Family

"I-Izuku?" Ochako questioned, taking a hesitant step forward. "Is-. Is that you?"

Izuku sighed, closing his eyes. He felt Rei tighten her grip around his chest ever so slightly.

"Hello, Ochako." He responded. "Yes. It's me."

Izuku knew he still looked like Oni. His wings and horns were still in place, as were his digitigrade legs. Those features, combined with his outfit, mask, and his altered facial features, meant that he shouldn't be recognizable as Izuku. That didn't mean he could just explain this situation away, though.

After briefly considering his options for a moment or two, Izuku had concluded that lying to cover everything up would take far too much effort and would result in a far more convoluted situation than what would come from telling the truth.

Not only would he have to explain away his – Oni's – appearance at the apartment, but he'd also have to explain Rei's reaction, and how the two of them were interacting. Not to mention the fact that in order to sell the lie, he'd have to disappear, transform back into Izuku, and reappear to claim that he had somehow missed the commotion on the balcony. All while feeling like he wouldn't be able to pull a single quirk from his chest or even lift his arms.

No, the only viable option he had available to him was to tell Ochako the truth. And not simply for the difficulty that the alternative would bring, but also for the fact that she deserved it. She deserved to know what sort of person she was sharing a home with.

All Izuku could do was hope that she wouldn't hate him afterwards.

"I-. You-. How-?" She tried to stutter out, before taking a breath. "What's happening?"

"Would you believe me if I told you that you were still dreaming?" He asked with a small smile.

She silently shook her head. Her expression was still drawn up in confusion and concern.

"Hah. It was worth a shot, I suppose."

He let out another sigh. "Alright. I'll explain everything to you. But do you mind if we move inside first? Tonight has been… trying."

Ochako nodded slowly, and Izuku lightly tapped at Rei's arm, prompting her to release him.

Izuku placed his hands on the coils of her tail on either side of him, and made to lift himself up, only to gasp in pain as soon as he put any pressure on his torso. He collapsed back against Rei, though he'd barely even raised himself an inch.

"Izuku!" Both Rei and Ochako exclaimed simultaneously.

He groaned, squeezing his eyes shut. It felt as though he'd been hit by a train, which wasn't too far from the truth.

His lack of response did not calm Rei in the slightest.

"What is it, Izuku? Where are you hurt?"

He gestured at his torso.

"Chest." Izuku grunted, bringing his hands up to fumble with the buttons of his vest.

He gave up after a few moments when his fingers refused to function properly, huffing in frustration.

Rei didn't wait for him to ask for help – as he was just about to –, already moving to do it for him.

Moments later, she'd removed his tie and pulled open his shirt to reveal the damage beneath.

Izuku's torso was a mess of bruises. Just about every inch of exposed skin below his neck was covered in splotchy black and blue.

He heard Ochako gasp, just as Rei spoke up again.

"Izuku, what the fuck is this!? What happened?"

He let out a small laugh in response. "I hit the ocean going quite a bit faster than terminal velocity. I was in a hurry to get to the beach, and decided that I'd rather hit the water than risk hitting something on land. Even 'Shock Absorption,' boosted as it was, couldn't quite cut it."

"And how come you haven't healed it yet?"

He bit back a groan as he felt another twinge of pain. "Because right now, even pulling it up feels like it would be a struggle, let alone trying to heal anything."

She calmed down slightly at his explanation.

"Alright. I'll bring you inside so we can have this discussion, but you have to promise to at least try to heal it, okay?"

Izuku sighed in response. "Sure. Yeah, I'll try."

He had no doubt that he could manage to pull up a quirk to try to heal the damage, it was just that the mere thought of doing so already made him feel sore, let alone actually trying to heal anything.

He felt her press her forehead to the top of his head, and leaned into it as much as he could.

A moment passed like this, then, "Ochako, could you help me get him inside please?"

"S-Sure."

A few seconds later he watched as she pressed her fingers to his arm, and felt the very odd sensation of being weightless.

As gently as she could, Rei lifted him into the air and steered him towards the door to the apartment.

As he floated through the air, marveling at the feeling of not being affected by gravity, he remembered with a small amount of shock that this wasn't the first time that Ochako had used her quirk on him. He'd been barely conscious at the time, but she'd also used it on him after the USJ invasion. She'd made him weightless so that All Might could carry him around.

It didn't take long for them to get situated in the living room, with Izuku once again leaning up against Rei with her arms wrapped – much looser now that she knew of the injuries he had – around his chest. Once he was in place, Ochako released her quirk, and he felt the equally odd sensation of his weight returning to him.

True to his word, as soon as they were settled, Izuku pulled at his healing quirk – his first one, as he didn't think he had it in him to heal everything at once – grimacing a bit at the soreness in his chest as he did. It felt as if it were a muscle that he'd overworked nearly to the point of injury, and was now having to use once more.

With the quirk in place, he activated it, doing his best to limit it as much as possible. He felt the slightest bit of relief when it started working, even through the aching he felt at overexerting the muscle.

At the same time, he reached up to the back of his head and fumbled with the strap of his mask, somehow managing to get it undone after a moment. He dropped it off to the side, enjoying the feeling of cool air washing across his face.

The room sat in silence for several long seconds after he activated his healing quirk.

…

"So…" He began. "I suppose I should address the elephant in the room first?"

Ochako nodded from her spot a few feet away.

"Why do you look like that?"

