General Shirai was a tall man.

Even when he was sitting behind his desk with his hands folded before his face, everyone could easily see as much.

His pale blonde hair bordered on white, and his equally pale blue eyes were sullen under low-set lids, yet alight with a menacing sparkle.

"Do you know why I sent for you ?"

It was eight in the morning, I hadn't slept in thirty-six hours - my father definitely more - dried blood caked my skin, blood clotted my hair so much I wanted to shave until bald, and I really, really didn't feel like playing riddles.

Neither did my father, clearly, because he didn't answer.

The General's office was large and spacious, a glass wall on the right overlooking Tokyo.

It wasn't a pretty sight.

"There's no need to be so tense", Gunhee grumbled, a smile in his voice, sitting nonchalantly in one of the four leather chairs behind us.

Easy to say when soldiers haven't dragged you from the hospital to the defense headquarters as if you were a criminal.

Under other circumstances I would've enjoyed a free tour, but since they'd cut us off in the middle of our meal - and especially in the middle of our conversation - I wasn't in a friendly mood.

I could see only one reason for this early summon, and that definitely had to do with being executed for some bullshit like "failing to protect all civilians as required by your Hero Contract".

I wasn't even a Hero, but this was the kind of catastrophic event to which I was accustomed.

The worst was still being hit by a point blank missile eleven years ago.

Oh, and also the fact that All for One had gouged out Aizawa's eyes.

How do you steal eyes anyway ? Do you screw them in and out like light bulbs ?

I never thought All for One the electrican kind of guy.

That's it, exhaustion is starting to make me delirious.

My eyes went back to the window.

Ten - no, eleven - floors separated us from the ground.

I hope Dad has enough gas for a Hell Flame.

With a bit of luck, we'd make it to China.

Then the Communists would get us.

Was China even Communist ? And was China the China I knew ?

Ever since the chaotic map of Europe Teka had shown me, I'd had no trust in my geographical knowledge.

The continents were the same, so surely-

"I wanted to thank you personnaly"

My eyes snapped to the General.

A micro-spasm flashed across my face : I felt my left eyebrow twitch in incomprehension.

If I'd had less decorum, I would have turned to my father, thumb up at myself, with the most bewildered look this world had ever seen.

"We don't deserve these thanks", Dad answered calmly.

I knew that, for him, we'd done nothing worthy of praise.

And I wholeheartedly agreed.

Shirai quietly studied us over his clasped hands.

He sighed, looked down at the scattered papers on his desk, and picked one up.

"Last night, at 5:06 a.m., you, Mr. Todoroki, and your son, here today with us, went to Tokyo to stop Dabi, a criminal under house arrest, while he was fighting Hawks, a Hero. Correct ?"

Dad showed no emotion.

"Correct"

"You were then the first responders to last night's terrorist attack. You tracked down Hero Eraserhead to rescue him, and then you faced the perpetrator of the attack, just the two of you, alone, to prevent him from causing any more harm. Correct ?"

"Correct"

"You managed to evacuate a neighborhood of precisely 722 civilians in merely minutes before it was obliterated. You gathered them at the foot of Atago-Jinja and begun organizing them when no less than" He glanced at his sheet "112 creatures, according to our initial count, were apparated at the shrin"

"It wasn't 112", I said. "At least not at first. They came in waves"

First 38, then so many I couldn't count.

The General looked up at me.

"What difference does it make ?"

He spoke harshly, yet I could tell he was genuinely surprised.

Saying there were 112 Nomus suggested that we'd been overwhelmed all at once, not gradually.

112 suggested that we had no alternative but failure, that the deaths of all those civilians weren't our fault, that we shouldn't feel guilty.

I shrugged.

"I like precision"

The General nodded briefly and resumed his reading.

Dad, on the other hand, shot me a sideways glance, and I knew he understood what I was getting at.

"You stood your ground, alone and without backup, for nearly 40 minutes in hope to save the civilians. You fought relentlessly against creatures that single-handedly wiped out entire sectors of our city"

He put down his paper and looked at us one by one.

"What, in this account, doesn't deserve appreciation ?"

I felt as I were both scolded and praised simultaneously.

"Don't be like that, General," Gunhee said. "The Todoroki are extremely modest"

This tale has been unlawfully lifted from Royal Road. If you spot it on Amazon, please report it.

