Just Deserts: Revised Edition (MHA, OC) - Chapter 12 - Final
Higawara Manor, Musutafu.
Musutafu hadn’t changed in any perceivable way upon the time of our return, but even so, I couldn’t help but think that there was something different about it—or at least, in the frame of reference I was viewing it from. Perhaps my understanding of the world had shifted with Nanami’s return to this city, or maybe it was the removal of that superposition of both not-dead and not-alive that she had existed within. The dark cloud of her fate had been dispelled, but now it had been replaced by a smaller but no less daunting one.
I was under house arrest for the next two days, at which point I’d apparently be meeting with someone—the identity, association, or authority of which was still unknown—to find out exactly how badly I had managed to ruin my future. But that wasn’t the only storm cloud hanging overhead because as the familiar streets of Musutafu shifted past the windows of the limousine, I was brought ever closer to a conversation I’d been running away from for eight years.
“Everything looks so different now,” Nanami said, marvelling at the world outside the glass. “I know I’ve been on this street before, but I don’t recognise a single shop.”
“The two of us can go browsing once we all get settled in, and you can familiarise yourself with everything,” Hayami said, leaning to the side enough to look into the back seat. “We’ll need to sort you out a wardrobe as well—I’ll be glad to see the end of those clothes.”
The clothes in question were nothing more than a pair of grey sweatpants she’d commandeered from the hospital stock and the black shirt with the ‘I-Expo’ logo stamped across the breast that I’d won during the preview. I’d finally managed to recover a new set of my clothes from the hotel room, but both my phone and wallet had remained lost beneath the rubble at the base of the tower—if they ever did get found, I wasn’t sure they’d make it out of an evidence locker. The news of David Shields and the attack on the I-Island central tower had made its way to a worldwide audience. But Nanami’s return from the dead was starting to gain some traction against it, the usurpation of its title of the first real infringement of law to have occurred in the two decades where crime had been frozen at zero percent.
The arrest of Susumu Hoshi and Katsumi Fueki had been a footnote in everything, but their roles weren’t actually known to the public, and I’d seen all types of odd speculation. Someone had taken a candid picture of Nanami and Hayami outside the hospital, and it had soon found its way into the news alongside the rest of the ones who’d been even tangentially present during the attack. I’d seen dozens of candid pictures depicting Eijiro, Mina, Tsuyu and Momo as they made their way back onto the private jet, as well as a few that had caught the other members of the U.A. contingent in the process of being escorted off the island. I’d managed to avoid the attention of the public almost completely.
The only photo where I was actually present had been in the moments after I’d emerged from Susumu Hoshi’s building. I’d been caught in the background of a picture focused on capturing All Might and Mirio as they spoke to one another, my trousers recovered, but my face angled towards something out of frame, and backlit by the glow of the ambulance lights. Shoto, Tenya and Midoriya had drawn most of the attention out of the group, with their primary roles in combating Wolfram being the anchor point of the whole story after one of the staff members of the tower had actually leaked some of the security footage before the investigation had even had a chance to really pick up.
More and more of the U.A. Students who’d been present were being dragged into the story as their names were caught by the media and then broadcast out across the world. But there was one person who was talked about in just about every news segment of all the airing stations—Melissa Shields, the daughter of the man who’d been behind all of the violence. The media figures covering the story had been far less charitable with how they depicted her, despite all of the evidence pointing towards both her innocence and her direct contribution towards saving the island. It was exactly as All Might had said back at the police station; with her father’s actions, Melissa no longer seemed welcome to exist there without her last name tarnishing the great legacy of the floating marvel that was I-Island. I’d seen a few minutes of an interview with the Headmaster of the I-Island Academy, and though the man hadn’t said it outright, it was clear that the enrollment of Melissa Shields wasn’t as secure as it once had been.
“Finally, something that hasn’t changed,” Nanami said, “I can’t believe it’s been eight years since I was here last—it’s even bigger than I remember.”
As the limousine turned in through the open gate of the manor, I caught a flash of yellow hair in the distance, and my grip on the armrest tightened—he was already waiting for us, just like Hayami had said. The car came to a stop in the courtyard, and I was the last person to emerge from the vehicle, moving with a deliberate slowness that was probably visible to anyone who’d been paying enough attention to notice. In contrast, Nanami had already crossed the pathway, carried along with a speed borne of great excitement and caught Sajin around the waist in a hug that the man clearly hadn’t been expecting.
“It’s good to see you back here, safe and sound,” Sajin said with a quiet laugh. “You know, if you were going to be so late to the beach, you could have called us first.”
“Hisoka already made that joke,” Nanami accused, pulling back from the hug. “Sajin, it’s been eight years—how come neither of you have learned how to be funny?”
Hayami covered her mouth in an effort to muffle her laughter, while Sajin was far less reserved as he laughed out loud.
“It’s like clockwork, huh?” Sajin said, shaking his head. “Somehow, I’d actually forgotten just how much of a brat you were.”
The man gave her a comforting squeeze of the shoulder as she let go entirely and then glanced up over her head. I found myself making eye contact with him, but it lasted for only a moment as I found myself entirely unable to sustain it.
#
Higawara Manor, Musutafu.
The door shut, and with it, I found myself alone with Sajin for the first time since I’d returned to Musutafu. I had spent so much time thinking about this conversation, both as a hypothetical and very distant future possibility and, within the last few days, as something I knew I wouldn’t be able to avoid. Sajin crossed the room to lean against the edge of the table I was already sitting at, and then opened his mouth—
“The night I ran away, you asked me to make you a promise,” I said, speaking up before he could. “It has probably become quite obvious at this point, but I lied to you.”
“I suppose you did,” Sajin agreed. “You want to tell me how you found her?”