"Well, there's a short answer and a long answer to that." He responded. "The short answer is that, in addition to being Izuku Etsumi and the analyst 'Deku,' I'm also a vigilante that goes by the name 'Oni.'"

Her eyebrows shot up at that. "You're a vigilante!? But… isn't that illegal?"

"Hah. It is very illegal. But looking at the crimes of those that I stop, I think mine are much milder by comparison."

"But… Why are you a vigilante when you're going to Yueii to be a hero?"

"Because I became one long before I seriously considered the possibility of becoming a hero. And even after I did, I knew that it would take too long to actually do so. I've been a vigilante for about seven years now. It'll be another nearly three years until I'm a hero. That's far too long for me to not do anything in the meantime."

Ochako's eyes widened. "Seven years!? But then… that-. You've been a vigilante since you were eleven!?"

"Well, a named vigilante, at least." Izuku responded. "Technically, when looking at when I actually started going out on purpose to find criminals, I've been a vigilante since I was eight."

That rendered her speechless, and she was left looking like a fish out of water. Were Izuku not so sore and exhausted, and were the situation not so serious, he would almost find it amusing.

Though, in fairness, the idea of someone so young becoming a vigilante would be quite the surprise for most anyone.

After a few moments of silence, with Izuku attempting to ignore the rising soreness in his chest from pushing the healing quirk, Ochako spoke up again.

"Alright. What, uh-. Why did you become a vigilante?"

Izuku sighed, resigning himself to the fact that he'd likely have to expose his entire identity for the sake of this explanation. "Rei has told you about our childhood being less than stellar, and we've alluded to it being pretty shitty."

It wasn't a question, but Ochako nodded along.

"Well, the reality is that it was so much worse than anything we've hinted at. There isn't much you can do to water down the reality of two homeless children struggling to survive on their own without essentially omitting the entire story altogether."

"…Can you tell me now?"

He sighed again, bringing a hand up to rub at his eyes. "Yes, I can. But before we get into that, I have to tell you about the other side of all of this."

Seeing Ochako's slight look of confusion, he continued. "I told you there was a short answer, and a long one about why I look like this. The fact that I'm a vigilante is the short one. That's the reason why I look like this right this second, but it doesn't answer why I'm able to look like this to begin with."

She didn't say anything to that, simply looking at him with an expectant expression.

Izuku squeezed his eyes shut, thinking long and hard about how he would go about doing this, and hoping all the while that Ochako wouldn't see him as he really was. This was the second time in too short a time period that he was revealing his secret to someone. The only difference was that this time, it was even less his decision than it had been previously. And for some reason, the thought of Ochako turning away and rejecting him afterwards hurt even more than the thought of Yagi doing so.

After a moment, he felt Rei press a hand to his cheek, and moved to place his own hand overtop. He was grateful for the silent support.

He took a deep breath. "The reason I am able to look like this, is because of my quirk. My natural quirk, that is."

"W-What do you mean, 'natural quirk'?"

"I mean that my snake tail and strength are not the quirk I was born with. My real quirk, the one I developed when I turned four, just like everyone else, gives me the ability to take quirks from other people, and then use them however I see fit."

Izuku made a point of not looking at Ochako, not watching her expression, even as he heard a small gasp from her direction.

"Your quirk. It can take quirks from other people?"

"Yes, it can." He responded, nodding slightly. Then, a bit softer, "It's the reason I ended up on the streets all those years ago."

"Hey." Rei cut in, placing a hand right over his face. "None of that. You know perfectly well that-that had nothing to do with you. It was all her. Besides, your quirk is the reason we survived at all."

Izuku hummed noncommittedly in response, even as her hand shifted to run through his hair, around his horns. He still didn't quite believe Rei, that none of it was his fault, but he wasn't about to say anything to refute it.

"Wait. What do you mean?" Ochako asked. "Who're you talking about?"

Izuku sighed again, taking a moment to relish the feeling of Rei's fingers carding through his hair.

"That would be my dear old mother." He answered, rather bluntly.

"What did she do?"

"Well, to start off with, my quirk developed on my fourth birthday. Or at least that's when we first learned of it, as my quirk is rather unnoticeable unless it's actually being used. And since I've told you what it does, you can probably guess how we figured it out."

Her eyes widened just a bit. "You took someone's quirk? That's how you found out?"

Izuku nodded. "Well, didn't know that it was stolen at the time. My mother and I both just thought that I'd ended up with an exact copy of her quirk. At least until she went to try to use hers."

He took a moment to press a hand to his chest, testing his injuries. They still hurt.

"She, uh, didn't take it very well. She woke me up later that night, drove me into the city proper, and dropped me off in an alleyway. Then she drove off, and I haven't seen her since."

He looked up at Ochako after a moment, to see her holding a hand over her mouth. Her eyes were shimmering ever so slightly.

"She-. She just abandoned you? When you were only four years old?" She asked. Then, when he nodded, "What about Rei? Actually, wait. You said that the snake tail wasn't your quirk. So then how…? Are you two not actually brother and sister?"

"Maybe not by blood." Izuku responded immediately. "But we might as well be, with as long as we've been together. And we're certainly better family than our real ones ever were."

He took a deep breath, before continuing.

"Anyways, back to the story. Fast forward a few days of waiting around and mistakenly thinking that she would come back, and throw in a local homeless drug addict to very nearly strangle me to death, and I left that alley and wandered around for a bit. Wherever I finally ended up, Rei stumbled upon me not long after. She started looking after me from that point on."

