Chapter 23 - Moving Forward

Shiketsu private hospital is a hospital located on the south side of Shiketsu island, at the opposite end of the forest where Overtone Fought the intruder. It's a prestigious hospital, with all the medical staff experts in their field, even having the capability to perform surgery. It offers high-end care for the students, staff, and faculty of Shiketsu high school for free.

Garrick, wearing a black suit, walked through the hospital hall, heading to room 505. Stopping in front of the door, he reached to open it just as the door opened inward, with a male nurse of average height standing on the other side.

"Oh, Sir. Fernsby." The man looked up at Garrick, "I heard you were coming to visit today, but it won't be appropriate to visit---"

"I just want to have a look." Garrick cut the nurse off, "It will be quick."

"...Right." The nurse replied with uncertainty, moving out of the way. If it were someone else, the answer would definitely be no. Nonetheless, Shiketsu's high principal told them Mr. Fernsby could do whatever he wanted. Therefore, there is nothing a nurse like him could do.

Garrick entered the room, and the nurse left the room, closing the door behind him. He walked to the only hospital bed in the room, a man on it with multiple machines connected to him, with the electronic vital sign monitors showing that all his vitals were normal.

The man on the bed was Overtone. He had managed to survive after losing his heart due to him getting quick medical attention from the head doctor of the hospital, who has one of the most effective healing quirks in the world, before getting connected to an artificial heart machine in less than a minute.

Garrick stared at the sleeping man before speaking, "I know you are awake, Mr. Jiro. Please, stop pretending." He said in a stern tone.

"God." Overtone, now known as Jiro, said with a weak voice, opening his eyes. "Can't you see what happened to me? Can't the investigation wait for one fucking day?" He growled, glaring at Garrick.

"Protocols, Mr. Jiro." Garrick replied, putting his hands in his pocket. "So tell me everything that happened. You don't have to explain it to me in detail. Just tell me the gist."

"..." Jiro stared at Garrick for a while before saying, "You know, for a man who just had his daughter get attacked and almost killed, you sure are calm."

"Please, Mr. Jiro. Focus on the question at hand." Garrick ordered, ignoring his question. "I don't have time for these small talks."

Jiro wanted to be petty and send Garrick away since he didn't and never liked the man. But capturing or tracking down the villain who somehow managed to enter the heavily guarded Island was more vital than his pettiness. He let out a sigh and quickly explained what had happened.

After Theresa stormed out of the classroom and Darius left the room without permission, he waited for Darius to return to class after using the bathroom. He then stepped out to bring Theresa back to the classroom so he could explain the rules and regulations to the students without having to repeat himself.

Teachers and staff can track students using their school IDs as long as they are on school grounds, so finding her was easy. Near the forest, he heard Theresa's scream, rushing to her. After that, he explained everything else that happened.

"A villain that could revive?" Garrick asked, squinting at the man.

"You got to believe me, Mr. Fernsby." Jiro pleaded, trying to sit up but failing. "Initially, I thought he could only regenerate from near death, but this man can come back from the dead. I saw it after his lower body was completely obliterated. He revived!"

Garrick looked at the man, sighing. "You must have hit your head hard." He said, standing up. "I will go see Theresa."

"You asked for my story, and now you won't believe me!" Jiro shouted after Garrick, coughing soon after as the electronic vital sign monitors started beeping rapidly. "Fuck. The villain had the quirk that resurrected him from the dead and could scream with paralyzing power. Why can't you believe me, Fernsby?"

"The paralysis scream, I believe." He said, opening the door as the nurse who was waiting outside rushed into the room after his work tablet notified him of Jiro's vitals. "But, I don't believe your other claim." With that, he closed the door before sighing.

"So, it was Kuragari." He mumbled to himself, rubbing the bridge of his nose. "Has he grown up and developed super strength and super speed? And I guess the 'arm' he was talking about was the black ghosts." He thought of it for a while before mumbling, "He talked about 'master,' so I guess that's his new master."

He has many questions, such as why Kuragari was told not to use any of his other quirks. Was it to test how physically strong he is? How did he even develop those amounts of physical powers? Is it part of his quirk? Who is his 'master?'

