Questions
God. Izuku was not ready to have this conversation with Eri. But he needed to understand her past.
So he wrapped her up in his arms and sat down on the edge of his bed. He took a deep breath.
"Eri... we're going to have to talk about your quirk." He felt her tense up in his arms before she started struggling. He tightened his embrace. Until... she started crying.
"Imouto. Imouto. It's alright." He cooed rubbers circles on her back, and combing his fingers through her hair.
"Y-you're g-gon-na-a th-hin-nk I'm-m a-a m-mon-ns-st-ter-r to-o" she sobbed.
"I promise I won't. I promise you." He pulled her away from his chest so he could look into her teary eyes as he said it. "You are my little sister and I will always love you."
Eri was silent for so long Izuku thought she had fallen asleep. He was just humming a random song as he ran his fingers through her hair.
He was mentally beating himself up. He knew that Eri's past was a sensitive subject. She never even talked about her nightmares. Ugh he never should have asked-
"My quirk rewinds things." She finally answered.
"Hmm?"
"I don't really know how it works.... Mr. Chisaki called me a monster....he also called quirks a disease, that he had to cure." Eri was shaking now. "W-when my q-quirk m-man-nfested I touched my papa. And I killed him."
He was going to kill Chisaki
"Is that how you ended up with Mr. Chisaki?" He asked, starting to massage her shoulders so she would relax.
"Mommy said I had to go live with Grandpa and some of Grandpa's friends found out about my quirk and then Mr. Chisaki took me."
Holy Mother of All Might. He really did not care that Chisaki was Yakuza, Rogue will be his end.
"Imouto. You are so brave. You are not a monster. Okay? You are beautiful and amazing and there is nothing wrong with you." Izuku held his little sister close to his chest as she sobbed.
* * * * * * * * * * * * * * * * * * *
Komekio Ayumi considers herself a lot of things. Caring, motherly, kind. Protective? Hell yeah.
So when Two men showed up at her apartment complex she was the first one to stand up. Her and the other ladies liked to meet up in the complex's common area to talk about their weeks so they were always the first to greet people.
"May I help you two gentlemen?"
"Oh! We are looking for a Momiko Hisashi." Komekio immediately tensed.
"Now why would you be looking for that boy? I can assure you he has done no wrong." She practically hissed.
"Of course ma'am. We are just doing interviews of all the boys that fit the profile of the vigilante we are trying to catch." The one with the short black hair explained.
Komekio was taken aback. "Vigilante? How does that boy fit the profile of a vigilante? Who even are you? Coming around here and asking for Momiko."
"I am Detective Tsukauchi Naomasa and this is Pro hero Eraserhead." Komekio looked at the alleged Pro hero. He looked like a homeless man.
Komekio was ready to yell in frustration when the very boy they were talking about just decided to waltz into the common area, happily talking on the phone.
Komekio narrowed her eyes when she saw his smile. "You talking to that boy again?"
He froze like a deer caught in the headlights. "Uhhhh no?" Her eyes narrowed further. She faintly heard him say 'Bye Todo I'll talk to you later' before he hung up.
Momiko didn't even glance at the two visitors as he skipped over to give Komekio a quick side hug. She pinched his masked cheek in return.
He finally noticed their guests. "Oh. Who are these guys Komekio-san?"
"Detective Tsukauchi Naomasa and Pro hero Eraserhead apparently." Momiko's eyes widened when he heard the words detective and pro hero.
"A Pro hero and Detective in our area? Why?" He asked, just a tad of an incredulous note in his voice.
"We came to interview a Momiko Hisashi, are you him..?" The detective asked. Oh that boy. Komekio could feel his grin as he answered.
"That depends Tsukauchi-san. What's the interview about?" Komekio smacked him upside his head as he laughed.
"Yes. This boy is Momiko Hisashi to answer your question Detective-san." Momiko rested his hand on Komekio's shoulder.
"Do you mind if we go somewhere more private for our interview?" Tsukauchi asked. Momiko shrugged.
"Of course, but, and I don't mean to sound disrespectful, we can't take too long because I was just heading out for work." When the Detective and pro hero started walking away Momiko leaned to whisper in Komekio's ear.
"Ari's upstairs, call me when you go to check on her okay?"
"Of course."
* * * * * * * * * * * * * * * * * * *
Tsukauchi was so done with this investigation. They were having a hell of a time finding candidates for Rogues profile. And once they did they were hard to track down.
Like Momiko, the kid they were currently interviewing. There were nothing of his existence on any file. They had only found him when they heard a couple of mother's gossiping.
The apartment building was actually the third one they had gone too. They had nothing other than a name and description. Oh and the fact that his little sister Ari lived with him.
"So, Momiko-kun. How long has your little sister been living with you?" They had decided to sit outside at a cafe, drinking a cup of coffee while they talked. Although Momiko didn't drink his, instead he kept the mask on.
"About a month and a half ago."
Truth
"Why did you two have to move out?" Ugh, he hated having to ask those kinds of questions. The kids would always tense up.
"Well... where we came from before we were living here wasn't the best of situations. Our caretakers liked to hurt us a lot and so I ran. I ran for away at the first opportunity. And one day by chance I ran into Ari. And I just knew I had to take her back to live with me. The guilt would've been crushing."