As he spoke, he reached a hand up to where Rei's were still working through his hair. He placed it over hers, and tried to silently communicate as much appreciation as he could through the simple gesture.

She must've understood him, as a moment later she maneuvered her hand around to grasp his. He felt her thumb running across his knuckles.

"So then… Rei was already homeless?"

Izuku nodded, then, before Ochako could ask how she ended up like that, he looked up at Rei to ask a silent question. He knew how much she disliked even thinking about her old family, let alone speaking about them. If she didn't want him to tell Ochako, then he wouldn't.

Surprisingly though, she nodded at him, giving her approval.

"As bad as my mother was, Rei's family was worse. They were much more… physical… with their mistreatment. Eventually, she decided to take her chances out on the streets. It wasn't too long after that-that she ran into me."

"And before you ask, the snake tail that I usually have was originally her father's. He found us about a year after we met, and became violent pretty quickly. In the process of trying to stop him, I took his quirk."

"Woah." Ochako whispered. "How did you manage to survive by yourselves?"

A dry smile found its way onto Izuku face at her question.

"Finding food wasn't too much of a struggle. If you know where to look, you can find enough to eat, so long as you can get used to eating stuff that's cold, stale, and partially rotten. Shelter was a bit more difficult. We ended up moving around quite a bit before settling in the beach-turned-garbage-dump Dagobah."

"The worst part though," he continued, rubbing at a sudden itch on his chest, "was the danger from criminals, homeless people, and drug addicts. Those people are cruel and uncaring on a regular day. It doesn't matter to them if their victim is a Pro Hero or two half-starved homeless kids."

"Luckily though, I had one of the best defense mechanisms you can have; a way to take their quirk and immediately turn it back on them."

They fell into silence with those words, as Ochako considered what he'd said.

In the meantime, Izuku inspected his injuries.

Even in the few short minutes since he activated the healing quirk, he could feel the soreness in his chest growing worse and worse. It was healing his injuries, sure – he felt like he could probably stand up now with a manageable amount of pain – but it was very quickly reaching the point of not being worth it.

After giving it a few more seconds to do what it could, Izuku dropped the focus he'd been giving it to work, before letting it settle back in his chest. Putting it back into its spot didn't hurt nearly as much as pulling it up had.

A few more seconds, and Ochako spoke up again.

"So, your quirk… Or, your natural one, I guess?" She said. "How does it work?"

He quirked an eyebrow. Of all the reactions he'd been expecting, curiosity on how his quirk functioned hadn't really been one of them.

"When I make direct physical contact with someone, meaning skin-to-skin, I can feel a person's quirk. It feels almost like a small flame just beneath their skin. Depending on how strong the flame feels, I can roughly gauge how strong the quirk is. Then, from there, if I choose to take it, I simply…" he made a slight grabbing motion, "pull it into myself. And once I have it, I can use it as if it's my own, because at that point it becomes mine."

Ochako's eyebrows were slightly scrunched as she followed his explanation. then, "Does it hurt? When you take quirks, I mean."

He grimaced. "It can. I've learned to adjust how much pain someone feels, to the point where it will barely hurt at all. But sometimes it depends on what I'm taking. If it's a mutation, or if they're trying to use it as I'm taking it, then it has a tendency to hurt quite a bit more."

She nodded along as he spoke.

"How many do you have?"

He let out a small sigh. "Excluding my natural quirk, one-hundred-twenty-seven."

"That many!?" She exclaimed, before her eyes brightened. "What do they all do?"

His brow creased at the look in her eyes. It almost looked like excitement, but that surely couldn't be the case.

"If you're looking for an actual list, I have one, and can show you at some point. But most of them are different. A number of them are basic enhancers, such as strength, speed, durability, and intelligence. Some of them are transformation quirks, like claw quirks. Others are mutations, like my snake tail, my horns, and my wings. And then there are some with extremely diverse effects. I've got one that lets me emit whatever smell I wish, so long as I've already encountered it naturally. And then I have another that lets me create an extremely sweet substance from my hands, essentially an artificial sweetener."

"Wow." She whispered. "That's-. That's so…"

He held in his breath. This would be it; the moment where he learned exactly how Ochako felt about the whole situation. He didn't have high hopes. He just hoped that she would at least react how Yagi had. Some fear, maybe, but ultimately accepting it, accepting him for what he was. He hoped that she wouldn't hate him for it; he wasn't sure if he could handle something like th-."

"-Cool!"

He blinked, noticing how bright Ochako's expression had become.

"I'm sorry, what?"

"Your quirk." She responded. "It's so cool! I've never heard of one that lets someone take other quirks before. But yours does, and you can use them too! It's no wonder you're so smart and strong!"

"You-. What?" He repeated, even as he felt Rei's hands rubbing at his shoulders. "You think my quirk… is cool?"

"Of course I do. Why? What did you think I would think of it?"

"Ha…" A small incredulous laugh bubbled up from his throat. "Based on past experience, I expected you to hate it, or at least be afraid of it."

Her smile shrank a bit at that, and her eyebrows scrunched together. "Why would I think that? How many people have you told?"

"Not including myself, you are the fourth person to know what my quirk is. My mother and Rei being two others, and then the final person will remain unnamed for now, since telling you would lead to me exposing some of their secrets, which I promised not to do."

