Murakami, a barely lit cigarette in one hand, massaged the bridge of his nose.
- We can't do it, Endeavor. The press will jump at our throat.
On the other side of the phone, the hero was undaunted:
- Of course you can. Say he's been taken to a detention center and is being closely watched.
Murakami growled.
- The Commission wants him behind bars.
- Don't think of the Commission, think of me.
Murakami felt a migraine coming on at the tip of his nose.
- He's my son, Akira. I can't let him go, not after losing him for so long.
Murakami wanted to satisfy his friend - even though he had serious doubts about leaving such a criminal anywhere but behind bars - but the Commission was pressuring him to do as they wished.
If only Touya had decided to make his comeback on TV or in a Youtube video...
But no, he had decided to turn himself in at a police station - his own, no less - and was now under Murakami's jurisdiction until the 'trial'.
- You have children too
- That's very low, Endeavor.
- You'd do the same thing in my situation.
Would he ?
Murakami opened his mouth to ask if, after ten years, Touya was no longer just a stranger with whom he shared blood.
But he kept his mouth shut, not wanting to add anything on Endeavor's plate.
His life must be complicated enough right now, especially knowing that two of his most virulent sons hated each other.
- I'm asking you this as a favour, Akira. Please.
Murakami sighed.
- All right, all right. I'll put him in my jail. But if the Commission comes after me, you'd better have my back.
Murakami felt Endeavor smile.
- Of course I will.
*
- What happened on Tuesday night ?
I paused at the door, one hand on the handle.
On the other side of the door, the chatter died down, but no one answered.
- Yaoyorozu-
- I'm not talking about that, Katsuki cut in. What happened with Shoto earlier that night ?
Silence.
Then a chair scraped on the floor.
- Nothing of your concern.
Inaza.
- I'm the class representative of this damn class, of course it concerns me.
I heard Jiro mumble and imagined her rolling her eyes:
- There's no class anymore, you idiot
- Monoma told me you talked to Shoto.
- Oops.
I imagined the blonde throwing up his hands, a crooked smile on his stupid face.
- And ?
Inaza again.
Bakugo was getting impatient, I didn't need to see him to know that.
- Are you idiots or are you doing this on purpose ?! Do you really think that if Todoroki was any kind of risk for us, the teachers would let him stay at Yuei ?
- His father is a Hero, Tokoyami replied calmly. You've watched the news like the rest of us. He won't pay for what he did, and neither will his brother.
Cleverer than I thought, birdbrain.
- Well, everyone uses their advantages as best they can, don't they?, said Monoma. One of my uncles is a cop: he gets rid of all the family's speed tickets.
- That's got nothing to do with it, Uraraka said in a low voice. We're not talking about defaulting on a payment, we're talking about someone who gets away with a murder. Many of them.
Bitch.
I suddenly had this terrible urge to go in there and tell them that she'd killed one of their dear, sweet comrades and that they'd all almost died because she'd given away the location of our camp.
- You feel indebted to him for saving you, said Inaza, But Uraraka is right, he killed-
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- Yeah, he went into harm's way and saved my ass while you all were shaking like fucking bitches at school.
Quiet.
- You ain't laughing as much when you're the ones who have to face up to your responsibilities, do you ? I was fucking bleeding in this fucking desert and not one of you thought, 'Oh my God, poor Bakugo is dying all alone, maybe we should go make sure he's alright'!
The venom in his voice surprised me.
- It was Shoto who got off his butt and went to save me, not you. It was Shoto who fought that villain, that All for One, that guy who would have broken us all like twigs one by one if he hadn't gotten in the way. You never thought of that, did you? But no, it's so much easier to blame the one guy who's a bit competent.
- He killed people, Inaza replied calmly. Voluntarily. Not under constraint. There's no justification for that.
I could feel Bakugo's energy becoming more unstable as he grew angrier.
- Do you fucking think that Heroes don't kill people, at least accidentally? Look at your Quirks, I could make you a list of all the ways this could go wrong.
- You have no idea what you're talking about
- You have no idea either
Footsteps.
I felt Bakugo and Inaza walk towards each other until they were face to face.
No one moved to interfere.
- Why are you getting so worked up ? He doesn't care about any of us.
- Cut the crap, he's no worse than you or I
- You're deluding yourself, Bakugo. He doesn't care about you any more than he cares about the rest of us.
Bakugo's energy stung and I knew he was about to make a mistake.
I jerked the door open.
Katsuki and Inaza were standing practically forehead to forehead, black smoke rising from Bakugo's palm and wrapping around his forearm, a light breeze ruffling Inaza's clothes.
In a few steps, I found myself between them, pushing Inaza away with one hand without taking my eyes off him.
- Calm down
The smoke cleared, but it wasn't Katsuki I was talking to.
Inaza's eyes, as dark as two dark wells, darted back and forth between Katsuki and me.
Then they stopped on me and he took a slow step back without turning his back on me.
Someone knocked on the door.
Aizawa, leaning against the door frame, held up a bundle of leaflets.
- If you're done playing, get to work. It's time to find your internships.
*
- You have to stop being an asshole
I looked away.