I’d had quite a bit of practice over the last couple of days in retelling the broad strokes of my investigation, first to Toshinori Yagi at the police station, and then to Hayami, Ume and Minato soon after at the hospital. In both of those discussions, there had been a great many things I’d been forced to leave out, some in the interest of avoiding branching off into all of the tangents and dead ends I’d run into along the way, while others because I couldn’t quite stand how tense Hayami had become or bring myself to admit to Minato Yaoyorozu that I’d originally come to his home to kill him. But this time, I spared no detail and recounted all of my failures along the way.
I spoke about the seven ships I’d set out to investigate. I spoke about the archive of case files I’d been working with, and how I’d built up an entirely mistaken theory of Minato Yaoyorozu’s involvement. I spoke about the plan to reconnect Ume Yaoyorozu and Hayami in order to gain access to their residence, and how I’d allowed myself to believe that force was the most appropriate way to go about discerning his involvement. I spoke about how a single new piece of evidence had shifted my perspective on the entire case. I told him about the five people who’d been sitting in the restaurant on the night of Nanami’s tenth birthday, and how the man that Minato Yaoyorozu had seen in Shimoda had been one of them. I spoke about the laws I’d broken to gain entry to the Bacta Medical Centre and in turn, high-level access to the Quirk Registrar. I spoke about discovering Susumu Hoshi’s face amongst the countless entries, and how I’d used it to narrow the focus down to I-Island.
I spoke about the crimes I’d committed and the lies I’d told to retrieve the archived footage of the Shimoda docks. I spoke about how I’d observed Kaito Habiki emerging from the water, and how I’d discovered his name in a woman’s phone after I’d trespassed inside her home. I spoke about the manipulation I’d used on Sajin himself in an attempt to gain access to Fukuoka, and how I’d tailored my performance at the U.A. Sports Festival to appeal to a very specific Hero Agency. I spoke about how I’d gone there with the sole intention of locating Kimiko Habiki, and how I’d twisted Velcrow’s investigation towards my own ends. I spoke about how I’d forcibly recruited Inaba Tanabe to assist me in stealing the information directly from the woman’s mind and I spoke about how I’d provided a way for Inaba and Natsu to escape in the aftermath.
I spoke about how Hayami had reached out and invited me on a trip with her to I-Island and how I’d readily agreed, not because it would be a chance to bond with her, but that it would bring me closer to my goal. I spoke about inviting my classmates with me to make it easier to slip away from the group and my initial plan to capture Susumu Hoshi after the reception dinner. I spoke of how David Shields planned attack on the tower had ruined all of my careful machinations and how I’d abducted him amidst the ongoing battle with Wolfram. I spoke of how I abandoned my friends to fight against Wolfram alone and how I’d forced my captive to take me to Susumu Hoshi.
I spoke of how I’d found Nanami far below the street level and how I’d genuinely considered murdering the woman who’d placed her there.
“A little while back, we spoke about the distinction between an act of heroism and the actions of a vigilante,” Sajin said, in the aftermath of my story. “Do you remember that?”
“I remember,” I said.
“You weren’t talking about using your quirk without permission,” Sajin said, “You were talking about all of this.”
I nodded, just once.
“While I will always consider my goal to be just, it’s clear that the actions I took to accomplish it can not be justified,” I said in reference to that very same conversation. “I have crossed the boundary lines that a hero acts within, and I did so without ever possessing the authority to be one to begin with; from an objective standpoint, there is only one conclusion that could be drawn—”
—Hisoka Higawara is a vigilante. The words never made it all the way from my mouth, but there wasn’t any real way that the message could have been misconstrued. Sajin closed his eyes, and the two of us sat in silence for a long while, broken only by the distant sound of Nanami’s voice calling something out from downstairs. The table creaked as Sajin leaned more of his weight against it—
“I made a mistake by forcing you to make that promise back then—it might be the biggest one I’ve ever made,” Sajin said, “You were the only one in the entire world who believed she was still alive, and I tried to get you to turn your attention to something safer.”
Sajin gripped at his own neck for a moment, the motion carrying a visible unease that I’d never seen in the man before—then he brought it up to grasp at the bridge of his nose, fingers digging into the skin at the tightness of his grip.
“I thought I was doing you a favour by forcing you to try and move past it,” Sajin said in what sounded like genuine frustration. “But if you’d actually listened to me, then that girl wouldn’t be running around downstairs making a mess of Hayami’s kitchen.”
“Everyone else said the same exact thing you did,” I murmured. “So it’s unlikely that you were wrong for saying it.”
“You didn’t need me to say what everyone else was already saying; you needed someone with the strength and perseverance to keep on working,” Sajin managed, “I should have been there to show you the right way to do this, but instead, the only thing I did was encourage you to give up.”
“You were there for me,” I said, eyes on the floor between my feet. “There were so many times when I was confused, or when I just didn’t know what to do, and every time I would ask myself what you would do if you were there—”
“Hisoka,” Sajin said.
“It’s true,” I murmured.
Sajin reached out and took hold of my shoulder—I wasn’t sure if the tremor that rippled out from the contact was a result of his grip or if I’d once again lost my fight for stillness, but perhaps the distinction no longer mattered. The touch was comforting, as it always was, and I wondered if a person so rotten really deserved such care.
“I won’t lie anymore,” I mumbled.
“Maybe you’ve done some things you shouldn’t have, but that’s not all you are, Hisoka,” Sajin said, tightening his grip on my shoulder. “I’ve never doubted that you are a good kid at heart, and even a thousand lies wouldn’t make me any less proud of you.”
“Sorry, Uncle Sajin,” I said, rubbing at the wetness clinging to my cheeks. “It might have been more than a thousand.”