"Oh." She said. "But why did you think I wouldn't like your quirk?"

Izuku was silent for a moment as he considered his answer. How best to explain that he saw himself as a monster, and that he didn't really expect her to be anything but afraid or angry. How should he go about explaining that his very first experiences with his quirk were stealing his mother's, which lead to him being abandoned on the street, and causing intense, debilitating pain to everyone he used it on for the longest time, to the point that he eventually couldn't see his quirk as anything but an evil thing that caused nothing but pain.

How could he possibly explain to her that he'd expected her to see it in the same light?

"Because of the three other people that knew before you, one saw it as the quirk of a monster and a villain, and dumped her son on the street because of it, and another was afraid of it, though admittedly it wasn't just because of my quirk."

"Only Rei didn't react negatively." He continued. "She didn't care what my quirk was. She still took care of me regardless."

"Oh." She repeated, before smiling at him again. "Well, now you can count me in the number that thinks the same way. I don't hate your quirk, and I'm not afraid of it. I think it's cool."

"Ah…"

Izuku had no words whatsoever for this situation.

He was used to Rei complimenting his quirk, trying to get him through his hatred of it. But despite that, he was woefully unprepared for someone else having a similar opinion of it.

Of all the ways that he'd been anticipating Ochako to react, happiness, excitement, and compliments were not among them.

He had no words to express how happy it made him to see that reaction.

A sniffle broke him out of his thoughts. It took him a split second to realize that it was him.

Shaking his head, he scrubbed at his face, before turning back to Ochako with a smile.

"Anyways. Now that we've got that out of the way, would you like to hear the rest of our story? About how we managed to survive on the street?"

She matched his smile, nodding her head and scooting a bit closer.

---

And so, Izuku spent the next few hours revealing what was essentially his and Rei's life story.

He explained it all from the beginning; how they had met, the first shabby home they'd lived in for a bit, then wandering around until they found the beach, Rei's father, the struggles they faced nearly every day. He even went into detail on his quirk, explaining how they survived because of it, how he'd taken his first intelligence quirk and, from there, had started educating himself. He explained how, in time, the two of them had eventually made it to the point that they could sleep in a proper home, wear clean clothes, and eat food that wasn't dug out of a dumpster.

Izuku told her about the moment that he'd decided to actually take on a name and a costume to go out and do his part to clean up the city, and how it hadn't taken long before Eraserhead was the one dealing with him on a regular basis, he told her about his establishing himself as 'Deku' and how he used that to pull himself and Rei into the life they were living now.

Ochako would interrupt every once in a while to ask questions, which he would answer without hesitation, and occasionally Rei would add in her own perspective on things.

Eventually, he got to the point where they'd started to enjoy their life, where they didn't struggle to wake up in the morning.

"And before too long," Izuku said, "we were able to move in here. Rei didn't need to work anymore, and I was making enough with my analysis that we could afford to do what we wanted with ourselves."

"That was when I was fourteen." He continued. "Not a whole lot has changed since them. Pretty much just take everything at that point and imagine it continuing to improve, and you get the general idea. I continued to go out and be a vigilante, constantly growing stronger and more efficient, I continued to educate myself further, which in turn helped to improve my analysis, and Rei continued tackling her own education, doing well enough that I would've almost suspected that I gave her an intelligence quirk by accident."

"Actually," he said, ignoring the hand that was now smushed across the side of his face, courtesy of Rei, "aren't you on track to finish this semester?"

"Yep~!" Rei exclaimed, a bright smile on her face. "With how I've been taking care of it, I'll have everything done by this summer."

He smiled. "As expected. You've been working so hard."

Her hand moved to the top of his head, fingers lightly scrubbing through his hair.

"Now then, since the lovely backstory has been told, I think we should both get some sleep before we have to head to school in a few hours."

"Wait." Ochako and Rei both said at the same time, with the former continuing. "You're not thinking of still going to Yueii are you?"

"Of course I am. I still have to supervise everyone's training, don't I?"

Izuku, no." Rei said. "You're still hurt. You should be resting, not going to school."

"I'll be fine." He insisted. "I've recovered enough by now that I should be able to shift back without too much issue. And once I'm there, I won't have to do anything aside from not fall asleep in class and supervise everyone when we get to our Heroics class. I definitely wouldn't be sparring."

Rei shut her eyes, taking a breath. "I'm not going to be able to change your mind, am I?"

Izuku shrugged. "You certainly might. But I hope that you don't try to. I want to go, if only to supervise the training."

She sighed, moving her hands to the side of his face. "Alright. Fine. If that's what you really want to do, then I won't try to stop you. But please take it easy. No sparring, or anything strenuous. And definitely no going out as Oni tomorrow night."

"Don't worry." He said with a grin. "I was planning on taking a small break from Oni anyway."

As gently as he could, Izuku removed himself from Rei's embrace. He got to his feet, ignoring the twinge of pain that came from his torso. His healing quirk must've done more than he'd thought.

"I'm going to go lie down for a bit." He said. Then, to Ochako. "I suggest you try to get some sleep yourself before we have to head out in the morning."

"Alright." She said, rising to her feet as well. "I'm not sure If I'll be able to, but I'll at least go lie down."

Then, before he could turn to head for his room, Ochako stepped forwards and gently wrapped her arms around his middle. He still had his digitigrade legs, which meant that he was about two feet taller than her; the top of her head barely came up to his chest

"Thank you for telling me about everything. I know you didn't really want to."

