Chapter 107 - Influence

For a second, no one said anything.

Frozen in the doorway, my father's eyes swept over the room in a second. His attention stopped at the bodyguard, turned to Nishimura, focused back on the bodyguard.

His gaze hardened and he entered my room, bowing slightly to do so.

The air suddenly heated up, as dry as a summer afternoon.

He walked slowly into the room, his eyes never leaving the members of the Heroic Commission for a second, until he stood in front of me, separating me from the other two.

- Who are you and what are you doing in my son's room?

Nishimura smiled and extended his hand to my father.

- Mr. Endeavor, it's a great honor to meet you. I'm Naoya Nishimura, Senior Lieutenant of the Anomalies of All Kinds Brigade of the Heroic Commission.

My father looked down at his hand, then back up at Naoya.

I felt a twisted pleasure at Nishimura's narrow smile and the stupid way he folded his fingers and then pretended to wipe his suit jacket.

- We'd like to-

All Might entered the room and surveyed it quickly.

Nishimura's face lit up as if his savior had arrived, before any glimmer of hope was extinguished when he saw that All Might ignored him superbly, preferring to lean against the wall next to my bed with his arms crossed.

- -learn more about your son's Quirk. As you know, lying about the nature of one's Quirk is illegal.

- We didn't lie.

Naoya, intimidated by the two heroes, seemed to find it increasingly difficult to feign professionalism.

To tell the truth, he looked almost nervous - as if Endeavor and All Might were on the verge of coming after him and there was nothing he could do about it.

- You didn't ?, he muttered.

He glanced sideways at All Might, and I followed suit.

All Might, his face closed, studied the scene with boredom in a way that looked strangely like something my father might have done.

Was this a communication stunt Nezu had concocted, or was All Might tired of pretending?

The two heroes - the two most powerful men in the land - made a confusing pair, but one that worked surprisingly well.

- No

My father's answer was unappealing.

Naoya stammered.

- But the video-

- The video is fake.

Naoya's small eyes darted back and forth between the two heroes.

His left cheek hollowed out, as if he were biting the inside of it, while his eyes gleamed with a calculating glint.

Then Naoya regained his joy and smile, lifting his shoulders.

- Of course. Obviously.

And to my surprise, Naoya turned on his heels, his bodyguard following like a shadow.

He stopped in the doorway:

- I trust you, Heroes. If you swear on your honor that the video is false, then we believe you.

Then he gave each of the heroes a stern look.

- The Commission is working towards the same goal as you, gentlemen. To ensure order and stability in our country. On the other hand, I'm afraid the media is more... vengeful than we are.

Naoya smiled.

And then he left, gently closing the door behind him.

In the corridor, I could feel his bodyguard's energy fluctuating, losing thickness - like peeling a piece of fruit - until it became a small ball, less warm and more compact.

I was sure that if I followed his lead, my father's scent would disappear halfway through and become the scent the bodyguard had chosen.

All Might straightened up, losing some of his nonchalant toughness, and the air returned to its original temperature.

My father was still staring at the door, as if expecting him to return at any moment, and I opened my mouth to thank him when the incongruity of the situation struck me.

- What are you doing here?

The timing of their arrival was too good to be anything but suspicious.

On the bed, Katsuki fidgeted and ruffled the sheets.

All Might pursed his lips and looked at my father.

He still didn't look at me.

Suddenly, I had a terrible premonition.

- Which video was Nishimura talking about?

My first thought was that he was referring to the video from a few days ago, the one where I'd helped neutralize Gigantomachia.

But my father had said that the video was fake - and Naoyama had accepted the answer without question.

Something didn't add up.

- Which video ?

And for the first time in days, my father looked at me with something other than disappointment.

That should have calmed me down.

But it didn't.

- Someone in possession of the hangar video has leaked it.

My blood ran cold.

That fucking video-

- Who knows ?

- The whole world

*

He turned up the volume on his remote.

...we're entitled to wonder how such information could be concealed when so many people were involved. Mr. Takumi Ueda, public relations expert, how do you think this was possible?

The expert raised his eyebrows, sighed, and shook his head.

- Look, we live in a corrupt country, and that's what I've been trying to say for years. The mere fact that a person is a Hero or not creates a disparity in the legal treatment of individuals, with Heroes usually getting off with lighter sentences for identical charges.

He raised his pen and pointed at the journalist.

- In this particular case, it was the child of a Hero - and not just any Hero but the Number 2, Endeavor, the man who has solved the most cases in a row over a period of fifteen years and is now considered All Might's equal, if not his partner.