“Nanami was probably right,” Sajin said with a shaky laugh. “Neither of us is all that funny.”
#
Higawara Manor, Musutafu.
I’d known who had come to visit from the moment the vehicle had turned into our driveway, though I’d needed to get enough sand into the interior to actually see who was driving on account of the tinted windows. Hayami and Nanami were both in the city for a series of doctor appointments and then the promised window shopping while I’d been forced to remain at the manor due to the nature of my house arrest—that was something that had made me far more anxious than I had expected. This visit was ostensibly the event that would be revealing exactly how long my punishment would last, and whether it needed to be amended, extended or worse.
“Young Higawara,” Toshinori said as he ascended the front stairs. “It’s good to see you once again.”
“Good morning, All Might,” I said, “I’m sorry, but Hayami and Nanami are both out right now—will my guardian need to be present?”
“I don’t think that will be a problem for the moment,” Toshinori admitted, “I’m afraid we have quite a bit to talk about—some of it is rather sensitive.”
“I understand,” I said, “Please come in.”
The man entered at my invitation, and I led him through to the sitting room where Hayami tended to bring most of our guests. I made use of the rarely used manners that she had drilled into me long ago for playing host to a guest, by offering, then bringing out refreshments. Then, once I’d checked all of the tasks off my mental list I returned to sit across from him at the coffee table.
“Thank you, Young Higawara,” Toshinori said, sipping at his tea. “If I may ask—how is Miss Kureta settling in?”
I made a show of tasting the tea that I’d had no real intention of drinking just to spend a moment longer considering the question.
“She cries a lot when she is on her own, and I often find her outside at night,” I said, “Nanami smiles a lot more when others are around, but I don’t think it’s been very easy for her so far.”
“I—yes, I suppose it won’t have been,” Toshinori said with a grave nod. “It’s a measure of her strength that she can still smile even after what she has been through.”
“I think so as well,” I said in agreement. “Forgive me for being blunt, but has my enrollment at U.A. High School been terminated?”
“The possibility was brought up for consideration during our most recent faculty meeting,” Toshinori said, glancing up at the ceiling for a moment. “Several of your classmates arrived at the school grounds after learning about your impending punishment, and Principal Nezu was kind enough to allow them the opportunity to speak in your defence.”
My phone was still somewhere on I-Island, and even if it hadn’t been, my right to use electronic communications devices or computers had been temporarily rescinded in the wake of my illegal access of government databases.
“I haven’t spoken to any of them since the tower,” I said, glancing down at the table. “How did they find out?”
“I believe Midnight informed Miss Ashido about the topic of discussion, and from there the information spread,” Toshinori said, “Though everyone present took the chance to speak, it was Young Kirishima, and Miss Hagakure whose spirited defence of your character that seemed to spurn the Principal to a decision.”
“I see,” I murmured.
“To answer your original question more directly, it was decided that terminating your enrollment would not serve to benefit anyone involved.” Toshinori said, “Your education will continue, Young Higawara, though you should know that we will be watching you with far more scrutiny.”
That was far more consideration then I probably deserved, given half the things I done—and there was something that must have been relief rising up in my chest at the outcome. I’d been so certain of where my actions had driven me and how fractured my future had become, but though I’d shown myself as unworthy of their trust, it was being extended once again.
“Thank you,” I said, hands knotted in the thighs of my pants, “I really do want to be a hero.”
“I haven’t done anywhere near enough for you to have need of thanking me,” Toshinori said, “Instead, you should take that sentiment and share it with your friends and upperclassmen.”
“I will,” I said.
“Very good, the restrictions will be lifted upon your return to school, but keep in mind that you are still expected to attend the summer training camp in five days time,” Toshinori said, “Make sure you have readied everything you might need for that, and if there are any preparations you need to make with your family, it would be wise to handle them sooner rather than later.”
That was something I’d given almost no thought to, because I’d long since assumed that the aftermath of capturing Susumu Hoshi would have terminated any chance I had of staying at U.A. High School—worse, perhaps, was the idea of leaving Nanami here, unprotected for the duration of that training camp.
“We will come back to the topic of your education if you have further questions, but I would like to touch upon one of the other topics of importance,” Toshinori said, before gently clapping his hands together. “First, it would be prudent to tell you that I took your advice and spoke with the Madam President; I can say with certainty that I’ve never seen her look quite as startled as when I explained to her what you told me.”
There was no way to know the time line for those events, but if Toru Hagakure was speaking up in my defense then she either didn’t know about this yet, or she did know, and my strategy for solving the situation was something she had ended up appreciating the outcome of.
“We have begun working together in a rather tentative, but hopeful arrangement and though we are still in the nascent stages, it seems to be quite promising so far,” Toshinori admitted, “To that end, she has revealed to me several troubling pieces of information that I wasn’t aware of—but I’m getting off topic.”
Toshinori shook his head for a moment, as if to recenter himself on the present, and then cleared his throat.
“Young Higawara, there were several subtle factors about the attack on I-Island that have come to my attention, and their existence reveals a connection to a man I have been searching for information about for a very long time,” Toshinori said, reaching over to touch the left side of his torso. “It will not make sense to you yet, but Wolfram, the villain who headed the attack, was in possession of more than one quirk—and he wasn’t the only one on I-Island to share that trait.”
“Katsumi Fueki,” I guessed.
“Yes, but it wasn’t until yesterday that we actually discovered that,” Toshinori admitted, “If you don’t mind—how is it that you were able to determine it?”
“It was a guess based on the limited number of villains present, her role as a member of a quirk trafficking organisation and her inability to use both factors of her quirk at the same time,” I said, then after a moment of pause. “Nomu had multiple quirks as well.”
