How can these people be sure I wasn't trying to save them from a monster? Just how many quirks did you manifest from that serum?
*
"The court would like to welcome the first witness to the stand." Judge Hanzo announced. The bailiff escorted Ren from her seat behind Atsuko up to the podium below Judge Hanzo's. She glanced at her father as she walked, a mistake she instantly regretted when she saw his cold, dark eyes. "If you will, state your full name and age, please." Judge Hanzo said to Ren after she was seated.
Ren took a deep breath and leant closer to the microphone. "Chinami-Ren Arakawa, 17." She spoke as clearly as she could.
"Ms Jun, you may begin your questions." Judge Hanzo gestured to Atsuko.
Atsuko adjusted her blazer and stepped up to the floor. "Chinami-Ren, you've been going by Ren Chinami for the past few months, correct?"
"Yes." Ren nodded.
"You have been attending UA High, where you are a member of the Hero course?"
"Yes."
"How are you finding your studies?"
Ren tugged on the bottom of her shirt. "Really good, I think."
"Have you made friends?"
"Yes. A lot of them." Ren smiled, she wondered again how their time in Okinawa was going.
"Good." Atsuko smiled at Ren, it seemed irrelevant but it was all part of their plan. "Chinami-Ren, you were born in Japan and then moved to the United States at the age of seven, is this correct?"
"That is correct."
"What transpired to cause your father, the defendant in question, to move your family of six to another country?"
Ren felt tears swell in her eyes. "My father was training us from a young age, and my mother didn't approve. It drove her mad... She killed herself." There was a long silence. Ren glanced at her father, he wouldn't look at her. "And so we left the country so he could continue his despicable research."
"You are the lone survivor of five children, is this correct?"
"Yes."
"From your recollection, and bearing in mind you are under strict oath, what happened to your five siblings?"
"My oldest brother died almost instantly from a quirk serum that he produced-" Ren began.
"He, as in your brother or your father?" Atsuko butted in to ensure Ren was being clear.
"My father - The Doctor." Ren spat out the words. "He created the serum that forces your body to manifest quirks. Next it was my oldest sister, she died after a few days. Their bodies... It was almost like they exploded from the power... We had to-" Ren clenched her teeth, tears fell down her cheeks. Mirio felt himself getting up, wanting to rush to her side, and tell her that it was okay.
"Take your time." Judge Hanzo said calmly.
"My last two siblings and I... We had to clean up their remains!" Ren blurted it out. There was a gasp and a mumble through the court. The tears pouring down her cheeks fell onto her hands and fizzled into steam as soon as they hit her skin. "And then... My last sister... She cut her own wrists when he injected the serum into her... She'd witnessed what it turned them into... And she couldn't bare the thought of going through that... So I cleaned up her blood before my brother could see it."
"And what happened to him?" Atsuko asked with a saddened tone.
Ren looked up at her father slowly. "You-" She said breathlessly. "You beat him to death... He was 15... And the last thing I had left in this world..."
"Thank you." Atsuko snapped Ren's attention back to her. "Those are all of my questions for the time being." She bowed and returned to her seat.
"Mr Arakawa, your questions please." Judge Hanzo flicked his hand at him a few times. The Doctor stepped down from his podium and sauntered to the centre of the room, his long handcuffs jingling rhythmically as he walked.
The Doctor cleared his throat. "Chinami-Ren, you do speak with such conviction." He smiled at her. Ren clenched her teeth and dug her nails into her leg.
Mirio gripped the bench tightly. "What kinda guy..." He muttered under his breath.
"If these events you speak of were so terrible and heartbreaking, why did you never seek out the aid of others?" He twirled the chain of his handcuffs in his fingers.
"I tried to, you threatened to kill my friends and last surviving siblings if I did. You convinced us that this was normal. That having your quirk tested and experimented on was all part of your job." Ren spat her words out at him. Her hands grew hotter.
The Doctor smirked. "You were given high level training from a young age, correct?"
"Yes but-" She began through gritted teeth.
He interrupted her before she could finish. "And you were given the quirk serum and survived, correct?"
"I- I did b-"
"And in turn, your training and advanced physical ability granted you entrance to the top Hero school in the United States, Super AC. What was your score?"
Ren bit her lip to stop it from shaking. "9-98." She muttered. There was a mumble through the audience again.
"Dammit." Atsuko muttered under her breath. "He's doing exactly as I predicted."
"And you are now attending the top Hero school in Japan, UA High. In fact in your first few months there, you made it into the finals of the Sports Festival?"