Takumi moistened his lips.

- Heroes as powerful as Endeavor and All Might certainly have more responsibilities, but they also have many more rights and benefits. The power and stability of a country now rests on its heroes and their ability to maintain order and pseudo-justice: the heroes are therefore pampered, protected by these governments that want to keep them happy at all costs to prevent them from deciding to leave the country and settle elsewhere, as was the case in North Korea before reunification.

The moderator nodded, eyes squinting, swallowing the expert's explanations without flinching.

- Look at middle schools and high schools, it's the same. Our social hierarchy is based on Quirks and the individuals who possess them. The more useful and important the power, the more lenient and benevolent people will be toward you. It's said that people are born equal, but that's not the case since the advent of Quirks: from the moment we are born, our lives are more or less planned according to the social status and income of our parents. What I'm saying is that Quirk have become at least as important a factor as those two. The more powerful it is, the more we can influence our environment and the people in our social circles.

The moderator, sensing that the expert was going off on a tangent, tried to bring him back to the point:

- Are you telling us that the Todoroki affair could be covered up because Endeavor is a hero?

The expert exclaimed in dismay:

- Of course

His glasses slipped down his nose and he raised them an inch, mouth open, eyes riveted on the anchorwoman as if she were his Ph.D. advisor whom he was trying to convince.

- The very basis of my argument is that Endeavor is a Hero, and a powerful one at that!

The moderator folded her hands and nodded, urging him on.

- What we're seeing here is just one of the many facets of nepotism. Endeavor has power, which means contacts, which means influence, which means a way to bend his world to his will. It's as simple as that: there's no need to imagine one of those silly conspiracy theories you see all over the Internet.

The moderator looked down at her stack of papers, reread a few lines, then straightened up, eyes squinting.

- You don't think there's any substance to them? Are they just 'silly conspiracy theories', to use your words?

The expert opened his mouth, as he always did when he was startled, his double chin hiding his neck.

- You've got a lot of nerve asking me a question like that, you being a journalist. You know how important it is to check sources before publishing information.

The moderator flushed and straightened up.

- You seem to have misunderstood my question. Since the video of the Todoroki affair had already been published on the Internet, I wanted to know whether you thought it could be considered potentially true, or whether you'd suggest that it shouldn't really be taken into consideration-

- Rubbish ! It's all nonsense, and you know it. The only reason this video is getting so much media coverage is because official, classified documents from the Prefect's office have leaked out, confirming the events and the protagonists involved. As far as I know, the rumors have not been corroborated, have they?

He waited, leaning forward, his chin trembling like jelly, for the host to answer, who hesitated before nodding to encourage him.

- I'm a man of facts, and I'll stick to facts. Speculation is not my...'

He turned off the television.

The silence in his office was breathtaking.

- I think we should be grateful, Nezu said, That the 'All Might and Endeavor' duo is so successful. Their fans are now the most ardent supporters of Todoroki on the web.

Nezu smiled, but neither All Might nor Endeavor smiled back.

Shoto, for his part, stood as still as a statue, his face serious - or so his eyes told him.

- What kind of rumors are they talking about ?, the teenager asked calmly.

Nezu shook his paws.

- Nothing at all, just a little speculation about your Quirks and why the government would have sanctioned such a cover-up.

Shoto didn't pick up on the "your quirks" and Nezu took note.

- Do they think I work for them?

- They think, Nezu replied in a cheeky tone that didn't fit the conversation, That you are their product, the fruit of an experiment on genes and mutations that would have led to the creation of super-humans. And that Endeavor had agreed to sell you to them.

This time, Nezu sensed that Shoto was smiling, as if the idea was absurd.

- And what now ?, Endeavor asked.

Nezu inhaled and relaxed his hoarse muscles.

All 1-A students were finally out of the hospital.

Aizawa and Present Mic hunted for parental consent to integrate the students into the dormitories Cementos was finishing.

The constitution of the Elite Class was well underway and should see daylight next week.

The only downside was that no residue of All for One had been found in Gigantomachia's stomach, but at least no one had heard of Denki Kaminari's death or the many other serious injuries sustained at the summer camp.

The Todoroki debacle was important enough to draw the attention of the media and the public away from Nezu and his petty shenanigans.

Had he been sure that Enji wouldn't turn his school into Mount Fuji 2, Nezu would have thanked him for the timely scandal.

- Now we agree on the version we'll give to the public on the day of the trial.