“Yes—he did,” Toshinori said at length. “Perhaps I should have expected you to make that connection.”
“Is the man you are looking for also a member of the League of Villains?” I asked, “You said a long time, so it’s most likely not anyone who participated in the invasion of the USJ.”
“That is something I would very much like to know the answer to,” Toshinori said, shaking his head. “At the very least, the existence of Nomu is enough for me to suspect some connection between them.”
“I see,” I said, “What is the reason you would speak to me about this?”
“Ah, we’ve come to the main topic, albeit in a roundabout sort of way,” Toshinori said, “Katsumi Fueki and Susumu Hoshi have refused to answer any questions since their incarceration within Tartarus—but the latter of the two has recently made a request.”
Considering what I’d seen of Susumu Hoshi clinging to her in that basement and how she’d grown distressed after they’d been separated, I thought I might have some idea of what it was.
“Susumu Hoshi wants to see Nanami,” I said, in understanding. “You think that she might answer your questions if you allow it.”
“You are as sharp as ever, Young Higawara; that is the request she made,” Toshinori said, searching my face. “The chance that Miss Hoshi will ever be allowed in the same vicinity of Miss Kureta is entirely non-existent, but there was one other name attached to her request.”
That the name in question had been mine didn’t even need to be said.
“What are you asking me to do?” I asked.
“On behalf of both myself, and the Madam President of the Public Health Safety Commission, I am asking you to accompany us to Tartarus and speak with Susumu Hoshi,” Toshinori said. “Even if she doesn’t end up saying anything to you at all, or if she has no connection with the man I’m searching for—I must ask that you please consider my unfair request.”
The reality of the situation was that I couldn’t deny the request, even if I had wanted to. Right now, only three of the five people who’d been involved in taking Nanami were accounted for—Kaito Habiki was dead, while Susumu Hoshi and Katsumi Fueki were both in Tartarus—and so there were still two potential threats to her well-being. Akamai Hiro and Daruma Ujiko were still out there somewhere, and until they were dealt with, she could never be truly safe. I had my own questions for Susumu Hoshi, and accepting this request was most likely the only chance I was ever going to get to speak with her again.
“In return for doing this, I require two conditions to be met,” I said, “The first is that I would like to be alone when I speak with her, and the second is permission to use my quirk in front of her.”
The tale has been illicitly lifted; should you spot it on Amazon, report the violation.
“I believe the first condition is something we were already considering, but the room will be monitored by extensive security cameras and sensor equipment,” Toshinori said, “As for the second one, I’m not certain I have the authority to sign off on it, and even if I did, I must admit I am wary to consider it.”
“My word probably doesn’t mean much at this point, but I have no intention of harming her.” I said, “They spent a very long time together, and even after everything that she did, Nanami still seems to care for her.”
“There is strength in holding empathy for even those who have wronged you, but I feel this may go far beyond what even the most compassionate could tolerate,” Toshinori said, with another sigh. “Your word means much more than you might believe, Young Higawara—if this is to go ahead, I will return here in two days’ time to pick you up, and it will be with your two conditions having been met.”
“Thank you,” I said.
“I should be thanking you, but instead, I have but one more request to ask of you—though perhaps this one would be better aimed at Miss Kureta,” Toshinori said, taking up his tea again. “You may not be aware, but David Shields was a close friend of mine for very many years, and after everything that has happened, his daughter has been asked to leave the island.”
Toshinori sipped at his tea for a moment, then carefully placed it back down.
“I’ve very recently taken Melissa in, and she will be staying in Musutafu for the foreseeable future—she has expressed a desire to speak with Miss Kureta and to apologize for the part her father unknowingly played in those events,” Toshinori said, meeting my gaze. “I know this may be asking too much after everything she has been through, but I would like your opinion on whether this is something Melissa should pursue, or if it would be better for her to keep her distance.”
I considered the chain of connection that tied Melissa Shields, to her father, and in turn, her fathers complete lack of knowledge about the real source of where the base for his serum was actually coming from. It was too far removed for it to feel like much of anything for me—and it occurred to me that while they had been two dozen meters away from one another at one point, All Might had never actually met Nanami Kureta.
“I will make sure to ask her when she returns, but I’m almost certain that Nanami would be happy to meet with her.” I said, “Did you have a date in mind?”
“I didn’t, but would tomorrow be too soon for something like this?” Toshinori asked, “Melissa hasn’t seen anyone other than myself for several days, and I’m beginning to worry about her.”
“It should be fine,” I said, “If you leave a contact number before you leave, I’ll confirm it with you once they return.”
“Thank you, Young Higawara, that is of great relief,” Toshinori said, “There is much to do to prepare for the coming days, but if you have any more questions for me, I would be happy to answer them while I’m here.”
#
Higawara Manor, Musutafu.
Hayami seemed quite uneasy about my inability to tell her exactly where I would be going tomorrow, but the fact that All Might was the one who would be accompanying me did a lot to relieve her concerns. Finding out that I hadn’t been expelled had come as a great relief to both her and Sajin. Predictably, Nanami had been entirely unfazed by the knowledge that Melissa Shields would be coming to visit her, and even after I’d made an effort to explain the connection between her father and the blood used in the Quirk Upgrader she had remained entirely ambivalent over it—the second I’d mentioned that she was All Might’s niece, however, the polite interest had turned into genuine excitement.
“—no way, that’s terrible,” Nanami insisted. “You don’t even have the super bendy-fingers?”
“Just regular bendy-ones,” Melissa said, wriggling her fingers about in the air. “Sorry to disappoint.”
“Maybe you just have something that you don’t know about,” Nanami decided, “Like your eyelashes are all one millimetre longer than they should be—here, take my hand.”