Izuku hesitated for a moment, before resting a hand on top of her head.

"It's fine. You have a right to know who exactly you're living with."

Her hold on him tightened slightly. "I'm glad you both ended up okay in the end."

A small smile appeared on his face. "As am I."

With that, Ochako released her hold on him and headed for her own room, leaving Rei and Izuku alone in the living room.

"I'm glad that all went as well as it did." Izuku said.

Rei had a smile of her own. "Did you really expect anything different from her?"

"Looking at it now? Not really. But then, it's always been better to expect less of people until they give you a reason not to."

"Maybe. But either way, I'm glad everything's okay."

"Now," she continued, rising up off the floor. "Go get some rest. And don't even think about coming out to cook breakfast later. I'll take care of that."

His smile widened. "Thank you, Rei. For everything."

She knew he was talking about more than just breakfast.

"You're welcome. And thank you. Now go rest."

Smile still in place, Izuku turned and headed for his room.

---

Izuku huffed as he and Ochako touched down in front of Yueii's main building. Lowering himself a bit closer to the ground to let Ochako off of his back, he tried his best to get his breathing under control. In his exhaustion, even the simple act of flying to the school had him breathing heavier than normal, his hearts pounding a bit harder.

Activating and deactivating the necessary quirks to shift his appearance back to normal had taken more effort than he'd anticipated

He ignored Ochako's concerned looks – he could tell she was trying to be discreet, but even as exhausted as he was it wasn't hard to see – as the two of them made their way inside.

Then, as they finally made it to the classroom, he ignored the looks of all of his classmates as he made his way to his desk.

Izuku knew that he looked like shit. He was visibly tired, had bags under his eyes for the first time since before he and Rei moved into the penthouse, and probably looked irritated, something that he knew was incredibly rare to see, especially from their point of view. Honestly, if he wasn't as tired and sore as he was, he would've been tempted to pull on his shapeshifting quirk to freshen his appearance up just a bit.

Combine all of that with the fact that he was the last one to come into class, when usually he was one of the first, and that Ochako looked as concerned as she was, and Izuku could understand why everyone was watching him. Though that didn't mean that the attention didn't irk him just the slightest bit.

Pulling a notebook from his bag, he pretended to focus on it, doing his best to ignore the looks of his classmates.

---

Izuku trailed behind his male classmates into the locker room, honestly feeling marginally better than he had at the start of the day.

For one, he didn't feel quite as tired or sore as he had. It wasn't a significant improvement by any means, he certainly wasn't about to start pulling on quirks again, but it was enough for him to notice, and that made him feel a little better. Then there was the fact that they were finally at the last class of the day, and it was one where Izuku could, for the most part, avoid everyone's concerned, or otherwise curious, stares.

It was their Heroics class, the one he'd temporarily taken over in order to train the rest of his class. He definitely wouldn't be sparring with anyone today, but he was perfectly capable of watching and giving advice. And if he was a touch slower in moving between everyone than normal, then no one should really be able to notice.

Moving back to his usual locker in a corner tucked away from everyone, he started the process of removing his uniform to get changed.

Just as he was about to pull the gym shirt on, he heard Kirishima speak up from behind him.

"Hey Etsumi! Are you doing alright today? You look like you're exhausted."

Izuku had to physically stop himself from startling a bit at the boy's words, biting back a small wave of frustration from not even knowing that he was there in the first place. The absence of 'Proximity' was making itself known.

His nearly startling at the words, combined with the frustration and his ever-present exhaustion, made it so that he didn't fully register Kirishima's words at first.

"Hmm?" Izuku hummed, turning around to look at him. Then, "Oh, right. Yes, I'm fine, just a bit tired."

"…?" He paused as he looked at Kirishima. The boy was no longer looking up at Izuku's face, but just slightly lower, with wide eyes. Behind him, Izuku could see a few other classmates staring just the same. Izuku followed their line of sight back to himself, which led right to his bruised torso.

Izuku sighed internally. 'Well shit.'

He pulled on the gym shirt before anyone could stare more than they already had.

"Etsumi…" Kirishima continued. "Are-. What was that? Are you okay?"

"I am just fine." Izuku responded, turning around to gather his stuff together to stuff it into the locker. "It is nothing that concerns any of you."

"But, those bruises… How did-. What happened?"

Izuku felt a sudden bolt of frustration shoot through him at the questions. He wasn't sure if it was anger at having his injuries discovered, or the fact that he'd been injured in the first place, or maybe the concern that Kirishima was showing, but something about the situation had Izuku more frustrated than he was expecting.

The locker door slammed shut with enough force to dent it, cutting off anything else that Kirishima might've wanted to ask.

"Did I stutter?" Izuku asked, slowly turning back around to face his classmates. "If I did, I'm terribly sorry for not speaking clearly the first time. Please, allow me to repeat myself."

He inched closer to Kirishima, towering nearly a foot over the boy. When he spoke again, his voice had dropped down to a whisper.

"I am fine. And anything you might've seen, is none. Of your. Concern. Is that understood?"

He watched Kirishima dry swallow, before giving a shaky nod.

"Excellent." Izuku said, voice raising back up to a normal volume. "Then I'd suggest you all finish getting changed so that we can get started. You all have a lot of work ahead of you."

With that, he made his way to the door, ignoring the eyes on his back as he pushed it open.

There goes his good mood.

---

There was something wrong with Etsumi.