Truth
That certainly was enough to make someone become a vigilante. But there had to be more. Why wouldn't this kid become a hero? Surely that background would've made him want to make society better.
"Did you ever try out for a hero school?"
"I've wanted to be a hero my whole life." He admitted sadly.
"So why didn't you become one?"
"I never had a chance. Because of the fact that I was Quirkless."
Truth
Holy Shit. Holy. Shit. This kid has been through the ringer. Quirkless, an abusive household, and now he had to live alone and take care of his sister.
Tsukauchi took a deep breath. He fit Rogues profile perfectly, except he was quirkless. But he would damned if he let a little detail like that help Rogue slip through his fingers. They weren't even sure what Rogues quirk was.
"Are you Rogue?"
The silence seemed to stretch out. It was long and it was tense.
"Me? A vigilante?" His question was followed by a laugh. "I'm sorry but the only type of 'vigilantism' I could do is helping out locally, like dogsitting and shit." He snorted again.
Truth
Tsukauchi smiled in relief. "Thank you for your time today Momiko-kun. We will contact you if we have any further questions." And with that he and Eraserhead stood up and left. Completely oblivious to the smirking boy behind him.
For the second time they were within literal feet of their target and they never even knew.
* * * * * * * * * * * * * * * * * * *
Todoroki Shouto knew emotions weren't his strong suit. He knew that the love his family had wasn't real or healthy.
So when he found himself getting closer and closer to a certain greenette who always wore a mask he was confused.
The bastard (his father) said all relationships that didn't help his legacy of beating All Might were useless...but Momiko wasn't useless.
Momiko was strong and sweet. He took care of Ari all by himself. He took college level classes. He even had a job.
And best of all, Momiko was Todoroki's only friend.
He put up with Todoroki messaging him at the ungodly times of night. He stayed on phones with him until one of them had to hang up. He went out to lunch with Todoroki if he just needed to escape for a little while.
And wow he had never realised how long a school day was before.
It was his first day at U.A., the other kids were socializing with their new classmates. One boy that resembled Ingenium was arguing with a blonde boy. The rest were up around the room talking.
Todoroki however was sitting in his seat in the back wishing he could tell Momiko about U.A. The boy would've been fascinated.
He was quite surprised when his teacher flopped into the classroom in a bright yellow sleeping bag. He introduced himself as Aizawa Shouta and told everyone to head to the locker rooms to get changed.
Todoroki did so silently, deciding that even though Momiko had been talking to him about using his father's side he would only use his mother's. Like he had already planned
"Today we will be doing quirk assessments. Like your old physical assessment tests but instead you'll be using your quirks." He went on to explain how he could tech however he wanted and Todoroki may have tuned him out.
"Bakugou, since you scored highest why don't you try it first." The blond kid from earlier stalked up to their teachers, taking the offered ball from him. He wound up like a pitcher at a baseball game before sending it off with a blast.
"705.2" Aizawa announced. Excited murmuring came from the class. Somebody made the mistake of calling the exercise fun and Aizawa promptly announced the person in last place would be expelled.
The rest of the tests went by pretty quickly. Todoroki landed in second place overall when it was done, Yaoyorozu placing first. He gave a stiff congratulations before going to change out of his gym uniform with the rest of the boys.
He sat alone at lunch enjoying the peace but missing Ari's excited blabbering that came with meal times.
....Maybe he had been spending too much time around them...
* * * * * * * * * * * * * * * * * * *
"Momiko Hisashi I swear to fuck if you don't get out of my office I'll tell Ari you have a boyfriend." Izuku froze. That was not a light threat.
"But Mizuki!" He whined. "I need a harder story! You've been giving me all the easy ones since Ari came to live with me!"
"Are you pouting??" Her brown eyes sparkled with disbelief. "Everyone in this building would be ecstatic if I gave them less work." With a groan Mizuki covered her face with her hands. "Fine! Have the one about Stain. Even with my quirk I can't figure out how to word it."
"Thanks Mizuki!" Izuku grabbed the file and skipped out of her office. He had been wanting this for a while, it would help with him tracking the Hero Killer. Although he probably already had all of the information.
Shit. Shit. Shit. To say Izuku was pissed would be an understatement. He thought he had at least a month until the USJ. But, noooo. U.A. just had to be difficult and arrange it for the second week of school.
He's just lucky Todoroki told him in time or he would've been too late.
Do they have any idea how long it took to set up good alibis? It was like they were trying to make it hard for him. Stupid Rat.
Well... it might actually be Izuku's fault. Maybe they were changing it because he warned them. Trying to confuse the League or some shit.
This was a whole headache. It always came back to the League. Assholes.
'Okay. Calm down. You're almost home and then Eri could raise your spirits.' he thought to himself as he took a deep breath. If he walked into the apartment mad she would ask what was wrong.
"Eri! I'm home!" He announced, pulling off his mask. The little girl rushed over to him and tackled him around the waist.
"Izu-nii! Welcome back!" She crowed happily. Out of habit he picked her up and placed her on his hip.
"How was your day Imouto?"
"It was good, kinda boring though...." She trailed off with a pout.
"How about we go out for dinner tonight then?"
"Yeah!"
Izuku laughed at her enthusiasm and set her down. Izuku would make sure his home was as safe as possible for as long as possible. It was his only hideout from the world. His safe little bubble.
Even the League wouldn't change that.