I watched out of the corner of my eye as Melissa studied the offered hand for a moment before taking it—it was clear that she already knew what Nanami’s quirk was, though that was pretty much impossible to miss given how public the story had become.
“Ta-da—no, wait, nothing happened,” Nanami said, “Wiggle your fingers again just to make sure—no?”
“I’m afraid not,” Melissa said, smiling. “That does feel really nice, though—like I’m suddenly filled with energy.”
“That part of my quirk is from my mum,” Nanami said, turning the girl’s hand over to personally vet each and every one of her fingers. “It’s not exactly the same, but it’s pretty close—she would increase the energy levels and emotional receptivity of whoever she was touching, and you’d feel really buzzed when she did it.”
“Just like this?” Melissa asked.
“Not as much because my quirk is a lot stronger than hers was,” Nanami said, shaking her head. “My dad had a blood-based quirk like me, and he’d slowly improve the condition of whatever he was touching until it was perfect—his one worked on everything, but mine only works on people.”
“So it all comes together to amplify the quirk of whoever you’re in contact with?” Melissa said, “You really do have an amazing quirk.”
“You bet,” Nanami preened. “Hisoka—are you hearing all these nice things she keeps saying to me? You better be taking notes.”
Melissa laughed at the comment, or perhaps just the confidence in which it was said—it was a remarkable change from the shadow that had been hanging over her when she’d first arrived at the doorstep of the manor. The anxiety, worry, and fear of how she would be received had been readable in her body language at a glance, but the hurricane of positivity that Nanami was capable of tapping into had washed it all away within minutes of the first exchange of words.
“I’ll make sure to adjust how I respond in the future,” I agreed. “Melissa, have you spoken to any of the others since you arrived?”
“I haven’t,” Melissa said, glancing down at her lap. “Uncle Might said I should try contacting Deku, but I’m kind of worried that he won’t want to see me anymore.”
“Uncle Might,” Nanami guffawed. “You don’t really call him that, do you?”
“I really do,” Melissa admitted. “It’s a bit silly, but he thinks it’s really funny.”
“Izuku Midoriya is one of the most empathetic people in our class,” I said, “It is my estimation that he would be quite touched to be the first person you reached out to.”
“Then maybe I will,” Melissa said, smiling a bit. “Nanami? Maybe I shouldn’t ask, but have you considered trying for a prosthetic?”
“The doctor was talking about that yesterday,” Nanami said, scrunching her face up. “They had a bunch of these old ones stacked in a drawer, but they were all gross.”
“The custom-made ones can be expensive, but some of them are actually really impressive,” Melissa said, still a bit hesitant at the topic she’d brought up. “I—I’ve never really tried to make one before, but I think it’s something I could do.”
“You can’t just make a prosthetic arm—can you?” Nanami said. “That’s totally weird.”
“I was a third year at the I-Island Academy, and crafting support items was something we spent almost all of our time doing,” Melissa said, “I’ve made all sorts of things before, and a lot of them were way larger, and more complex than a prosthetic arm—so I think I could do it.”
“Then I want a huge robot arm—like something from a mecha anime,” Nanami decided. “That way, I can pick Hisoka up when he’s being annoying.”
“A prosthetic that large would weigh too much for you to carry,” I said, “You also wouldn’t be able to pick me up with one arm either—I’m too heavy.”
Nanami stretched out her injured arm, pointed it in my direction and then scrunched her face up in concentration. I was left with the distinct impression she was envisioning doing exactly what she’d just depicted—which probably meant that I’d already crossed that invisible threshold.
“I don’t know about a mecha arm, but I could definitely make you something that could handle lifting heavier weights,” Melissa said, “That’s actually pretty easy—what else?”
#
Higawara Manor, Musutafu.
The limousine that arrived was far longer than the ones I was used to riding in, and when Toshinori Yagi opened the door for me, I stepped inside without pause. Madam President and the man that I now knew as Yokumiru Mera were already inside and sitting with their backs to the driver’s cab. It left them facing me as I chose the seat Toshinori had indicated, and the man joined me a moment later, the door sealing the four of us inside.
“I’ve heard quite a bit about you over the last few days, so it’s nice to finally meet you in person,” Madam President said, “Despite what the news coverage would have the world believe, I’m now aware that you played a much greater role in retaking the tower from those villains—thank you, for that.”
“I’m not sure I deserve your gratitude when my motivation was entirely selfish,” I said, “But you are welcome.”
“Young Higawara, we’ve managed to obtain permission for you to use your quirk inside of Tartarus,” Toshinori said, speaking up. “There are some rules, however—the primary one being that you are to avoid making any kind of physical contact with Susumu Hoshi.”
“Physical contact won’t be required,” I said.
“What exactly do you intend to do?” Madam President asked. “There are rules against threatening or intimidating prisoners.”
“I’m not going to do either,” I said without answering the question. “Was I granted permission to be alone with her?”
“Yes,” Madam President said, in consideration. “Though All Might will be right outside of the room, as will the security staff of Tartarus.”
I nodded at what was most certainly a warning that if I did have any intention to use the opportunity to attack her, I would be dealt with quite quickly.
“I understand,” I said, “Given that I will be the only person in the room capable of asking questions, it would be best if you shared exactly what kind of information you want me to obtain.”
Madam President and Yokumiru shared a glance at the words, but it was Toshinori who spoke up.
“The following information is something very few people are aware of, and it would be best if it was kept that way,” Toshinori said with a great deal of care. “There is a villain of great power and influence, but who has been outside of the public eye for long enough that almost everyone has forgotten him—his name is All For One.”
