chapter 26

Summary:

Nemuri is big on impulse decisions. She was practically the life of the party and she took pride in that.

Now, one wallet snatcher later, Midnight has a kid, a little girl who needs a lot of love to overcome abuse, homelessness, discrimination, and a very strange quirk.

The kid sees things that don't exist. Monsters, landscapes, ghosts, and so much more would normally be outside of human comprehension, with the caveat that she's blind 90% of the time. It's fascinating in the worst way.

Nemuri can provide the love she needs. She'll make sure that this girl can achieve a dream long denied to her; being a hero.

But, maybe she should have warned her wives that she was going to bring a kid home unprompted.

Just a thought.

She liked colors.

That sounds vague and confusing because it is meant to. She liked being a hero and all—certainly wasn't a job she would willingly be giving up anytime soon—but her true passion was art.

The way a message can be told, skills shown, and feelings conveyed through just the linework of a piece itself is fascinating.

The thing that ties it all together, however? Colors. Beautiful, swirling, and vibrant, or dull, uneventful, and lifeless, the colors of an illustration can tell things that no human could.

She chose to become an art teacher and pursued her passion, eventually believing she had seen all that colors had to offer.

She was wrong.

There lived more stories to tell in the world of colors.

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Nemuri Kayama hated chasing people. Mostly due to the fact she wasn't very fast.

It was worse when heels were part of her costume but Shouta had knocked her on her ass in UA because of them, so she learned her lesson. The boots were sexy too.

Currently, she was after this guy who clearly hadn't stolen before. He tried to take this lady's purse but fumbled and just managed to spill it on the ground.

Unfortunately, he managed to grab her wallet before running away, which meant he still stole something valuable and Neumri was obligated to get it back.

It got to the point that she was relying on hearing more than sight. Her only clue to where the man was was from his footsteps changing alleys.

She turned onto a very decrepit street and she managed to catch a glimpse of his legs as he ran and tripped into the entrance of an abandoned building.

As she quickly approached the house, she took note of its state. It seemed to be long forsaken, maybe condemned after a fire if the charred bricks were any indication. The entrance that the man ran through likely held a door at one point, but had been exposed to the elements for some time now, no door to be found.

She slowed down from her sprint as she entered the building, and scanned the surroundings.

She still didn't know the quirk of the wallet-snatcher, but hers worked best in closed areas like these, so she was willing to bet this could work out in her favor.

"AH! What the Fuck?!" She heard the man say from upstairs in some mix of surprise and confusion.

So maybe this wouldn't go the way she thought it would. Just maybe.

Nemuri quickly made her way up the stairs—almost falling into a hole along the way—and into an adjacent room where the man was looking at something just out of sight.

He must've heard her come into the room as he turned to her before quickly raising his hands in front of him in a calming motion, "Hey, Hey wait, I don't want to fight. I'll return the wallet, promise!"

He slowly reached into his pocket and pulled out a worn-out wallet, before holding it out in front of him, "Just take it. I… I don't think I should've stolen it in the first place."

He was refusing to make eye contact, Nemuri noted, which was normally a sign of guilt. She reached for it.

He spoke again once she grabbed the wallet, "Just—Just take care of the kid."

Kid? What kid?

"Um, w-would you m-mind leaving my h-home?"

Nemuri walked to the section of the room she couldn't originally see, only to find a kid sitting on a bed of ragged blankets and towels.

The strangest part? Behind the long and unkempt green hair, the kid was wearing some sort of makeshift blindfold made from a ripped-up piece of clothing.

"Hello?" Nemuri confusedly said with a small wave before realizing it would be in vain.

"Uh, h-hello Ma'am… Who a-are you?" They responded in a small nervous voice, looking in her general direction.

"My name is Nemuri Kayama, and my hero name is Midnight." She introduced herself, adding in the hero part in an attempt to comfort the kid.

"O-Oh, It's nice to meet you…" They shuffled a bit and used their arms to cover their legs, "My name's… I-Izumi."

Izumi, so this was presumably a girl. Either that or trans. It didn't matter much, they might not even use female pronouns.

Nemuri crouched down, "Why are you here Izumi?"

The girl faced a little leftward of Nemuri, "W-What?"

"Why are you in this building?" She clarified

The green-haired girl shifted again, "Um, this is…" She murmured something that Nemuri couldn't hear.

"What was that, dear?"

"I… l-live here."

Oh.

OH.

Yeah, that makes a lot of sense. Nemuri should have seen that. Izumi was literally sitting on a makeshift bed; it was clear what was happening there.