"I-I did but-"
"So tell me, Chinami-Ren, you speak of this so negatively, yet you are the survivor. You are the one who inherited the power, how can these people be sure that you didn't make all of this up?"
"W-What?" Ren mumbled.
"Your statement says that on the night the Heroes attacked, I threatened to kill you, yes? How can these people be sure I wasn't trying to save them from a monster?" The Doctor pointed at Ren. "Just how many quirks did you manifest from that serum?"
Ren gripped onto her skirt. "Tch. F-Four."
Mirio gasped. Mumbles and whispers filled the courtroom. "Order." Judge Hanzo only had to speak once.
"And do you have control over all four of them?" The Doctor continued to berate her.
"Your honour-" Atsuko objected but Judge Hanzo held his hand up to silence her.
"N-No."
"So you could be a danger to the working heroes and the future heroes at UA High?" The Doctor smirked. "If you lost control, that is?" He turned to face the courtroom. "You see, you paint me out to be this... This villain... But what you don't understand is that this girl has created herself to be the victim but in actuality she is the issue here! If you watched the Sports Festival, clearly you would've seen it... She began to lose control for just a second... And in that time hundreds of thousands of innocent lives and the lives of beloved heroes could've been lost. You all think I'm the bad guy-"
"Duh." Mirio muttered under his breath.
"You want to lock me away?" The Doctor continued. "What about that?" He pointed at Ren.
She didn't know what to do or say. She could feel the heat rising again like it did that day she found out he was back in Japan. Ren looked at her hands, blue sparks zapped around them, she could feel her hair lift from her back. She knew what he was doing, and it was working. The courtroom lit up with whispers and gasps. The people started talking, maybe Ren was the problem and not him. Ren turned to Atsuko, her eyes pleading for help.
"That's enough!" Atsuko exclaimed as she slammed her hands on the table. The courtroom died down. "Your Honour, I object to this! She is not on trial, he is! This girl is innocent of everything he accused her of."
"If the Defendant would return to their seat." Judge Hanzo said without taking his eyes off of Atsuko. "Ms Jun, do you have evidence to back up your objection?"
Atsuko turned to the shaken Ren. "As a matter of fact, I do." She waved her hand at the bailiff. He darted over to her and they exchanged a hushed conversation.
"This way." He gestured to the door Judge Hanzo entered through.
"The witness may return to their seat." Judge Hanzo said to Ren. She nodded and shakily got out of her chair. She wasn't sure how she managed to get back to her seat next to Mirio. Her legs were practically boneless and every eye in the room was fixed on her.
Mirio stood up and held onto her shoulders when she got back to the bench. "Are you okay?" He whispered to her.
"Do I have to answer?" She whispered back. Endeavour narrowed his eyes at The Doctor, a flame flickering over his scar.
After a few quiet and awkward moments, the Bailiff returned and stepped up next to Judge Hanzo. He whispered something in his ear as Atsuko re-entered the room and returned to her seat, not even looking at Ren.
"If the court would please now welcome the pro-hero Eraserhead." Judge Hanzo announced.
'Hng?!' Ren stiffened. Aizawa appeared at the door with his yellow metal goggles on. He stepped up to the witness stand with his hands in his pockets. "Mr Aizawa?" Mirio whispered.
"Please state your name and relation to the witness." Judge Hanzo directed.
"Eraserhead. Teacher." He muttered into the mic.
Atsuko stood in the centre of the room again. "You are Chinami-Ren's Hero course teacher at UA High, correct?" She asked Aizawa.
"Yes." He said simply.
"How would you describe her as a student?"
"She's works very hard, and it's clear that she cares about her friends a lot. I think it took some getting used to for her at the start, and sometimes I catch her staring off into the distance during class but her work is always of excellent quality and submitted in a timely manner. She's respectable and hard working but I can tell she enjoys time with her friends too." Aizawa explained. Ren felt touched by his kind words.
"Why was Ren placed under your care specifically?"
"So I could cancel her quirk if she lost control." He replied plainly.
"And how many times have you had to cancel her quirk due to her losing control?"
"Once." His word rung out through the courtroom.
"What was the context of that situation?" Atsuko dug her nails into her palm. 'Please let this work...' She thought to herself.
"When my student received word that her father had returned to Japan." Aizawa turned to The Doctor. "She was so emotionally distressed that she had a panic attack, and one of her quirks began to slip through." Mumbles traveled through the room. "However." Aizawa's voice raised, silencing the gossip instantly. "It wasn't because she was endangering any of her classmates, Chinami-Ren was alone. Chinami-Ren was in pain."