It was a name I’d never heard before, but that fell well within my expectations, given the secrecy at work here and the status of the three people riding inside the limousine.
“To be blunt, he possesses the power to take and gift quirks, and the ones which he keeps for himself are many,” Toshinori said, “I have come to believe that he isn’t quite as dead as I once thought and that he may be, as we speak, working to reestablish a criminal network of control over the entirety of Japan.”
The connections between this forgotten villain and the events of I-Island were many. Susumu Hoshi, Katsumi Fueki, and the quirk trafficking ring that had taken Nanami were just the first of them. David Shields had created a device that could permanently upgrade a quirk, and he’d done so by using Nanami Kureta’s blood as a base for the serum—only, it had been confiscated as soon as it had reached a workable state. Wolfram’s motivation had been to obtain the Quirk Upgrader, and he’d done so while in possession of an additional muscle-enhancement quirk that he couldn’t possibly have obtained naturally.
The weakest part of the chain was that they’d kept Nanami Kureta in captivity for eight years—though I had no real way of knowing exactly how long the Quirk Upgrader had actually been in development or if she’d been inserted into its roadmap at some novel point along the way—and if All For One had the power to take quirks, then why wouldn’t he have simply removed it? The only counterpoint I could think of was that it was a quirk that only worked on others and not herself—no, there was something else that I’d learned more recently, wasn’t there? When Nanami used her quirk on me in the hospital for the first time since we were children, it was immediately clear that something was different—namely, its effect had grown linearly more potent as she aged, and it was possible that the process of removing it from her entirely might have reset that factor of her quirk with the transfer to its next owner.
If that was the case, then the strategy for preserving its current—and therefore highest—level of potency for use in the Quirk Upgrader serum would be to optimise for that aspect—ergo, they had to maintain the quirks position inside of its current holder for as long as possible, else be forced to start over with a much weaker serum that wouldn’t reach a comparative level to what they were already used to for two decades.
“The fact that Wolfram possessed a second quirk means that he has come into contact with All For One, and if that is the case, it’s highly likely that he was working for him,” I said, piecing it all together. “His stated goal was to obtain the Quirk Upgrader, a project headed by David Shields, and that Susumu Hoshi contributed to by way of supplying Nanami Kureta’s blood as the base for the serum.”
The link was as clear as anything else I’d ever seen, and it led to one very obvious conclusion—that just about everyone involved was in bed with this forgotten villain.
“Applying the same framework suggests Katsumi Fueki has also come into contact with All For One, and it’s not difficult to see the natural symbiosis between a mastermind who collects quirks and an organisation based in Japan that supplies them,” I said, “The probability that all of them—with the singular exception of David Shields—were working for All For One in some capacity is quite high.”
Yokumiru sat back into his chair, one hand rising up to rub his fingertips against his eyelids, his exhaustion apparently rising just from hearing my conclusion—for once, Toshinori somehow didn’t seem to be the most worn down person in the room.
“Marvelous,” Madam President said, with the slightest crinkle around her eyes. “Naturally, the questions we want answers to are those that will lead to locating and dismantling any of his existing power bases—and if she actually knows it, the location of the man himself.”
#
Hallway, Tartarus.
Tartarus was a cold, barren place, but it was also far brighter than I had imagined. The large precision-cut steel panels that made up the walls were polished to a mirror sheen that reflected a world that was only slightly less vibrant than the one it was stealing all that light from. The doors were large, thick, and mechanical in nature, requiring great mechanisms in the walls, ceilings and floors to shift in order to allow a person entry—and only when those in a control room far remote from the location deemed it acceptable. I’d been warned in advance not to use my quirk until I was given permission, and that was something I found quite difficult to adhere to when my natural state had become to diffuse parts of myself throughout my surroundings.
The guards that we passed by were almost universally frowning, though it took a little while for me to realise that it was my age that was the cause—slight in build as I was, all three of the adults in our company towered over me by a significant degree. I’d heard very little substance about what went on inside Tartarus other than rumours that came from people who’d never been there, but this didn’t seem like a place where a teenager would be seen. The room we were led to was deep enough into the mass of corridors and rooms that I was no longer certain which segment of the building we were actually in—the shape of it that I’d seen from the outside was just no longer of help in discerning it.
There was a glass panel that made up the entirety of the wall ahead of us, providing a side profile view of the woman sitting at a table inside of the room in an unfortunate reflection of what she’d done to Nanami. The empty chair on the other side of the table wasn’t bolted to the floor—unlike the one she was sitting on—but it had been placed at a distance that would prevent her from reaching across the table even if her hands hadn’t been chained on top of it.
“Young Higawara,” Toshinori said, his rail-thin body looking deflated inside of his too-large costume. “I know this must be difficult for you, but I want you to know that you are doing a good thing here today.”
I said nothing to the words.
“These protocols have been in place for a long time, and we are only bending them now because of how important this is—I am asking you to please remember that when you step into that room.” Madam President said, “If you show any signs of aggression, then there will be consequences.”
My eyes hadn’t left Susumu Hoshi’s face since I’d first caught the colour of her hair, and when I spoke, I did so without shifting my gaze at all.
“The chair is too far away from the table, so I’m going to move it,” I said. “I’m also going to start using my quirk now—please don’t interrupt us unless it’s necessary.”
Madam President hummed at the comment, and then she lifted her hand up in the direction of the camera. The wall slid open, and I stepped through to the cage of opaque white glass beyond it, watching through the palm of my hand as it seamlessly sealed itself again at my passing. Susumu Hoshi stared at me from her position, restrained, and her ear-to-ear grin ill-matched for the fear in her eyes. I took hold of the chair and then dragged it forward until it was as close to the table as I could manage while still being able to sit on it. The edge of the mass of steel bolted to the floor pressed against my shirt as I edged the chair in a scant few inches more.