"I don't know what to think of this." He groaned, massaging his forehead. First, he overlooked the possibility that any villain would come after Theresa on the first day of school. Most unfortunate of all, he had missed the chance to use his quirk on the child. "No. I guess he is a man now."

Garrick sighed, noticing he had been doing that a lot the past few hours. "And Jiro too." Due to the nature of a quirk that allows someone to revive, The Prime Minister had to wipe all traces of it on the internet 13 years ago, using money to silence those who knew.

Now, Jiro had seen it first hand. "I don't think we could keep that a secret anymore." He mumbled, walking down the hall and heading to Theresa's hospital room. "I feel like Kuragari would be showing his face more. The public finding out is inevitable." He said, with a thought, 'If I don't catch him by then.'

He entered Theresa's hospital room, which already had its door unlocked. She was on the only hospital bed in the middle of the room, multiple machines connected to her, with an iron mask covering the lower part of her face. He looked at her vitals, noticing it was fine, and prepared to leave since he had nothing else to do here.

"What the fuck are you doing here?" A voice drew his attention, turning around to see Dinah standing at the room's door, glaring at him. She was a mess. Her suit was wrinkled with light bags under her eyes due to not sleeping for a long time and carrying a cup of coffee in her right hand.

"...To visit my daughter." Garrick replied after a short pause to think of the right words.

"Daughter?" Dinah chuckled, closing the door behind her. She looked at him with unimpressed eyes, saying, "This is the second day your 'daughter' has been here, and now you are here?"

"I was...busy." He replied, which was the truth. My team and I had to check all security systems quickly to ensure there could be no other intruders to keep the other students safe."

"I know how busy your job can be, Garrick." Dinah waved his excuse away, her gaze fixed on him. "You didn't even bother to call to check on her. Come on."

He sighed, not in the mood for an argument. "Trust me, Dinah. I didn't have time for---"

"Forget it, Garrick." She sighed, rubbing her eyes as she drank from her coffee. "I really wanted Theresa to have a father. After speaking to you on the phone for those years, I thought you had changed. Therefore, I abandoned my life in Corpus Christi and agreed to come to Japan to live with you. For Theresa."

Garrick decided not to say something and just listened. In his eyes, it was just another of her rants. She would talk and talk, then forget about it. She has always been like that.

"Your first interactions were what I expected. I mean, it was an interaction between a daughter who has never met her father for 13 years and a father who has never met his daughter since her birth." She shrugged. "I expected you two to grow closer, but I guess that was my naive expectation of both of you." She looked at him. "All I asked for you when you called and asked me to come to Japan was to care for Theresa. Not love her. Not fake your love for her. But care for her." She emphasized care.

There was a long silence between them before she said, "But I guess that isn't the care. You don't give a damn about her." She smiled, "Since you don't care about her, and she doesn't like you, I guess it's time for me to stop pretending."

Though the look on Garrick's face didn't change, Dinah noticed the slight twitch of his right eyebrow. "I am very capable of forgetting things, but not forgiving, Garrick Hupnos Fernsby jr." She chuckled, "And I'm over with all the bullshit. I have already spoken to an attorney, so I am just telling you this." She pointed to her handbag on an armchair beside Theresa. "After Theresa heals, we will go to court and start the divorce process, and I will get full custody of my daughter."

Garrick squinted at the woman, confused. "What's going on here, Dinah?" He asked, but she ignored him.

"When the divorce papers are finalized, we will be heading back to Corpus Christi." She walked past him and sat on the armchair. "I won't file for child support. I already have a lot of money saved and can get a job to provide for both of us. You don't have to keep sending me money, but I will gladly take it if you do. You can come and visit your daughter if you want. I will never ban you from visiting your daughter, but I doubt you will come."

Garrick was silent, thinking through what she just said. "You're serious?" He asked, still trying to wrap his head around it. "Come on, Dinah. You gotta be joking."

Dinah said nothing, and he kept staring at her. After a few moments, he sighed. 'She will get over this.' He thought, walking out of the hospital room and closing the door behind him.

Having nothing else to do, he decided to get some fresh air. Opening the door to the roof, the cool breeze of spring rushed past him, calming him. The afternoon sun beamed down on him, and there was almost no cloud in the sky.

