Another Form of Power

Upsetting the Balance

Shouta Aizawa stared at the screen. If anyone had seen him, and knew him, they would have thought he was trying to activate his quirk through the screen, or they would have been confused by his choice of viewing.

Before him, scattered in seemingly haphazard piles were papers. It was if the contents of a cork board had been vomited over the table. All that was missing was the red string.

The screen displayed a single man. He was standing before a podium and was well dressed. He had short green curls, bright green eyes and an easy smile. There were various things being projected behind him but the man was a skilled enough orator that he didn't turn.

Aizawa, having been a teacher for a few years, appreciated that. He listened to to the man for the few moments it took to understand the projection.

"-are not actually evil! They are just people who are desperate. A man who lost his job and wants to feed his kids. A woman who just wanted to protect her child. I can name countless examples. You've probably seen them yourselves! But it is the words and that language that we use which makes them all seem worse.

"Villain." The man said the single word with an impressive degree of emotion, stretching it out to make it all the more sinister.

"The majority of those we call villains are not. They are simply people. Performing criminal acts, I admit but they are people."

Aizawa resisted the urge to snort. The politician had some point but was glossing over those who were truly evil. But then that's what politicians did.

He looked down at the papers, but he already knew what they said.

Name: Imoku Kakurete
Birthdate: 17/07/2XXX

Quirk: Spark. Shouta had only been able to find some grainy footage, supposedly from Imoku's teenage years showing a shower of colourful sparks attributed to the man's quirk. He was not one of those people who had to show off their quirk.

Relatives: Mother Mikata Kakurete, Father Souzo Kakurete (deceased)

It was all very normal. The details were public record given Imoku's position as a member of the House of Representatives. He had dinner with his Mother once a week and visited the family grave once a year.

He turned back to the screen. There was another graph behind the politician. It was a bar chart. There were several which towered over the others.

"In the majority of the cases with what we like to call villains, the damage from their crimes was actually exacerbated by the so called hero who apprehended them!"

Aizawa didn't react, though he could hear the timbre of Imoku's voice. The man was a born orator... and several examples came to mind rather readily at Imoku's pronouncement. The problem was if he could think of them, then the public could think of them. It had nothing to do with insider hero knowledge, it was just knowledge.

"Relatively simple robberies have descended into hostage situations when heroes have intervened. An easy arrest costs thousands in property damage in the ensuing fight. There are better ways. There are more compassionate ways, and as a society, we have to embrace them!"

Shouta supposed he should be thankful Imoku wasn't mentioning the worst cases he knew about... those where the situation had actually caused deaths. They happened. A bit more frequently than he liked but for whatever reason the politician wasn't mentioning them.

The Pro-hero looked back to his paperwork. He hadn't become one of the best underground heroes by relying on mere paper but it was a good place to start. In investigations he never accepted anything unless he had confirmed it himself. The paperwork was immaculate. As it should be but it was when he looked at the actions that things were odd...