The two of us sat there in silence for a long while, and I watched with interest at her inability to look at anything for more than a second at most—it was the same thing I’d observed in the few video lectures she had given, and what I’d briefly witnessed in person after tearing apart the prison she’d sought refuge in. The woman’s rapid eye movement seemed attracted to motion, but only long enough to catalogue its purpose before moving straight on—she glanced over at the corner of the room, above my shoulder, towards the sand that was creeping up the walls. There were a dozen other similar patches around us, seeking out the corners of the room and then specific placements that gave the best perspective to watch her reactions—
“You can perceive the world through the sand generated by your quirk,” Susumu asked, turning her head to view more of the pattern. “The size of each node is uniform, so it’s likely the minimum amount needed to activate that factor of your quirk—you’re watching me from every point of sand in this room.”
“I am, but that’s not the minimum size; it’s just the one I selected based on the size of the room,” I said, “There is limited space, and too many overlapping perspectives would be redundant when the focus of my attention is a singular, unmoving person chained to a table.”
Susumu turned to look at the blank stretch of wall to my direct left, where the sand was beginning to shift in a disruption of the otherwise perfectly uniform pattern. For just a moment, a small, carefully constructed hand pressed outwards from the disruption, rising out with deliberate slowness as more of the arm built itself—and Susumu’s inability to keep her eyes on one place was suddenly solved.
“I apologise for scaring you the last time we met,” I said, “I think I might have been furious or perhaps terrified, and I was under the mistaken impression that you might try to kill Nanami before I could get to her.”
“You can’t recognise what you’re feeling,” Susumu said, eyes locked unerringly at the person who was now most of the way out of the wall. “Has that always been—”
The painfully detailed and brightly smiling model of an eight-year-old Nanami soundlessly burst out of the wall in mid-step, stumbling twice as she crossed the length of the room directly behind my chair. Behind her, the tiny figure of my six-year-old self trailed along in her wake—it turned to look at Susumu a moment before it reached the opposite wall, its face entirely empty of expression. The chains locking her in place clanked against the table top as she attempted to lean all the way to the side to better see past me to the wall where they’d vanished.
“I had originally intended to follow you home after you spoke at the panel during the reception dinner, but you were warned in advance of the attack, and so I was forced to rely on an alternative method of finding you,” I said, as she slowly sat back up in her chair. “There were a great many questions I had prepared for you at that time, but the order of events meant that we were never alone for long enough to acquire the answers.”
“Was that a memory or just a scene you made for effect?” Susumu said.
“It was a memory from the day of her eighth birthday; the two of us were searching the manor for all of the figurines that my Aunt had hidden before she arrived,” I said, “I had already found them all hours ago, but I’d long since learned that it was better to let her look for herself.”
I fell silent, allowing her a moment to take in the information, and when her eyes cut over towards the two new disruptions forming amongst the pattern, she couldn’t seem to keep herself from leaning forward in her seat—a seven-year-old Nanami and one from only a few brief days before her tenth birthday emerged from two different places in the room, their paths intersecting, but the two figures never truly meeting one another. Susumu attempted to twist around in her chair to follow the third Nanami as she skipped past her but found the motion impossible with her restraints.
“I never had the chance to spend quite as much time with her as you did,” I said as a new figure began to rise up out of the floor behind my chair. “But even so, these are all secret moments from our childhood that I have treasured greatly.”
Nanami, as I’d seen her that very first time in the park, peered out from behind my shoulder, leaning out just enough to stare up at the breathless woman sitting across from me.
“Susumu, you have the information that I’ve been searching for, and I have a very good memory,” I said, studying her face. “Tell me what I need to know to keep Nanami safe, and in return—I’ll show you something wonderful.”
#
Interrogation Room, Tartarus.
When I stepped out of the room, I was met with silence, and even after the wall had slid back into its seamless configuration, nobody seemed entirely ready to speak up. Not that I could blame them, considering everything we’d just learned. All of my sleepless nights were spent searching for the identities of those five people, and one of them hadn’t even been hiding. He’d been known all across Japan, and if I’d seen so much as a single picture of the man in a news article or on the internet, I would have known.
“With this, we might be able to actually settle this situation once and for all,” Toshinori said, fist clenched at his side in what might have been a satisfaction. “All For One is alive, and if what she said is correct, he is in the company of Kyudai Garaki.”
“The Chairman of the Jaku General Hospital is one of the most respected men in Japan,” Yokumiru said, “How is it possible that he could have avoided drawing any kind of suspicion in all that time?”
“The scale of this is daunting; dozens of orphanages, clinics, shelters and hospitals, with potentially thousands of unreported victims—not to mention their patronage of the League of Villains,” Madam President said, with a steadying breath. “This goes far beyond anything I’d imagined; we’ll need to start preparing immediately.”
“Garaki and All For One might have already fled,” Yokumiro said, “The arrests weren’t kept out of the news, so he knows we have several of his people.”
“So long as we don’t do anything public with what we’ve learned, then they won’t know that anyone talked,” Madam President said, shaking her head. “We’ll release a final statement in a few days regarding the closure of the I-Island attack, and we’ll make it known that none of the prisoners have cooperated.”
“We’ll need time to organise a covert task force and to start investigating the true extent of Garaki’s quirk trafficking organisation,” Toshinori said, “Dismantling a Japan-wide criminal network is going to take serious coordination—and we’ll need hundreds of heroes ready to respond when the time comes.”
“We’ll need to assign someone to make sure the Chairman actually continues his normal routine because there’s a chance he might decide to just cut and run rather than risk one of them giving him up,” Madam President said, “I’d like to have someone maintain surveillance on All For One, but given everything he’s capable of, that might not be possible.”