"Haah." He let out a long, tired sigh, closing the door behind him. Going to the roof's edge, he leaned on the railing and stared out into the expanse of Shiketsu island, lost in thoughts.

His tranquility was soon interrupted when the door behind him opened. A light-skinned tall man, approximately six feet tall, with a fit body and short black hair, walked into the roof. He has dark, rectangular eyes, and wears a tan overcoat and matching hat. Underneath, he wears a black suit, a green tie at his neck, matching slacks, and dress shoes.

The man froze, and he and Garrick stared at each other for a while before Garrick spoke, "Long time no see, Tsukauchi." He greeted his old friend with a smile, "or should I say, Assistant Chief of police."

Naomasa chuckled, closing the door and walking to stand beside Garrick. "You too, vice president of the HPSC." He said, stretching. "How long has it been? Seven years?"

"Seven years and about three months." Garrick replied, staring into the distance. "Once we got into a high rank in our respective fields, visiting each other became impossible."

"Accurate." Naomasa nodded, turning to Garrick. "It might be late, but congrats on reuniting with your family, and sorry for your daughter."

"It's fine." He replied with a chuckle, "What of you? How have you and your dog been doing?"

"Oh, that?" Naomasa stared at the clear sky. "It died nine years ago." He paused, "No, I killed it."

"Killed it?" Garrick asked, giving Naomasa a perplexed look. "Why would you kill it? You always brag about how much you love your dog. So much that I thought you were about to marry it."

"Marry." He chuckled, before replying, "You know it was a therapy dog, something to help me get over the death of my family. Well, after I healed, I killed it."

"Oh, I see." Garrick nodded. "It wasn't any use to you anymore, so you killed it?"

Naomasa shrugged. "It was also sick and suffering, so I put it out of its--"

Garrick's phone suddenly rang, cutting Naomasa off. Looking at the caller ID, he saw it was the president, turning to Naomasa. "We will have to end our conversation here." He said, turning to walk away. "We should meet up one day and catch up."

"Right." Naomasa agreed as Garrick left the roof, closing the door behind him. Sighing, he turned back to the sky, "My dog." He chuckled, remembering the old times.

He used to enjoy playing with his dog, but as time passed, he also lost interest in the dog. He had vented all his emotions on it and healed from the scar of his family's death. Besides, the dog had become unresponsive to him and became sick, so he put it out of its misery, letting the past be.

After that night nine years ago, he had been getting better, and everything had been progressing smoothly. Though sometimes he remembers his dead family, it's simply a nostalgic memory.

"I should visit their grave sometime this week." Naomasa mumbled, closing his eyes and remembering the smile of his late parents and his loving sister. He smiled, hoping they were in a happy place, in the afterlife, if such a place existed.

~ ~ ~ ~ ~ ~ ~ ~ ~ ~

Elsewhere, Dr. Kyudai, dressed in his signature white, buttoned-up lab coat with a set of goggles shaped somewhat like gears, walked down a long, dark hallway. He opened the door at the end of the hallway, entering a dark room, only illuminated by a monitor on top of a table.

Sitting on the chair was a Shigaraki, attentively watching the monitor screen. His face was now entirely made up of scar tissue, extending from above his upper lip and covering his entire head and the back of his neck. As such, he had no visible nose, ears, hair, or eyes, though the outlines of his eye sockets were visible. He was hooked up to multiple life support machines and wore a black suit.

"He performed much better than expected, didn't sensei?" Kyudai asked, walking to one of Shigaraki's life support machines and looking at the data. "Kyoki, I mean."

"Yes." Shigaraki replied, leaning on his right fist with his elbow on the chair's armrest. "His body handled the Brute Force quirk well."

"Although his durability and the density of his body isn't strong enough to handle the quirk, causing him to break his body whenever he uses it, resetting can fix all the damage," Kyudai said, moving to another machine. "and the more he uses the quirk, the more durable his physical body becomes. The quirk that might be able to rival All Might's raw strength."

"I doubt it will ever reach his level, Doctor. After all, he did this to me." Shigaraki pointed at his face while 'watching' the news about All Might now teaching at U.A. High School. "But it will grow his body, preparing it for me."