- Yeah, yeah
- I'm fucking serious. The others think you're some kind of weirdo who's going to go berserk and kill us all in the middle of the night.
I tore off a small piece of gum and rolled it in the palm of my hand.
- ...and what do you think ?
Katsuki's eyes narrowed.
- I think that if it was indeed your idea, a slap from your father will calm you down enough that you will never want to do it again
I smiled.
- Are you talking from experience ?
- Are you ?
- Given your personality, you must have wanted to kill for a long time, but your mother kicked your ass too hard for you to act on it
- Ha ha, very funny
I bent down and took a pen from Katsuki's pencil case.
- His name's 'come back'
- I'm a murderer, not a thief
- That's arguable
I'd followed Katsuki to his room by accident, as much to pass the time as because I was afraid of going back to my Fuinjutsu sanctuary to eat buckets of it.
Nobody would die if I took a little break, right ?
I turned my attention to the pile of paperwork I had to fill out for the internship.
Apparently provisional licences weren't something high school students could get their hands on as easily as in canon.
The Commission had entered into a series of agreements with the Heroic High Schools to allow their students to use their Quirks on the public highway solely as part of their training.
Internships with the Heroes meant that we were under their supervision and jurisdiction - if we made a mistake, it would all fire back on them.
It seems that the Japan of my world wasn't desperate enough to send teenagers into battle because of a lack of funds.
- By the way, why did you choose Hawks ?
- Because I wanted to
- You can just tell me it has to do with one of your magical powers that you want to train or something instead of acting mysterious.
I leaned forward.
- And you choose...?
Katsuki lifted the paper away from me.
- Hey, that's private
But it was too late, I'd already seen it.
- You choose my father ?
Katsuki frowned.
- First of all, I didn't choose anyone, he's the one who sent me the request. Second, after All Might, he's the best hero in the whole country.
Debatable.
- And I'm sure he has a lot to teach me.
True.
- And I don't have to fucking explain myself, I choose who I want.
I put my hands up.
- Easy, mate. No one here wants to hurt you.
Katsuki continued to glare at me.
- By the way, you going to class later?
- I haven't heard anything about another class
- It's something special with All Might, Katsuki continued. He came to talk to me at the end of class this morning.
I was silent and Katsuki continued:
- He told me not to talk about it, but I thought at least you might know about it
I thought the Elite Class was a distinction between rednecks and those with a chance of a future, but it seems it's just a cover....
- What do you think ? Do you believe that All Might wants to take me on as a pupil or something ?
It seems that Katsuki is one of the candidates to be the next bearer of the One for All...
- You might see other people from our class, I say. You'll have to tell me who.
Katsuki looks at me suspiciously.
- Yeah, if you want. But I still don't understand why some other looser could get private lessons and you don't.
Because All Might doesn't trust me and he doesn't want to see his power in my hands...
I shrugged.
- The hazards of life
*
Bakugo arrived at the meeting place second, much to his surprise.
Inaza stood a little to his right, arms crossed.
A curt movement of the chin in greeting was all Katsuki received.
With his hands in his pockets, he dropped to the ground, his shoulders hunched.
Then a head popped out of the earth.
Katsuki let out a scream and rolled backwards to avoid an attack that didn't come, his palm crackling.
Inaza himself was on the alert, legs bent, hand already raised to call upon the wind.
The head popped out of the ground like a mushroom, a jerk, shoulders and then a body followed, as if a human was birthed out of the ground at accelerated speed.
The blond guy chuckled, his hands on his hips, and Katsuki relaxed a little when he saw that he was wearing what looked like a Hero's costume.
Perhaps he was a second-rate Hero who would be assisting All Might in his lessons.
He held out his hand.
- Mirio Togata, third year student
Which Katsuki didn't shake.
Mirio didn't mind and continued to smile.
- Are you also here for All Might's meeting ?
Katsuki and Inaza exchanged a quick glance.
- Yeah
- We are
- Hmm
The strange guy looked at his watch.
- 17:02. He's late.
At the same moment, a shadow fell from the sky, startling the three teenagers.
The ground shook as if it had been hit by an earthquake.
All Might, fists on hips, laughed bosterously, both because it was part of his personality and because the three teenagers had taken up defensive positions, as if expecting to be attacked at any moment.
- Punctuality is a must for any Hero !
He gave them a 2000 megawatt smile, his eyes sweeping over the small gathering.
- Ah, I think we're missing-
- Sorry, I'm late !
The three boys turned to the last arrival.
Dripping with sweat and swimming, she stopped at the edge of their group, hands on her knees.
All Might smiled.
- No problem, Ochaco. We haven't started yet.
*
Author's note :
Who will get the All for One ?
One of them is more interesting for plot reasons but sometimes I want to say fuck it and watch the story get batshit crazy only for my personal entertainment.
Decisions decisions...
Anyway : I will make a huge discount on the power stones needed for the sunday bonus chapter to motivate everyone. 150 POWER STONES = SUNDAY BONUS CHAPTER.
We can absolutely make it.
Either way, if you want to support me/read ahead of the publication schedule, then go check my P@treon, Nar_cisseENG
See you in the next update everyone !