"In your opinion, as an educator and as a hero, do you think Chinami-Ren is the dangerous party?" Atsuko furrowed her brow when she asked the question.
"Absolutely not. She's aware of her weaknesses and her strengths. Chinami-Ren has already made plans to train with the Number One Hero, Endeavour, in order to take control of her quirk." Aizawa explained. "In my professional opinion..." He looked at Ren's father again. "She has the basis to be one of the greatest Heroes this country has seen."
Ren felt tears fall down her cheeks again and she rubbed her fiery hot hands together to try and break some of the tension in her body. "Mr Arakawa, do you have a rebuttal to this?" Judge Hanzo asked him smugly.
Arakawa began to shake. "Like hell I'm letting my greatest work get into the hands of that man!" His white hair exploded around him, his eyes glowed and black electricity sparked all around him. People in the courthouse screamed and ran for the doors.
Ren froze in her seat, only her hands continued to rub and slap against one another. Mirio held his arm over her and readied himself for the attack. Endeavour rocketed over the rail in front of Ren and ignited his flames all around him. Atsuko ducked under the table, everything happened so quickly but to Ren it played out in slow motion.
Her father leapt into the air, ready to strike out at Endeavour. Endeavour crossed his arms over his face and let flames erupt from his hands. Black electricity formed over The Doctor's arms, he pulled his fist back behind him, ready to strike. Ren felt the rest of her body heat up, the friction between her hands ignited a small flame in her palm. The Doctor yelled out, about to strike.
Until suddenly the sparks disappeared and his hair and eyes returned to normal. 'Hng?' He questioned as he hovered mid-air for a second. He fell to the hard ground with a cry. Aizawa stood at the witness podium, his hair floating behind him. He sent his binding scarf to The Doctor and wrapped him up tightly. He leapt over the podium and landed just next to The Doctor.
Aizawa pulled his binding cloth taut and The Doctor rolled onto his back. "Touch my student, and I'll kill you." He muttered down to him before his hair fell back to his shoulders.
Judge Hanzo had been frozen in shock from the split second event that had just gone down. The courtroom was in chaos as people still screamed and tried to get away. "Oh... ORDER!" He demanded and pounded his gavel on the wooden podium. "Security!"
The courtroom settled down a little as Aizawa escorted The Doctor out with the security team. "Why was an anti-quirk barrier not used?!" Judge Hanzo demanded an answer from the bailiff.
"Our records showed he had no quirk." The bailiff said shakily. "My apologies, sir." He bowed low.
Ren hadn't budged. "Are you okay?" Mirio asked and turned to her. 'Hng?!' He stepped back slightly when he saw the flame in her palm. Ren couldn't take her eyes off of it. A hand appeared over hers and distinguished the small flame. Ren looked up to see Endeavour's scared face. He nodded at her once.
"Order!" Judge Hanzo called out again. The courtroom hushed as people returned to their seats. "Ms Jun." He turned to Atsuko. "I think a decision was made for us, please ensure your client is taken care of. Dismissed." Judge Hanzo stepped down from his podium and hurried out of the court.
*
Atsuko returned from Ren's hotel room bathroom and slipped her phone back into her pocket with a sigh. "Well, that's it. He's on his way to Tartarus. Unfortunately there was a media mole in the courtroom today, we've managed to silence them to an extent buuuut..."
"But what?" Ren asked without looking up. She'd been sitting on the couch since they got back from court that afternoon. Mirio had offered her food and water, even her phone, but she wouldn't move.
Atsuko sighed and pressed a hand to her forehead. "Your name will be in the papers tomorrow."
"That's fine." Ren closed her eyes and rubbed her temples.
"Luckily you'll be off to Okinawa first thing, news takes a little longer to hit down there and when it does the locals don't really care that much. It's honestly the best case scenario right now." Atsuko explained.
Ren looked at her hands. "Yeah. I guess it'll be a good place to hang low while this blows over."
Atsuko sat next to Ren and wrapped her arm over her shoulders. "You did good, kid." She said softly.
"I'm just glad it's over."
"Yeah." Atsuko stretched. "For now at least. You wanna try eating again?" She handed Ren the room service menu.
Ren stared at it. "Yeah, okay." She flipped through the pages a few times over.
