Hitoshi was exhausted to say the least. Mostly? He was so done with Izuku and his shenanigans. He'd gotten captured, brought home three of the Todoroki's who were currently sharing his guest bedroom as the matters were sorted, and Izuku cane home hours later with a huge smile and a UA uniform. Hitoshi has just sighed on defeat, shook his head at the smug greenette and turned on his heel, heading back up to his room to collapse on his bed. For once in a blue moon, he fell asleep as soon as his head hit the pillow, entering into a dreamless void. He slept a good six hours before he was woken up by Eri poking his cheek, a huge smile and giggle breaking out across her face as Hitoshi lazily tired to swat away her small hand. He sat up with a groan, remembering that he still had one more day before he could sleep in over the weekend. He stretched, changing into his uniform, trying but failing to tame his gravity defying hair before heading down to eat breakfast.
The smell of pancakes filled his nose and he an almost though that last night was a dream. Except he didn't, seeing Izuku wearing an apron over the UA uniform he was gifted at the police station and the three Todoroki's all sitting at the dining room table, already stuffing their pancakes into their mouths. Hitoshi wanted to turn right around and head back up the stairs to his bed and forget everything happening right in front of him, but his urge to just sleep wasn't strong enough against his need to finish the last day, lest he be expelled after finally getting into his dream school to prove everyone who doubted him wrong. So he took a deep breath, blinking twice, before he made his way over to the dining room table, sitting down across from Shouto as a plate of Izuku's delicious pancakes was placed in front of him. The moment his knife cut through the pancakes, he knew he wouldn't be able to resist anymore.
Eri sat down beside him, Izuku beside her once he finished cleaning up the dishes and served up the last two plates of pancakes. The group was silent, sitting and eating their breakfast. Hitoshi was awkward, not knowing what to say. The Todoroki's never really spoke around the table anyway, to used to Enji presence hanging over them. Izuku was contempt with staying silent, taking note of the tension in the Todoroki's and planning Enji's funeral. Eri stayed silent because everyone else was, and she didn't know what to say. Breakfast was over after a few more minutes, Izuku taking their plates and utensils away to clean up while everyone else fixed themselves up, brushing their teeth, fixing up their clothing and hair, before finally deciding that they were good. As they headed for the door, something suddenly dawned on Izuku. She was being homeschooled by the greenette before he was captured.
'Looks like Nedzu is gonna have to teach Eri some stuff while I can't. This is the price he has to pay,' Izuku thought, laughing lightly as he smiled at the thought. Hitoshi glanced at him through the corner of his eye, though said nothing. "Guess you're coming to UA with us, Eri. I'm sure Nedzu wouldn't mind looking after you for the time being," Eri looked up at him with sparkles in her eyes, practically buzzing on her feet as she cheered. They reached the train station in no time, the Todoroki's saying goodbye to each other as Shouto's siblings caught a different train heading in the opposite direction. Izuku picked Eri up and cradled her in his arms, making sure that she wouldn't fall. She happily wrapped her arms around Izuku's neck, giggling slightly. "So, guess who's transferring to your class?" Hiroshi sputtered, Shouto freezing in his tracks. Izuku laughed at their reactions, stepping onto the train as the doors opened.
"Y-you're kidding me, right? Are you being serious right now?! No way the principal just let you into the heroics course." Hitoshi stuttered, following him with a stunned Shouto trailing right behind. They found some seats and sat down, Izuku shooting the purplenette a smug look in response that just read 'bitch, I ain't joking'. Hitoshi's jaw dropped, eyes widening as he stared at his friend in disbelief. "Damn... Man, and all you had to do was let yourself get caught by my homeroom teacher of all heroes. Did you see the look he gave me when he noticed that I was the person you were bringing the Todoroki's too? I know I'm going to be questioned later, whether it be by Aizawa-sensei or the police. Either way, I'm not looking forward to it. This is gonna be hell for me. Have I told you how much I hate you at the moment? Cause it's reached the sun at this point. That's how much I hate you right now."
Izuku just laughed in response, patting Hitoshi patronisingly on the head as the teen slumped down in his seat, grumbling to himself. "I know you love me. And yes, all I did have to do was be caught. I knew my chess buddy would love to have me in his school. Both so we can play chess face to face, so I can flaunt my latest win over him, and so that he can keep an eye on me. He knows my skill set, though not all of it. Plus, I wanna see what the hero course has in store for me. Though, with my experience in fighting, I'm sure it'll be a breeze," he smiled wide as Hitoshi mock glared at him through the corner of his eye, mumbling something under his breath. The four stayed silent for the rest of the ride, Eri pressing her face up against the train window as she watched the city roll by. Izuku glanced up at the next station, noting that it was their stop. He felt the train start to slow down as it pulled up. "We're here!"