Shouta could see that much. Compared to the normal display of strength and attentiveness that the boy tended to show, the difference was clear as day.

As soon as Etsumi had entered the classroom – very nearly coming in late, which was a warning bell on its own. Before today, the boy hardly arrived later than an hour early – Shouta could see exhaustion wearing at the boy's frame. The normal alert atmosphere he usually gave off – the one Shouta could feel trained on him most days as soon as he entered the same room as the boy – was nowhere to be seen, and Shouta could see bags under his eyes, another thing he'd yet to see before today.

Maybe Shouta would ask him at some point if he was okay.

As far as Shouta knew, Etsumi could be sick, or maybe just didn't get a good night's sleep. Coming into school exhausted wasn't necessarily cause for concern after all.

Shouta bundled up into his sleeping bag as the students settled in to quietly study or talk or whatever they wished to do during the homeroom period. For now, he would keep an eye on Etsumi. Then maybe later, come the end of the day, if Etsumi wasn't looking any better, he would ask.

---

Shouta rolled his shoulders as the bell rang across the mock city, signifying the end of the period. Now he could go take a nap somewhere.

He could've already left of course, like All Might, who had begun to take the opportunity to relax in the teacher's lounge, but he made a point of sticking around to keep an eye on everything.

Shouta had seen by now how competent Etsumi was when it came to supervising everyone's training – it was as if the boy had eyes all over the mock city, and seemed to know exactly when someone needed him – but part of him didn't want to miss anything. He was their teacher, he wasn't about to miss out on any training they did. It was the same reason he'd gone back and watched all of the footage for the battle trials; he needed to know where they all stood, so that he could know where they still needed to improve.

Well, that, and because he'd be lying if he said it wasn't just a little interesting, watching everything that Etsumi, 'Deku,' had lined up for everyone.

Just as all of his students were headed back to the locker room after a period full of harsh training, and he was about to head back to the main building himself, Shouta saw Iida heading directly for him, with Kirishima in tow.

"Did you two need something?" Shouta asked as they came to a stop in front of him.

Oddly, both of them looked over their shoulder towards the rest of the students before leaning just a bit closer.

"Yes sir, we did." Iida started. "It's about Etsumi. He's-. Well-."

"He's hurt." Kirishima cut in.

Shouta felt his blood run a little cold with that statement. He narrowed his eyes at the two boys.

"What do you mean, he's hurt?"

He watched Kirishima gulp. "In the locker room, when we were getting changed to come out here. I went to ask him if he was okay, because I saw that he's been really tired and sluggish all day. And when he turned around, his-, his entire chest and stomach were covered in bruises. Bad bruises too. It wasn't like maybe he accidentally got hit or something, because most of his front was black and blue."

Shouta's eyes widened, and he felt the cold sensation grow a bit worse. He looked over at Iida, who was wearing a serious expression.

"Iida, is this true?"

The blue haired boy nodded. "It is. I didn't get a very good look at it, but I did see bruising."

A number of things ran through Shouta's mind at that. Potential causes, reasons why Etsumi might be injured, realization that-that must've been why he seemed so off when he came into the classroom.

Above all else, though, was the question of what could possibly cause that sort of injury to Etsumi.

Not only was Etsumi the strongest student in Shouta's class and the one with far more fighting experience than any of the others, and a contender for the title of strongest student in Yueii, if Shouta's instincts were to be trusted, but he apparently had enhanced healing strong enough to even restore lost limbs.

So, what could've possibly both gotten close enough to Etsumi to injure him, and then once it had, to injure him severely enough that his healing couldn't cover it.

Maybe he would have to talk to Etsumi after all.

"Thank you for bringing this to my attention." He said to the two students. "I'll handle it. Is there anything else you wished to tell me?"

"Yes, there is." Iida answered, though he looked a bit more hesitant than he had a few moments ago. "I… I believe Etsumi might not be safe at home. Or that he at least doesn't live in the best conditions."

And with that, Shouta felt something in his chest stutter.

"What led you to believe that?" He asked. "That is a very serious thing to suspect."

Iida nodded. "I know. Previously, I wouldn't have come to you about it, because I didn't believe it was strong enough evidence. But seeing him hurt today was the final piece."

He took a breath. "For starters, it seems as though he handles most of the chores and tasks for his home. The first day of school, when we were leaving, he mentioned that he needed to buy groceries. From the way he said it, I got the impression that he does so on a regular basis. And then a few days later, on the day that the alarms went off, he said that he does all of the cooking. I made a comment about it being commendable that he takes the strain of cooking away from his parents, and he gave a vague response, and very quickly changed the subject."

Shouta nodded along with Iida's explanation. On their own, the things he was talking about wouldn't necessarily mean anything. But in the context of a bigger issue, then they started to.

"Anything else?"

"Yes. On the day of the battle trial, after everything had ended and we were leaving for the day, Etsumi went to visit Uraraka in the infirmary. When I asked him about it, he asked me if that was something that friends were supposed to do. Again, the way he said it leads me to believe that he isn't accustomed to having friends, or maybe to social contact at all."

"The biggest thing, however, is that he seems to greatly dislike being touched. On the day of the entrance exams, I, at one point, came up behind him and made to grab his shoulder. Before I could, however, he warned me that, if I did, he would break every bone in my hand."

Shouta had noticed that as well. Not that specific instance of course, but Etsumi's aversion to touch.