Mirio entered the room with Aizawa and Eri a few moments later while Ren was still trying to find a food she thought she may be able to stomach. "Eri!" She exclaimed and dropped the menu. Eri's face lit up and she ran over to Ren, who greeted her with a swinging hug. "My little Eri!"
"Big Sis!" Eri cheered.
Ren placed her back on her feet and crouched down so they were at eye-level. "What're you doing here?"
"Well... Daddy and I were gonna have two weeks together but he had to come here for work, he said. So I had to come with, and Big Brother Mirio was here too!" She smiled widely as she explained. "Daddy said we can stay another day here and we're gonna go look at museums!" She raised her arms up high.
"That's so cool! Are you excited?" Eri nodded. "I was lookin' at food, ya hungry?" Ren grabbed the menu and showed it to Eri.
"Yeah!" She ducked in front of Ren and they looked at the different options together.
"Nothing sweet until you've eaten something with vegetables." Aizawa mumbled to Eri as the five of them convened around the living area table. Eri pouted at her adoptive father. "What?" He raised his shoulders at her. "I said you can have something sweet! Just after you've had your proper dinner."
"I knew it would take a daughter to reel you in." Ren chuckled at Aizawa.
With Eri's guidance, they ordered turkey and brie sandwiches, it came with autumn greens, cranberries and a pot of tea accompanied by a small cake they could all share. Eri chose an upside down apple cake. Ren sat cross-legged on the floor in front of the coffee table with Eri in her lap. Mirio welcomed their banquet into the hotel room, and soon they were dining and chatting about the events that transpired that week.
"You asked for Mr Aizawa for his quirk, didn't you?" Ren asked Atsuko.
She nodded as she chewed on her food. "I was thinking; why would someone spend all of that time doing quirk research and not develop something for themselves?" Atsuko explained. "And then on the first day I asked him questions; I used my quirk to ask him, yes or no, do you have a quirk? He said no."
"How did he manage that?" Mirio asked with a furrowed brow. Eri watched between the grown ups as she took a deep drink of her juice pop. Her juice bubbling and popping through the straw.
"It hurt, it hurt a lot." Atsuko held her fingers to her chin in thought. "When I ask a yes or no question, I get the truth, if they manage to get a lie out it hurts my body. When he said no, it felt like a bullet hit me in the chest. I've only had mild stings but this almost had me doubling over. I'm surprised none of you noticed."
Ren furrowed her brow. "How did you know he would have an outburst like that?" She asked.
"Don't get me wrong." Atsuko waved her hands in front of her and smiled awkwardly. "I needed to bring Shota on because I had a feeling he was going to try and twist this trial against you. Remember how I said it was strange that you were there, like this trial was about you too? I needed this guy to talk good about you if things went south." She gestured to Aizawa. "But I also thought, he's been holding his composure really well this whole time; if he really was the psycho you said he was, he had to crack with the right wording."
"That's why I mentioned your plans to study under Endeavour to get your quirks under control." Aizawa stepped in to finish the explanation. "The Number One Hero, the man who finally took him down, having access to his "creation"..." He made quotation marks with his fingers. "Well, he wouldn't like that, would he?"
*
"Guys! Guys! Quick!" Sero called to his classmates scattered through the house. "There's news about The Doctor's trials!"
The noise of hurried footsteps on wooden planks echoed throughout the home as they gathered in the living area. Iida had the news opened on his phone. "There's not a lot of info available yet but- Hng?!" He froze.
"What is it, Iida?" Uraraka leant forward and asked him intently.
"Tch. Spit it out, rep." Bakugo growled. He hadn't heard from Ren since the morning she left, he needed to know if she was okay.
Iida began reading the article. "While we can't give any details of the trial yet, we can confirm The Doctor has been found guilty and has already been transferred to Tartarus."
"That was quick." Kirishima mumbled with his toothbrush half hanging out of his mouth.
Iida clenched his teeth. "We can also confirm the last remaining survivor of his in-humane experiments, daughter and witness to his crimes is UA High Hero course student; Chinami-Ren Arakawa."
Bakugo clenched his fist. 'Tch.'
"So it's as we suspected." Deku mumbled into his hand. "She was at the trial."
Uraraka held her hands over her mouth. "R-Ren..." She mumbled. Tears swelled in her eyes, she was her best friend and she never said anything. She'd been going through that the whole time by herself.
Iida locked his phone. "Chinami will be joining us within the next few days, I ask that you do not berate her with questions. Allow her to speak to us in her own time, please."
*