Shirai mouth's opened, but my father cut him off:

"We merely did what we had to do. I'm sure there are dozens of Heroes and policemen out there who have done at least as much as we have, but who will never get the credit and appreciation they should"

He didn't look at me, but I knew he was talking to me.

Shirai scrutinized my father for a few moments, his mouth resting against his closed hands, pensive.

"... admittedly"

He sank back into his chair, his features smoothing somewhat, though his gaze remained steely.

"I have very little free time, as you can imagine. I'm sorry to have sent for you so early in the morning and not have left you time to, ah, freshen up first"

He shook his hand towards our clothes.

We were still dirty and covered in blood.

In fact, I had the impression that my bloodied footprints were leaving traces on the grey carpet.

- Even if you don't want me to thank you, let me offer you breakfast"

He pressed the microphone on his intercom.

"You may enter"

Moments later, a hearty breakfast for four was placed on the coffee table and we all gathered around it.

I sat across from my father and next to Gunhee, while the general sat in my diagonal.

"Please, go ahead"

He motioned for us to get started, helping himself to eggs and toast with a cup of coffee.

Dad ate immediately ; I had the impression he had no regard for the General nor his rank.

I slowly filled my plate and poured myself a cup of tea, knowing full well that the little caffeine in it wouldn't keep manage to keep me awake once we got home.

I could have used a genjutsu, but I was too tired for that, so I settled for the good old technique of gulping everything down in one fell swoop, tea included.

I gulped hard.

My stomach gurgled loudly and painfully as if I were about to have diarrhea.

Gunhee and Shirai both looked up at me, the former with an amused expression and the latter with raised eyebrows.

I put my hand on my stomach, my eyes squinting like a crescent moon as if I were smiling.

I think something went down wrong

"The food was nice, thank you"

Dad was buttering a piece of bread, a quiet laugh shaking his shoulders.

I knew he knew I was going to have the shit of my life when we got home.

"You're very fast," Shirai said.

I didn't know if he was waiting for an answer, so I shrugged.

"There are faster people than me"

Gunhee laughed.

"What happened to the confident, reckless teen who told me merely six months ago that he'd once day open the sea in two ?"

I shrugged again, though the memory of the Yuei's championship amused me to no end.

So much had happened since then.

It seemed as if it were a decade ago.

"I was young"

And extremely stupid, and extremely arrogant, and extremely self-centered.

"You were in charge of evacuating the civilians, weren't you ? Not that I don't think you're up to the task, Mr. Todoroki, it's just that the speed with which events unfolded suggests that a Quirk was involved"

"No offense taken", Dad replied indifferently

Shirai focused back on me.

"I'd like to know how you managed to evacuate the civilians so quickly. On such short notice, it's nothing short of a miracle"

I humbly accepted the praise, for praise was better than public execution.

"I ran"

"I beg your pardon ?"

"I ran", I insisted.

Then, under his persistent gaze, I added :

"I ran very fast"

The general looked at me for a long moment without blinking, completely stunned.

Gunhee, on the other hand, was covering his mouth with his hand, although his narrowed eyes shone with mischief.

Dad looked at me over his cup of coffee, amused.

"He's very tired" he explained. "He always gets a little dizzy when he hasn't slept in a while"

I wanted to argue that I really hadn't done anything but run, but my attention was drawn to the golden rays of the rising sun, finally breaking through the clouds.

The rain seemed to have stopped.

I really, really wanted to sleep.

Does God Mode mean we can use the sun's energy ?

A super attack like a solar flare would be pretty dope.

But how do you connect to the sun ?

My eyes went back to my father, who seemed to be in deep discussion with the other two.

I'd ask him later : he always had an answer for everything.

"And what about you ?"

The three of them looked at me intently.

"What about me ?"

"As a token of my gratitude, I'd like to offer you something - within reason, of course. Tell me what you'd like"

The rational, strategic part of my almost asleep brain screamed at me that there were a thousand things I could ask the Supreme Commander of our armies that would give me a major advantage in the future, especially for my big plan of global terrorism - but no matter how hard I tried to rack my (empty) brain, there was only one thing I really wanted.

*

A/N : If you want to read ahead of schedule, go check the story's P@treon, Nar_cisseENG

And see you in the next update everyone !