He swung his bag over his shoulder and scooped Eri up into his arms, walking out with the two disbelieving teens behind him. Entering the school garnered Izuku some weird looks, though he just smiled cheerfully as Eri pointed out some things she'd never seen in the school before. Shouto turned to Hitoshi with a questioning look, but the purplenette could only shake his head in utter defeat. They entered the school, Izuku parting ways with the duo to head towards the principals office. Hitoshi didn't know what to expect, but he wasn't going to hold his expectations high. He and Shouto entered the classroom and found their seats, ignoring the questioning glanced cast their ways. Hitoshi slumped down in his seat, head propped up on his palm as he stared out the window. How he ended up in this situation, he doesn't know. But he wishes he did so that he could mentally prepare.
Soon after, his teacher arrived with his usual bored, deadpan expression. But he looked surprisingly more tired then he usually did. Hitoshi believed he knew why, but just wanted to wait and see how things turned out. "Alright, everyone take your seats and be quiet. We can a new student joining us today. And before you start to protest, he got in through the principal's recommendation. Think of this as a sort of rehabilitation program, as he is a vigilante, who I guess can't exactly be classified as a vigilante," he said, his tired voice bouncing off the walls through the silence that lasted a solid ten seconds before chaos ensued. Students has jumped up from their seats, hands slammed down on tables, shouting filling the once still air. Only a few were silent, everyone else having either some kind of protest to it (read; Tenya), or screaming something about who it could be. "Quiet, all of you." They immediately shut up.
Shouta sighed in irritation, muttering, "come in-" before he was cut off, the door slamming open with no effort as a giggle broke through the air. Everyone stilled, a child walking in with a teen following closely after. "Yo, Shou! How's it going? Ya missed me?" Izuku turned to the class with a grin stretched across his face, Eri sticking like glue to his side as she glanced around the room. "Ooh, twenty out of twenty. Congrats, Shou. Didn't think you had it in ya! You must really like them if you kept all of them! Surprising, coming from the guy who expelled all of last years 1-A," Izuku laughed, poking Shouta in the shoulder as the tired teacher lazily told him to stop. "So," he scanned the rows of seats, finding an oddly placed one at the back. "I take it that that's my seat in the back there?" Shouta nodded solemnly, looking like he wanted to collapse and die right there and then. "Thanks Shou! I'll let you take over again."
A tired drawl of "hold on, you haven't introduced yourself yet," left Shouta's lips, stopping Izuku from walking off. "Whoops! Forgot about that. My name is Izuku! You'll have to guess my quirk and vigilante name though. I'm not giving away all that information so easily," he winked, laughing lightly as the quiet groans that elicited. "Hey, I gotta keep quiet about stuff like this. Blame Nedzu. He's the one who let me in after all," he glanced around the classroom, before his eyes met awestruck, wide open ruby red eyes that held confusion, anger, sadness and other such emotions the greenette didn't think the teen staring at him could hold. "Oh, hey Kacchan! Long time no see, huh?" The blond jumped to his feet, launching himself over to the vigilante and grabbing the collar of his shirt. "Still the same as usual, I see. Anything happen while I was gone?"
"What the fuck Deku?!" Where the first words to fall from Katsuki's mouth, face turned into a scowl as his eyes searched Izuku's face for an answer. "I thought you were fucking dead! What the fuck happened to you?!" Izuku placed his hands on Katsuki's, his ever present smile placed on his lips as he lowered the blond's hands. He noted to himself that Eri had moved over to Hitoshi who was keeping her away from the duo. "Where the fuck have you been this whole fucking time, huh Deku?!"
"Calm down, Kacchan. And stop swearing around Eri," The hands are completely removed from his shirt now and back down at Katsuki's sides. "I have a reason as to why I disappeared. But, that'll all come in due time," the look he received was of pure shock and anger, but the blond doesn't answer. "So why don't you sit down and wait for everything to be unraveled? I'm sure everyone wants to know what's going on." He smiled cheekily, walking past the ash-blond and towards his seat. Eri soon joined him, seating herself on Izuku's lap and staring out the front of the room. The two ignored the curious glances cast their way, Izuku leaning back into his chair with a grin. "You can take over again, Shou. What're we doing today, I wonder." Shouta only sighed in annoyance as the attention in the class panned back to him.