It wasn't simply a matter of disliking it, either, as a germaphobe might.

No, Shouta had seen the way the boy acted. It wasn't that.

He saw it anytime someone moved behind Etsumi, or made a move like they were going to touch him. The boy's shoulders would tense ever so slightly, and if they weren't already, his arms would drop to his sides and his fists would clench, as if he were preparing to defend himself.

And if someone did end up touching Etsumi – outside of combat of course. When Etsumi was fighting, Shouta could hardly discern any sort of emotion from him, with the exception of occasional excitement – Shouta could almost see the boy's thought processes.

Shouta had only seen such an occasion about three times. That was how strong of a reaction Etsumi had.

The first was during All Might's first round of battle trials. During Etsumi's fight, Shouta had watched him put Asui on his back, and then watched the brief internal struggle immediately after.

It wasn't much, and the quality of it was reduced by being a recording, and with the way the cameras had been partially iced over, but Shouta had seen it in Etsumi's face and in his body language. It was clear that the boy was majorly uncomfortable having someone on his back, with their arms around his throat.

The second instance was on the day of the second round of battle trials, before any classes had even begun.

Shouta's vision had been obscured by the swarm of media vultures that were crowding the gate, but he'd been watching Etsumi navigate through them. He saw the instant that one of the vultures had laid a hand on the boy.

Etsumi had all but locked up in that moment, and his face communicated what he was feeling more clearly than Shouta had ever seen, even up to today. The boy had wanted to physically harm the vulture for touching him, though thankfully he'd refrained from doing so.

The third instance, which really was a few separate times rolled up together, was when Shouta had seen Etsumi let Uraraka climb up onto his back. He wasn't quite sure why the two of them had been arriving at and leaving the school like that, but then, it wasn't really his business what his students did when they weren't at school. So long as they continued to perform at their best, they could spend their time doing whatever they wished.

Either way, the first few times Shouta had observed it, Etsumi had gone through the same internal struggle that he had when he picked Asui up. He'd watched the discomfort flash across Etsumi's face.

It was only recently that-that reaction had started to improve. Etsumi was still uncomfortable every time it happened, but he seemed less so every with every instance.

Despite that, though, it was clear to Shouta that Etsumi had a major dislike for physical contact. With the way he reacted to it – ready to defend himself, or to actually attack if he was touched – it was as if the boy had-had some very poor experiences with it.

Shouta hadn't thought too far into it before – after all, it wasn't as if he could assume very much because of an aversion to touch; intense though it may be, there was no real evidence of anything, and with how strong and capable the boy seemed to be, Shouta didn't see much reason to – but in the context of what Iida was suggesting, it painted a picture of a much more serious issue.

A whirlwind of thoughts raced through Shouta's mind with Iida's words. He gave his head a quick shake in an attempt to clear them away.

"I see. Thank you for bringing this to my attention." He said to the two students. "I'll handle it."

Both of them seemed to relax ever so slightly at his words.

"Now, both of you go get changed and head home. I'll make sure everything is taken care of."

They nodded, complying immediately.

Shouta sighed to himself as they walked away; this was already looking like a mess.

Abuse of any kind was a very serious thing to suspect, and was something that Yueii did not take lightly in the slightest. Just the mere thought that one of his students was going through something like that had his blood running cold.

In all the years that Shouta had been a teacher, there had been exactly two instances that had come to light of a student suffering from physical abuse. One case was because of the student's family, and the other because of the person that the student was in a relationship with.

In both cases, as soon as the abuse was discovered, Yueii had taken control of the situation almost immediately.

Having Recovery Girl and Hound Dog employed and on call for emergencies, a staff made up of almost exclusively Pro Heroes, and Nezu to lead it all, made it incredibly easy to handle everything. With how much collective weight there was behind the name 'Yueii,' there was very little that could be done to stop them.

Those two situations were made even easier to handle by the fact that all of the students at Yueii were legal adults. The victims had been able to answer any questions they wanted to, accept any medical treatment, and all around handle the situation however they wished to, all without having to get anyone else involved to potentially complicate it.

That would also make it easier for Shouta to do what he needed to in order to sort this particular situation out.

For starters, he needed to confirm whether or not there was anything going on to begin with.

Despite how serious the situation was, or perhaps because of that, he needed confirmation before he did anything. It wouldn't do any good for him to go straight to Nezu with an accusation of abuse backed by nothing but Shouta's own observations and suspicions, and the fact that Etsumi supposedly came in injured today.

He needed to talk to Etsumi about it.

In a normal situation, directly confronting the victim – or potential victim – wasn't really the best way to go about handling it. There were a whole host of things that could go wrong, and it had the potential to do more harm than good.

But all he needed was a simple yes or no. He needed to know, one way or another, whether or not his student was safe.

If Etsumi was safe, then that would be that, and Shouta could see about addressing whatever had caused the boy's injuries.

But if Etsumi wasn't safe, and Shouta hoped that wasn't the case, then he could go to Nezu. The rodent would be able to handle it from there.

Shouta sighed again, turning towards the main building. He needed to find Etsumi before he left.

---

"Etsumi." Shouta called out, prompting the boy to look over at him. "Can I speak to you for a few minutes? In private?"

He'd caught up with Etsumi and Uraraka at the main doors. A minute later and they would've been gone.

Said student seemed to consider it for a moment, before sighing.

"Alright. I suppose so." He said, turning to heads towards Shouta, who started leading him towards an empty room.