Now onto bigger fish, "Alright, Why do you live here?"

Izumi faced the ground, "They didn't w-want me."

"Who didn't?" And the answer Izumi gave broke her heart.

"...everyone…" It was a voice, much too small for its body, filled with damage and wear from the burdens of society. Nemuri knew that voice.

It didn't deserve to belong to someone like Izumi.

"Your parents?"

The girl shook her head, "O-Only had one, Dad had l-left. Mom didn't like my, um, quirk, and orphanages don't like m-me, I'm bad for b-business."

It was going to hurt hearing the answer but she had to ask, "What do you mean bad for business ?"

Izumi tilted her head back and didn't speak for a moment, "I see things. And h-hear them." She faced back towards Nemuri, "It's my quirk, but I c-can't really prove that so… they just t-think my quirk makes me, um, schizophrenic with extra steps."

Izumi gave a slight smile but stayed curled up into her ball shape, "Su-Sucks, so I run away. I-I've been on my, um, own for a while."

Nemuri sat down fully, "How long?"

"I w-was seven when she, um, got rid of me…"

Seven. This girl was at-minimum fourteen, so she had been on her own for at least seven years.

Also, seven years old?! How the hell did she manage to survive?

Nemuri had to put this into context, "So your mother dropped you off at an orphanage when you w—"

Izumi cut her off, "N-No, she just left m-me on the, um, street."

Nemuri had to take a long breath through her nose, "Your mother left you on the street when you were seven, then Child Services picked you up and put you in an orphanage, where they mistreated you until you ran away."

Izumi shifted a bit, "Um, y-yeah.

"..."

"..."

"Do… Do you want to come with me?" She had no idea why she offered that, it was a heat-of-the-moment decision.

"I'm… not that k-kind of girl." What.

"Wha—God no, I didn't mean—Have people…?"

"...Once." Nemuri was going to kill a human being. Murder suddenly sounded very appealing.

She took a breath, "I was offering to… adopt you, I suppose."

"...Why?" Izumi asked quietly.

"You don't deserve to be out here."

Izumi was quiet for a long moment before she slowly reached her hands up toward the back of her head and undid the blindfold that had been on her face.

Her eyes.

At first, there were no irises or pupils to be found, just a milky white sphere.

Then it shifted, as a green star-like iris appeared and the backing white turned into a pink-gradient.

The backing turned into a recreation of space with twinkling stars to fill the area. In the middle was a black hole slowly drawing in all life around it.

Slowly, the black hole lost form and dissolved into small circles that waved around on the whims of an ocean-blue sclera.

The small circles began to vanish and the sclera erupted into an orange bonfire of flames that fluctuated between red and yellow randomly.

The fire calmed before turning to a sea of black waves crashing into white foam, where the red outline of a ship appeared in the middle, rocking back and forth.

Gradually, the ocean switched colors, the waves now white and the foam black, where the ship turned into a green infinity.

After a moment, the sea vanished, taking the infinity with it, leaving nothing but a small white dot in the middle. No sclera or iris to be found, just the pupil.

Izumi put her blindfold back on, "Um, s-so…"

Nemuri couldn't find words for a moment, what she had seen was undoubtedly, "Beautiful."

Izumi snapped her head back up, "What?"

"It was… pretty."

Izumi just faced her for a moment, before she started crying and reaching towards Nemuri with both arms, who gladly hugged her with a gentle grasp, "Shh, Shh, it's ok, sweetie."

Was Nemuri the first person to talk positively about her quirk? That couldn't be, someone had to have at least complimented it before.

Right?

Izumi slowly stopped crying and looked—does it count as looking if she has a blindfold on?—up at Nemuri, "Um, what h-happens now?"

"I've got to take this guy—" She looked back to where the wallet guy was only to find that he had left sometime after she started talking to Izumi.

At least he gave her the wallet back; he didn't seem that bad, just a little lost.

"—Never mind then." Nemuri muttered, "Well, I have to talk to a detective friend to get the paperwork together, but as a Hero, I have the right to take temporary custody of children in bad situations."

"That's—That's c-cool." Izumi said with a soft voice, "Can I, um, grab my b-bag?"

Nemuri didn't see a bag, but she agreed anyway. Izumi stood up and grabbed Nemuri's hand before walking them into a separate room where a backpack and duffle bag were stashed.

There was also a walking stick beside the bags, strangely nice for the person who owns it.

Nemuri got out her phone and called a friend who answered after two rings, "Hello Kayama, what can I do you for?" Detective Tsukauchi greeted.