~=~=~=~=~=~=~
Tapping filled the quiet room, drowning out any other noise present. A quiet groan bounced off the walls as the detective flicked through all the information he had gathered on the new villain group that's just showed up. He sighed in irritation as he came up empty handed. Feeling like slamming his head into the table, Tsukauchi grasped his hair in one hand and dialled up Nedzu's number in the other. After a few rings, the principal picked up, his cheery voice greeting the detective with a polite "hello". Tsukauchi, for what he's worth, sagged further into his chair as he opened his mouth to explain. "You know that new villain group that you're students faced not to long ago? Yeah, I've been trying to ring up any information on them, but I haven't found anything. No police files, no database, nothing. This was a last case scenario, but I think we need to utilise it. We need Izuku's help on this case. If he can dig up any information on the villains, that'd do wonders."
Nedzu hummed in acknowledgement, tapping his paw against his chin in thought as he ran the situation through his mind. "I'll talk to him about it. I'm sure he wouldn't mind lending his assistance. I've been meaning to check in with you anyway to see if you had anything on them. I'll have to put up extra protection with them around," his cackle broke through the phone as Tsukauchi sweat dropped, unsure on whether this was a good thing or not. "I'll get back to you in just a moment. I need to call him down to chat about this," the line went silent as Tsukauchi stared down at his laptop, humming, deep in thought. He didn't know how long he sat there for before the phone cracked to life once more, Nedzu's voice coming to life on the other end. "He said he'll do it. Currently already is it seems. He'll send through the information he racks up via email. Said it shouldn't take longer than half an hour."
"Thank you so much," Tsukauchi drawled out, sighing in relief as his tensed up shoulders finally relaxed. He practically sunk into his seat with relief. "I'll have to thank him later. This is such a relief. I've been on this case ever since those villains popped up and found nothing of use. You're a real life saver, Nedzu. Hope you get back to me soon," Nedzu chuckled lightly before saying his goodbyes, the phone going dead as he hung up. "I hope we can get some information fast. This group might just become a real hassle in the future. What with the sports festival coming up, they're going to be able to see everyone's quirks and come up with counters because it's live," he heaved out another sigh in exhaustion for the umpteenth time. "I hope Nedzu knows what he's doing."
~=~=~=~=~=~=~
"So you want me to hack into the villain's database?" Is the first question that leaves Izuku's mouth as he stares over at the grinning principal. He noticed the little evil glint in Nedzu's beady little eyes and gulped nervously, knowing that his smile never meant anything good, whether it be for the person it's directed against, or someone who had pissed the principal off. Nedzu nodded, explaining what Tsukauchi said to him back to the greenette. "Understood. I'll start working right away!" Izuku took out a laptop he purposely kept hidden in his uniform and sat down on the lounge that occupied half of the office room. He started by hacking into police documents, finding nothing just like Tsukauchi has mentions. Seeing this, Izuku decided to have a crack at the government fire wall, seeing how tough it'd be. Not tough enough apparently, as he hacked through with ease. "Tell the government to upgrade their protection, would ya? Way to easy."
He heard Nedzu chuckle at that as he sifted through all the information that the government had. 'No, no, no, completely wrong, different group, who the fuck?' He thought, cocking an eyebrow as hell read through a particular file he didn't want to name. "Also, get them to delete their search history or something. I really don't want to read something like this," he commented, deleting that from his mind as he continued his search. Finding nothing of use, except for the villains league name (why the 'League of Villains? Come on, I could think of something better than that) and random files here and there. With a small silent sigh, he closed out of the governments files and decided to do some digging of his own. Searching up the league, he found few articles, though they mentioned nothing of use. "You don't mind me potentially shutting down every network in the city, do you?" Nedzu gave him the go-ahead.
Cracking his knuckles, he muttered a quick "sorry peeps" under his breath as he opened up a new program. His fingers grazed across the keyboard, rapidly pushing down keys as the black box suddenly filled with likes of code. He pressed enter, letting the code sync and flood the network, taking over thousands of computers, phones, the like. He searched through the multitude of networks he was now connected to, eyes scanning every little detail from photos to search history (seriously, what are these people searching up? I don't want to see that!) to the latest game they installed or played. He searched through everything, before finally finding something interesting. His viridian green eyes flickered across the few files he came across, a grin spreading across his lips. He typed in a few more things, bringing up several different tabs with the new information spread across them.
'League of Villains. A newly deputed group of villains that attacked the USJ,' Izuku rolled his eyes at that. Everyone knew about the USJ attack. Wasn't like it was anything new. He scrolled through a bit more, eyes landing on a few paragraphs that gains his attention. 'The ringleader, who's name is Shigaraki Tomura, has a decay quirk, can't be turned on or off. His partner, Kurogiri, no known first name currently given, has a warp quirk, allowing him to summon warp gates wherever he has been or he knows the exact location of the area. They have created a bioengineered creatures called 'Noumu's'. Mutated creatures made from humans who've died over the course of having quirks stuffed into them much like stuffing into a toy. Because of this, a member of the police department has started a case against the villains and these Noumu creatures that they have been engineering.'