Shouta didn't miss the way that Uraraka was watching Etsumi. She was concerned for some reason.

A minute later, and Shouta was closing the door behind him, with Etsumi already inside. The room was silent for a moment, until Etsumi spoke up.

"So, what was it you wished to discuss?"

Just as he had this morning, Shouta noticed how tired Etsumi seemed to be. He hadn't heard him speak before now, but he sounded like he was utterly exhausted.

"First, I wanted to ask if you were okay." Shouta started. "I've noticed that you've been off all day. And you look exhausted, which is mildly concerning since I've never seen you even remotely tired. That, and one of your classmates came to me and said that you seemed to be injured."

Etsumi sighed in response. "Of course they did." He muttered. "It was probably Kirishima."

He brought a hand up to rub at his face, before continuing. "Yes, I am fine. As you oh-so-helpfully pointed out, I am tired. I had a long night."

"…And the injuries?" Shouta asked after a moment, when it seemed like Etsumi wouldn't give that part of the answer.

"As I told Kirishima. Anything that anyone may, or may not, have seen, is no one's concern but my own. I can handle myself, and it won't be long before I'm recovered. I'll be sparring again tomorrow."

Shouta didn't say anything in response. He wanted to know what the cause of the injuries was, but it wasn't as if he could force Etsumi to answer.

He let out a small sigh. Onto the next matter then, the one that had prompted this conversation to begin with.

"I also wanted to talk to you about some other… concerns… that have been brought to my attention. But before that, you know that you can trust all the teachers and staff at Yueii, right?"

"Yes, I do. So far, Yueii has proven itself to be capable." Etsumi said after a moment, narrowing his eyes ever so slightly. "Now what is this about?"

"As I said, there have been concerning things brought to my attention."

Shouta sighed. No reason to beat around the bush.

"Etsumi." He continued. "Are you safe at home?"

This time, Etsumi really narrowed his eyes, and when he spoke, his voice had dropped nearly to a whisper

"What?" He asked. "What exactly are you asking me?"

"The things that were brought to my attention." Shouta explained. "They led me to suspect that you might be suffering from some form of abuse. I don't have any actual proof, so I wanted to speak with you to confirm before I actually did anything with the information. I wanted to ask you directly, if maybe there was a friend, or family member. Maybe your parents, or even an older sibling? If I remember correctly, I believe you live with your sist-."

Shouta's words cut off with a strangled choke as, in the blink of an eye, a hand closed around his throat and pinned him against a wall. It held him there, a few feet off the floor, tight enough that he couldn't breathe.

He opened his eyes, and had to fight back the urge to activate his quirk and retaliate when he saw Etsumi's face inches away from his own, an expression of pure anger written across it. He showed no signs of the exhaustion that had been plaguing him all day.

"If I were you." Etsumi said, voice almost silent and carrying unspoken threats. "I would measure my next words very carefully. You have no idea whatsoever what you're talking about. To even insinuate that she would-. After what she went through-."

He squeezed his eyes shut, taking a deep breath. Then, a moment later, he softened the pressure on Shouta's throat, allowing him to take a breath.

"If I didn't know that you only brought this up out of concern for one of your students, I would kill you right here and now. You know nothing about me, or about my family. You know nothing about what we have gone through. I would greatly appreciate it if you did not throw such baseless accusations around."

He took another deep breath, and the anger in his voice calmed somewhat, though Shouta could still hear it quite clearly.

"Now, I'm fairly certain I know who came to you with those 'concerns' you mentioned. Really, there's only one person I can think of that has been around me long enough to have seen much of anything, and who either wouldn't come to me about it first or who doesn't already know that my home is safe."

"Just so you're aware. I am completely safe at home. If anything there were even remotely a threat to myself or my family, I would've already killed it myself."

He dropped Shouta to the floor, almost immediately heading for the door. He stopped with a hand on the handle, glancing back over at Shouta.

"I know that you brought this up because you were concerned, and you wanted to make sure I was safe. On any other day, or for any other situation, I might even appreciate the gesture. But my patience is worn exceptionally thin at the moment, and your concern led to you accusing my sister, of all people, of doing something like that."

He took another breath. "Don't presume to speak to me after this unless you are prepared to apologize first."

"-Later though." He added, interrupting the apology that was about to leave Shouta's mouth. "Apologize when I've calmed down enough for it to mean anything."

Without another word, Etsumi yanked the door open and stormed back out into the hallway, leaving Shouta to massage his throat and reflect on what had just happened.

---

Izuku was still fuming when he met back up with Ochako.

The nerve. The absolute fucking gall for Eraser to make such an accusation, that Rei would even consider such a thing, as if both her and Izuku wouldn't rather die than hurt the other.

Any appreciation he might've felt from knowing that Eraser cared that much about him was completely overshadowed by the anger he felt. He knew that the hero probably hadn't meant anything by it, that he really did just want to make sure that Izuku was safe, but that didn't mean he would just forgive what had been said.

He hadn't been kidding about considering ending Eraser's life right then and there.

When Ochako saw him, she took one look at him and opened her mouth to ask the obvious question, only for Izuku to raise a hand to cut it off before she could even start to.

"Later." He said. "I'll explain it later. Let's just head home. The trip will give me a chance to cool my head a bit."

She nodded, closing her mouth and instead just walking over to him and nudging into his side.

He managed a small smile at her as they made their way outside.