “I won’t let you touch them.” She covers as much of the hallway with her body as she can despite how impossible it would be to stop the man if he really wanted to get past, her goal was to direct his anger on her, to stop his hunt for two kids both of which are still in single digits. However, her efforts are all for not when a hand reaches out and grabs her neck, using it to slam her against the wall. The hand isn’t trying to choke, just restrain but it cuts off her ability to breathe even further.
“You can’t do shit to stop me, hell you didn’t last a week in that fancy hero school. Despite that, you are a nuisance but I don’t need you here to teach you a lesson.” He pulls her back and takes a few steps to her door, the room she chose because it was in between the master bedroom and the other rooms, so she could intercept any hurt meant for her siblings. The trick usually works but this time it only serves as a small detour to throw her into the room and lock the door from the outside, the only way it locks. From then all she can do is listen to heavy footsteps dragging on towards the only good things in her life and a door slamming open. First, she hears screams from Samidare because he’d already had it drilled into him that boys don’t cry then after much too long (any amount of time is too long) she hears the screams and cries of her little sister who isn’t even in 1st grade yet. She’d done so much to make sure they never faced the childhood she had, she wasn’t perfect, she couldn’t save them from everything but she made sure what hurt they did face was never because of her but even if it was not from her hands or choice she can’t help but feel the guilt for their father’s actions.
Tsuyu doesn’t often cry, having shed those tears as a bruised child but listening to the two people she’d sworn to protect in pain just out of her reach brings tears to her eyes however it’s not waterfalls from overflowing emotion, it’s small worn out tears. UA was her out, becoming hero and gaining the position and power to expose their parents was their out but now that will never happen. Her time of being able to shield her siblings was coming to an end and she hated that all she could do with that knowledge was silently cry.
Time passes made obvious by the lack of light coming through her small window and the silence now filling the house. She doesn’t have any way to tell the exact time but from the exhaustion clinging to her, making her body heavy she can guess it’s in the early hours of the morning. Despite her body and mind barely retaining their functionality, sleep does not come for her, the sounds of her siblings, her kids being beaten by their piece of shit father still fresh in her ears. The guilt continues to eat her alive which is why she doesn’t mind her inability to rest. Why does she deserve to rest when her siblings are likely fading in and out of sleep or facing the same treatment again as it leaks into their dreams? She doesn't, so instead she sits awake listening for any signs of danger despite how useless she'd be to stop any of it.
With that mindset, she isn't groggily woken up when a deep, chilling voice cuts through the dark of her room, instead, she is instantly on edge. “Asui Tsuyu.” The voice doesn’t sound like her father and she hadn’t heard him approach but the voice s definitely masculine which always meant trouble.
Tsuyu scans the void of her room, the darkness making it easy to spot two tiny glowing circles. Eyes, she realizes as the blood-red glow illuminates a small face, with a long snout. It’s a rat, a talking rat. Tsuyu wonders if she hit her head harder than she previously thought. Thinking further, though she realizes that it could be a hallucination from a head injury or lack of sleep but that there are also dozens of other more pressing explanations made possible by the infinite possibility of quirks so while she does not fear the rodent she is rightfully cautious in asking, “Who are you?”
If anything it's a quirked rat, though a rat all the same, it shouldn’t have the ability to but the animal grins, showing its ugly and unkempt teeth.“Who I am is not important, the question is who I could be to you.”
“And what would that be?”
The rat hums, “Tell me your siblings, Samidare and Satsuki, you love them, don’t you?”
She doesn't think, the answer is obvious and always in the forefront of her mind but she does pause. It could be a hallucination but it could be a trap, someone trying to lure her into or away from something, however, she does think that she has nothing left to lose. “Yes.”
“And you would do anything to make sure they were safe?”
“Yes,” she breathes.
The voice sounds gleeful as it asks, “Then might I propose a deal?”
She swallows the feeling as though this would be a deal with the devil but the devil can’t be worse than the hell she lives with so despite the danger that comes with the question, Tsuyu asks, “What kind of deal?”