Family Business

Chapter 6 - First day of work!

Eri was practically vibrating with excitement when she woke up this morning. Today she would spend her afternoon with Izumi.

The girl who thought her quirk was wonderful.

The girl who was gentle, and kind, and fun.

The girl who was everything the 5 year old had imagined having a mom would be like...

With how hard her dad was trying to be nice to the older girl Eri could tell he thought so too. Maybe someday, if she's lucky, the green haired girl would be her mom.

God, Eri hoped so.

With a brief moment spent to brush her hair and teeth that had become second nature since she'd been adopted the one horned girl ran the short distance from her own bedroom to her father's. Opening the door she found him still asleep, arms thrown akimbo and blankets half off of him. She rarely saw the man so unkempt. Resisting the urge to laugh at his state she steeled her resolve and ran up to do what she'd intended all along.

Kai woke with a start as the air was forcibly pushed from his body. Groaning, his gold eyes opened to look up into the far too proud of herself face of his daughter. The child sat on his stomach, which she had apparently launched herself on top of to wake him, and called to him in a repeating stream of "Dad"s and "get up"s. She was bouncing with an excess of energy that the yakuza boss honestly envied right now.

"Someone's excited today." he stated with a yawn, running a hand through his hair "What's the occasion?"

Eri gave him that face, the one he himself makes whenever one of his subordinates says or does something particularly stupid. The brunette would be impressed if he had any idea why she would be leveling it at him.

"Dad..." she explained as though he were an idiot "Izumi's coming here today." Once his brain managed to register her words he kind of felt like one.

Izumi.

Hugging his daughter to his chest Kai sat up, burying his face in her pure white hair. "I can't believe I said something so stupid." he laughed into her scalp, earning a giggle back.

Once they'd calmed down the brunette pulled back to look at Eri's elated face, gold eyes locking with red. "Let's go get some breakfast."

---

The first thing anyone noticed at Orudera Middle School that morning was Midoriya, not that that was new. They were used to watching her get pushed around by Bakugou and his friends, seeing her cry or mutter to herself as she scribbled in her notebook. No, what drew their gaze today was something most of them had never seen before.

She was glowing with happiness.

Her classmates and teacher more than anyone were struck by just how cheerful she could be. She helped one girl gather her fallen books, offered a spare pencil to a boy who complained about forgetting his own, and said "good morning"s and "hello"s as she made her way to her desk. All the while she wore a smile bright enough to light up the room.

Was she always so sweet?

Late as ever Bakugou strolled into the room and immediately tensed, taking in the girl's chipper attitude with visibly building rage. For once his peers felt scared for the quirkless girl. Was this the girl they would've seen all the time if only they stopped him - even once? The thought made the teacher feel ill as he did something he'd never done before, he scolded the blonde for his tardiness and told him to sit down.

From her seat near the back Izumi took this all in with no small amount of awe. For once in her life Izumi's day at school was pleasant. It was Bizarre.

Everyone's intrigue at this "new" Midoriya only grew when they saw her go up to a man in a white suit standing in front of a fancy black car, the man opened the door for her with a bow, and drove her off somewhere. Izumi meanwhile was sharing a pleasant conversation with Hari about his quirk, having convinced him to talk about it by flashing him the cutest puppy dog eyes he'd ever seen. The silver haired man smiled as she rambled affectionately about his quirk, giving him a few pointers he'd never considered before.

"You're very good at working out quirks and their abilities." He noted as they pulled up to the large and elegant building that functioned as their headquarters, smiling at the teen's open amazement at her surroundings. "It's a habit my dad and I share, watching heroes and villains fight and breaking down their quirks. Uses, limitations, possible drawbacks, etcetera." Her green eyes sparkled with excitement "Does Kai really live here?! It's amazing!"

Hari led the teen through the halls of the traditional japanese mansion, smiling as he explained "Kai was taken in by the man who previously owned this house as a child. His upbringing, and later my own, was very old-fashioned. Most of our higher ranked" he paused for just a moment to think of a suitable word "co-workers live in the property in the outer wings or outbuildings while Kai, Eri, and myself live in the main building here."

"Kai offered his home to his co-workers?" the teen wondered aloud. The yakuza elite smiled fondly "Many of our colleagues have difficult lives due to the nature of their quirks or upbringing, Kai gave us a place to stay and jobs to do. He refers to our organization as a family. For most of us this is the only family we've ever known." Turning to look at the emotional girl behind him Hari finishes "The boss has a bit of a habit of collecting strays and keeping them."

When the greenette's response was to tear up Hari panicked. Oh no... He made her cry.

That was the scene Eri and Kai walked in on, Izumi crying with Chrono flitting around her in worry. "What's going on here?" Kai asked with a bit of edge to his voice that sent his assistant paling. He was saved however when the teen waved off the three's concern, wiping her face with a tissue she pulled from her yellow backpack. "It's not his fault! What he said was actually really sweet, I'm just a crier. I swear, once I cried watching a cereal commercial. It's embarrassing!"

As the others shared a sigh of relief Kai closed the distance between them, placing his hand on the small of the girl's back. "Thank you Chrono, I can take over from here."

Izumi let the brunette lead her, Eri latched to her side and face aflame, as she forced out a squeaky thanks to the silver-haired man. As they disappeared from sight Hari laughed to himself. 'Kai probably doesn't know it yet, but one of these days that girl will be his wife.' And as he strolled to his room humming the yakuza smiled at the thought.