Izuku hummed, deep in thought as his brain filtered through the information he just read. He knew most of it already, though it was good as confirmation. He clicked on another tab that he opened, eyes flicking across the page until they found something of interest. '—though the information is scarce at best, we've been able to identify a reason behind these bioengineered creatures. A man who was thought to be legend must be real. All for One. A man who possesses a quirk that allows him to steal quirks from others, no matter the type, and pass them onto another. He's a man thought to be a myth, and used as a scare tactic on children to keep them behaved. All for One is a powerful man who's underlings must be the League of Villains, if the Noumu and attack on UA are anything to go by.' That made something in Izuku's head click. He'd heard about All for One, but has dismissed him as a myth. This proves otherwise.
He clicked on the next tab he opened, pulling up a different program and letting his fingers type away as he scanned the page. The same information was being spouted across the board, making him groan in irritation. He almost dismissed the rest when two particular words caught his eye. 'Biological biography.' His fingers paused, eyes focusing down on the page once more as he scanned through the rest. 'The biological biography of the Noumu's and their connections to All for One are significant as best, minimal at worst. They are practically one in the same, All for One's DNA having mixed with the quirks pushed into the Noumu. Biologically, the quirks can be traced back to the previous owner. This in turn allows us to sample the DNA left in the Noumu to get a better understanding of what other quirks may be in stock for future Noumu's, as well as what condition All for One is currently in.'
Izuku's eyes widened slightly, staring down at the information presented in front of him. He quickly did a back search, finding where the page came from. He quickly opened up an email to be sent to Tsukauchi, pasting the three pages and the last paragraph of the third alongside them. 'This is all the info I've managed to find. It should be helpful in your research. Keep me updated with everything, k? Looking forward to it! See ya Nao!' He sent the email through, closing down all his programs and everything they did before shutting off his laptop. He stretched his arms above his head, hearing satisfying popping noises as he did so. Letting out a groan of relief, his arms flopped back down to his sides as he gathered up his laptop, placing it back inside his uniform's blazer. He sent a quick nod to Nedzu, signifying his goodbye as he stood up and left, the door closing softly behind him.
He made his way back down to his room where Ectoplasm was currently teaching math. He strolled in and found his seat, practically collapsing into it as he thought back to the information he had uncovered. Shouto, who was sitting in front of him, passed the greenette a sheet of paper with a multitude of math problems on them. Izuku took it with a nod and began filling out the questions, thoughts racking his brain for any conclusion. 'All for One was supposed to be a myth, but he's real and is creating these Noumu's for the League of Villains. Shigaraki is the ringleader meaning they've definitely been in contact. The fact that All for One is willing to work for— no wait, that's not right— alongside the villains probably means that Shigaraki has been chosen by him to become his successor. If he can pass down All for One down to Shigaraki...' his eyes widened, pencil halting as he stared down at the paper.
'No, it can't be true, can it? Shit. This isn't going to end well. If All Might can't take All for One down soon, then no one can. He'll be able to create an army and take over the hero world. We'd all be dead meat under his force. Dammit!' He clenched his pencil, foot silently tapping under the desk as his shoulders tensed up slightly, but not enough for anyone to notice a change. He pulled out his phone and opened up an email to Tsukauchi, typing rapidly with one hand as the thoughts circled his mind. 'This'll go bad-shit fast if All for One isn't stopped. Who knows what he'll do.' He heard his name get called by Ectoplasm to answer the question on the board. He looked up, face looking neutral as he typed away on his phone. "The answer's 42.07." His attention fell back to the sheet of questions in front of him, fingers finally halting. He pressed send, letting the message sync through before depositing his phone back into his pocket.
'Don't worry about it. Just breathe in and breathe out. Tsukauchi has this handled. If he needs anything else, he'll contact you. Just breathe,' he took in a gracious amount of air, enough to fill the entirety of his lungs and held it there for a few moments before exhaling. He shook his head lightly, the soft murmur around the class filling his ears once more as he calmed his racing heart. 'Everything will be fine. Just focus on the lesson and think about it later, or don't until you need to. Just stay calm.' He closed his eyes for a few moments, just breathing in and out until he could focus more on the buzz on noise that elevated from his now classmates. He gazed down at his sheet, answering the rest of the questions from where he halted, smiling slightly to himself as he did so. 'It's all good. Nao has everything covered. He does his part, I do mine. It's simple! No need to fret. Everything will be a-ok!'
How he wished he payed more attention to it, instead of leaving it behind. As in the coming weeks, he knew that All for One was out for blood.