"Hey Nao, I'm on Wayward Street with a case and need a ride back home." She replied with a pleasant tone.

"A case? What kind?"

"Homeless runaway." She looked down at Izumi who was simply standing next to her, curiously listening in, "I'll be taking custody."

"...Alright then, I'll be there in fifteen minutes."

"Thank you!~"

Nemuri was pretty sure that it took exactly fifteen minutes for him to arrive. The detective was always punctual after all.

He came in a black convertible like every off-duty cop that ever existed, before stepping out and yelling "Get in!" before getting in the passenger seat.

Nemuri got in the driver's seat while Izumi got in the back with her bags, "So, this is the runaway that captured Midnight's heart?" The detective asked.

"Um, hello sir, my n-name is Izumi." Said girl introduced nervously.

The detective tilted his head ever so slightly, "Nice to meet you, I'm Detective Tsukauchi Naomasa." He introduced himself as, "So, Izumi, do you mind if I ask some questions?"

"N-No sir."

"Thank you." Naomasa pulled out a notepad, "What is your full legal name?

Izumi shifted, "Midoriya Izuku."

So she was trans. Didn't change things but was good to know.

"Okay. Date of birth?"

"July 15th, 2313."

It was August, so Izumi would be sixteen by around a month.

"How long have you been homeless?"

"Nine y-years."

"Have you been in a group home before?"

"Yes."

"Why did you leave?"

"T-They didn't l-like me."

"Can you expand on that?"

"N-No."

"Alright. When did your birth parents leave?"

"D-Dad left before m-my quirk came in. And Mom, um… She left me on the st-street when I was seven."

"Are those the last times you've had contact with them?"

"Y-Yeah."

"Did your birth mother ever harm you?"

"...Yes."

Nemuri was going to murder a woman.

"How?"

"I… I don't w-want to say."

"That's okay. Did she ever provide a justification for her actions?"

"She… d-didn't like my quirk. She w-was religious… t-these eyes and t-talking about m-monsters went… well."

"And what is your quirk?"

"Um, I don't k-know it's actual n-name… but I see and h-hear things. Like UV light, and e-emotion, uhm, but also… creatures."

"Creatures?"

"Yeah, um, some are just l-like people but o-others… monsters."

"Terrifying thought. Is that why you wear the blindfold?"

"Um, p-partially. I also get t-tired and have headaches if I look a-around too long," Izumi shifted a little, "I c-can see for around four hours a d-day."

"And it's a mutation?"

"Y-Yes sir. I can't turn it, um, o-off."

Nemuri rounded a corner, "And do you know where you mother is?" The detective asked.

"Um, n-no. I l-lost track of her, and, um, she m-moved."

The detective flipped his notepad shut, "Alright, thank you for answering my questions. Nemuri, are we almost at your house?"

"Pulling up now!~" She sang in a light tone, "Want some help with your bags, sweetie?" She asked Izumi.

Izumi slightly nodded, "Um, y-yes please."

They pulled up to a three-story townhouse with some rose bushes in the front garden, and Nemuri helped Izumi get her bags as they got out of the car.

Tsukachi handed Nemuri some papers, "Make sure you check this over with them first."

"Alright. Here have a wallet!" The detective just looked at the wallet for a solid second before pocketing it and walking back to his car.

"Thanks, Nao!" Nemuri called as Tsukauchi got into the driver's seat muttering to himself, and pulled out of the driveway.

As Nemuri and Izumi walked up to the front door, a thought occurred to the hero, "Um, I may have forgotten to mention it, but I'm married. They should be home, so… just to let you know."

With that, Nemuri swung the door open and stepped in, "I'm home!~" She paused, "With a surprise!~"

She walked into the dining room and set Izumi's bags on the table as she heard footsteps on the stairs.

"Nem? Why are you home so…" Anan walked into the room before pausing and noticing Izumi, "Oh, hello there."

Izumi seemed to curl into herself, "Um, hello."

There was another set of footsteps coming down the stairs as Kaina came into the room, "What's going on?"

Nemuri took the opportunity and gestured to Izumi, "I found a kid!"

The two women were now looking at Izumi intensely, who was very much buckling under their gazes.

"Um, h-hello. It's n-nice to meet you."

Anan and Kaina now we're looking towards Nemuri who was just proud of Izumi for introducing herself.

"Nemuri," Kaina called to get the hero's attention.

"Yes?"

Kaina took a deep breath through her nose, "What the fuck?"