"Right." Kyudai agreed. He said the Brute Force quirk would rival All Might's strength out of the excitement of the experiment turning out well. However, he knew that All Might's physical prowess was the strongest in the world.

"But in his weakened state, he wouldn't be able to unleash the true power of One for All, so I am certain he has already passed it onto the next candidate. We merely need to find validation that he has to continue with our plan." Shigaraki agreed, grinning. "And Shigiraki would do that for me. He is now the head of the League of Villains. I am sure things will turn out well." He finished, tapping the armrest of his chair.

As if on cue, the monitor's screen changed to display the live security footage of an abandoned bar in Kamino, Yokohama. Standing behind the bar's counter was Kurogiri, with a man sitting across from him.

The man was a slim man with pale skin, messy grayish-blue hair of varying lengths, the longest clumps reaching about his shoulders, left hanging over his face in uneven waves. He wears fourteen embalmed hands around his body, with one holding and covering his face while the other is holding onto him on different parts of his body. His clothes are all black, and he wears white sneakers.

He was looking through a stack of paper while manically scratching his neck. "You said he managed to obtain the class schedule of class 1-A, didn't you?"

"Yes. As you can see, he is reading it." Kyudai said, his eyes fixed on the papers the man was reading.

"I am sorry, doctor, but that is impossible." Shigiraki chuckled, waving his hand in front of his face. "I am blind if you don't remember."

"Oh, right." Kyudai cleared his throat. "I am sorry for that, sensei."

"Don't worry." Shigiraki replied, not offended by Kyudai's statement. "But, he used the mole we placed in U.A. well."

"He is much 'smarter' than his brother." Kyudai pointed out, watching the screen. "Though his plan isn't flawless, it is superior to anything Kyoki could even come up with. As the leader of the league of villains, he is best suited to succeed you, while Kyoki is best suited to be your successor."

"You are right, doctor." Shigiraki agreed, massaging where his right eyes used to be, feeling an irritation behind the skin. "Though that's just when he shows his fear."

"...I won't disagree with that." Kyudai sighed, "I don't understand why you wouldn't just force him to keep hiding his fear, but I won't question it."

"Don't worry." Shigiraki grinned, "But why don't we have a bit of fun?"

"Fun?" Kyudai questioned, tilting his head.

"Wouldn't it be interesting to see how Kyoki and Tomura would succeed in working together and how much they would accomplish?" He asked, with Kyudai also gaining a menacing grin. "Why don't we ask him?"

Tapping his armrest as the monitor screen switched to display the live security footage of a dark room. Just like their room, the only light that illuminated the room was a flat-screen tv, playing the news of All Might now teaching at U.A.

The light was enough to give a view of the room, with every wall and surface covered in pictures of All Might, with a red X across his face. All furniture, including the bed, was covered.

Laying on the ground and watching the television was the man who had attacked and almost killed Theresa, Kyoki. He was naked, with his face covered by his signature three-eye scarf.

Suddenly, the TV in the room switched to a white screen, causing the man to jump back. "Kyoki. Why don't you embark on another mission for me?" Shigiraki asked, his voice coming through the TV screen in Kyoki's room.

"No!" he answered, vigorously shaking his head. "They were scary, master!! The man hurt me!" He hugged himself and shivered. "I can't deal with them, master! I can't deal with humans... T-they are scary..."

"Don't worry. You will finally get to meet All Might." His words caught Kyoki's attention as he stopped all movement. "What do you say, Kyoki?" A wide grin that grew from ear to ear could be seen on Kyoki's face as he held his head, his body emitting black shadows. "I knew you would understand, my prodigy."

Chapter End~~

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Word Count: 3465

I am deeply sorry for posting this chapter so late, but I had A LOT of college works, and my professors are devils when it comes to giving works, lol.

But, what do you think of this chapter? It revealed a lot of things and introduced the mad man, Naomasa. Now we are in the topic of introducing an old character, I wonder where my boy Richthofen is. He has been missing for a while now, and no one has spoken of him.

Now, who is excited for the U.S.J arc? I wonder how different it would be. "Hehe."