“It won’t be,” Toshinori said, shaking his head. “It would be best to keep as far away from him as possible until the moment in which we’re ready to act.”
“Doing nothing about him right away bothers me,” Yokumiro said, rubbing at the bridge of his nose. “I’d rather we reduce his ability to act, and then when we have him penned in, we take him out.”
“That workmanlike approach of yours works against a great many people, Yokumiro, and your diligence is why I keep you so close,” Madam President said, “But if we unintentionally alert this man to our plan even a single minute before we’re ready to act—”
“All For One is the type to invariably slip the noose,” Toshinori said, speaking up. “He’s done it before, and this time, we cannot allow him the chance to do it again.”
“The proposed strategy is sound, so I’ll try not to complain too much,” Yokumiro said, glancing down at his watch. “We’re swiftly approaching the end of our welcome here.”
“If you’d like to extend our stay,” Madam President said with some irony. “I do know of one way to get invited back into Tartarus.”
“No thanks,” Yokumiro offered.
Madam President let out a quiet laugh at the rejection and then turned her attention onto me, eyes searching my face for a long moment.
“Higawara, you have a rare talent for dealing with people, and yet I can still see some room for refinement,” Madam President said, with that same crinkle at the corner of her eyes. “Rest assured, I will be reaching out to you upon your graduation—there will be a place amongst my staff left open for you, should you choose to take it.”
“Dealing with people is actually the thing I struggle with the most,” I said in answer. “But thank you for the offer; I will keep it in mind.”
The answer was enough to cause a fraction of a smile to touch her mouth before she nodded.
“Toshinori, we’ll go our separate ways for today, but I’m afraid the two of us will most likely be spending quite a bit of time together over the coming weeks,” Madam President said, “It seems that there is a lot of work ahead of us.”
“There always is, but this time, I’m hoping we have started early enough to complete it,” Toshinori said in answer. “Farewell, for now.”
The two of them left, and a pair of guards in the hallway beyond the room detached from their vigil to see them the rest of the way out. Once the door had closed again, and it was just the two of us left, I turned to look back at the glass panel separating us from Susumu Hoshi—the woman was slumped on the table now, crying into her arms just as she had been when I told her our time was up.
“I would like to visit her again in the future,” I said, “If that is okay.”
“Visitation is permitted for low-risk prisoners, but your age may be a difficult factor to deal with,” Toshinori said, “This time was a very special occasion.”
That was fine; I would simply wait until I was an adult.
“All Might, after seeing all of that—” I said, “Are you sure that somebody like me truly deserves to be a hero?”
“The spirit of being a hero is to save others, and while that is something I will always believe—even I have strayed from the path at times,” Toshinori said, “Not every action a hero takes can be called good, but so long as you strive to be, then you too are deserving of that title.”
The man took a deep breath before he began to grow in place, the slack mess of his costume pulling tight against muscles that could turn steel to dust—and then the room seemed suddenly small as it tried to contain the sheer presence of the radiant hero standing beside me.
“Your hero academia has yet to be completed, Young Higawara,” All Might said, with a smile that seemed somehow brighter than the shining panels that made up the room. “So the next time I step into Classroom 1-A and declare that I am here—I expect to see you sitting right there along with everyone else.”
#
In Transit, Musutafu.
The familiar streets of Musutafu shifted past the window of the limousine, but this time, I was the only one present to see it. Learning about the existence of All For One hadn’t changed the situation much for me, other than to place another name upon my list of people to deal with at some point in the future. Susumu Hoshi, and Katsumi Fueki were in Tartarus, and no longer in a position to do much of anything. Kaito Habiki was dead, used as a base for one of the many Nomu that were apparently undergoing maturation in Jaku City. Akamai Hiro had left the country entirely in the wake of Kaito’s death and was unlikely to return, given the potential fate that awaited him if he did.
Kyudai Garaki, however, was operating in Jaku City as the Chairman of a hospital. All For One was there as well, sustained by the medical expertise and life-support equipment belonging to one of his most loyal followers. I wouldn’t be able to take action against either of them without disrupting the task force that was, at this very moment, in the nascent stages of being assembled. Having the knowledge of their location but being unable to use it was unfortunate, but there was likely nothing I could contribute to the situation in comparison to people like Toshinori Yagi and the Madam President of the Public Health Safety Commission.
My part had been played in full, and there was no longer a need for an untrained teenager to be trailing along behind some of the most important people in Japan as they sought a way to cut out the cancer that had been spreading silently throughout the country—my eyes fell upon the park where my entire life had changed course, and I caught a momentary glimpse of a boy and girl playing on the swings—but then it was gone, and we were turning onto the street that would lead to Higawara Manor.
As the vehicle had come to a stop in the driveway, my sand was already shifting outwards through the courtyard to establish a network surrounding the house—and I paused in the process of opening the door as I caught sight of all the people currently arrayed in front of the manor doors. Eijiro Kirishima and Momo Yaoyorozu were standing right in the doorway in the midst of a conversation with Hayami while Nanami peered through from just behind her shoulder, a burning curiosity upon her face at all of the visitors. Mina Ashido and Tsuyu Asui were a few feet away from the others in what might have been a polite attempt to avoid crowding the door.
The sound of the car’s approach had been more than enough to catch their attention, and by the time I’d actually stepped out of it, most of the group had descended the stairs to meet me—
“Finally—” Nanami said, “Just how long were you going to make us wait?”
The sight of them all standing there together, bright, smiling and warm, sent a pang of something through me that I thought I might have actually known the name of—and though I wasn’t currently under the effects of her quirk, the world seemed comparably vibrant.
End
