Chapter 2: Decision

After Hisashi had handed off all the case details to Tsukauchi, he had headed to the hospital to meet up with Izuku and Inko. He took the room information from the front desk and headed there, a scowl still presents on his face. He opened the door and walked in, "How did it go?" Inko asked her husband.

"Bakugou is an asshole who should have been punished long back," Hisashi said, "His father seemed to accept the punishment but his mother kept trying to deny that Bakugou did anything,"

"Well, Mitsuki does have a strong personality-"

"I don't want to hear that from you," Hisashi scowled harder, but kept his voice in a hush so as to not disturb the sleeping Izuku.

"What do you mean?" Inko asked.

"I asked you, do you need me to come back? I asked you to make sure Izuku wasn't being treated unfairly. You kept telling me that it was all fine!" he said agitatedly.

"How was I to know that this was happening?"

"Maybe because you're his mother!?" Hisashi said sarcastically.

Inko opened her mouth, "Well then maybe you should have stayed with us!"

"I did want to but I had to work on the case too. That's why I asked, are you guys ok? If you weren't fine, I would have come back right there,"

"I did think we were fine, that Izuku was fine. Whenever I asked him, he always had a smile on his face. And I didn't want you to break your promise of catching the criminals that tortured and tested Nedzu,"

"He would have understood," Hisashi replied, "He would have understood. And if you had told me, and I didn't come back, Nedzu would have made arrangements to help you,"

"So this is all my fault?" Inko sobbed.

"No, I didn't say that. But you did fail in making sure Izuku was all right. All you had to do was cross-check what he was saying to make sure he wasn't lying. Izuku will probably never trust us again because of it. Not to mention you told him that he can't be a hero after he was found to be quirkless, what kind of parent crushes a 4-year-old's dream like that!?"

Inko had the decency to look ashamed at that, "I just thought that it would be dangerous,"

"He didn't ask to be a Pro, he asked if he wanted to be a hero. There's a difference," Hisashi replied.

"Y-you mean it!" Izuku suddenly said.

"I thought you were sleeping?" Inko asked.

"I was pretending to," he replied embarrassedly, "Please don't be mad at mom, dad,"

Hisashi ruffled his son's hair, "I'm not mad at your mom. I'm just... disappointed. I'm angry at Aldera and Bakugou though,"

Izuku nodded, "But Kacchan really doesn't deserve-"

"Izuku as much as I love you, I'm making you take an insanity test if you finish that sentence," Hisashi said seriously. That shut Izuku up, "None of what Bakugou and Aldera did is 'alright.' That's just you trying to keep up the facade of you being good because you don't want anyone to worry about you,"

Izuku started crying at that, "B-but I don't deserve to have anyone worry about me. I'm useless!" Izuku wailed.

"You're not useless, Izuku,"

"Well, tell me what is my use!?" Izuku demanded.

"You're a kid! Humans don't have uses! You aren't a goddamn tool or weapon! And if you are talking about your purpose, don't you want to be a hero?"

Izuku sobbed harder as he remembered what All Might told him, "Forget about that. I can't be a hero. Everyone says that,"

"Who is everyone?"

Izuku bit his lips, "Bakugou... Aldera... all the other kids, the pro heroes," Izuku listed. He wanted to say All Might too but he didn't want All Might's reputation to fall for someone as useless as him.

Hisashi sighed, "Izuku... What is a hero to you?"

Izuku thought for a while, "Someone who saves people no matter what,"

"Good, good and you think you can't be a hero?" Hisashi asked. Izuku nodded.

"Alright, let me ask again. Do you want to be a hero or a pro hero?"

Izuku stopped sobbing, "I wanted to be a pro-hero,"

"Now Izuku. As a police officer, I have saved a lot of people. I took down all the Yakuza and brought them under police overseeing. That probably saved tons of people from dying in gang wars. Does that mean I am not a hero? Because I am not a pro?" Hisashi asked rhetorically.

Izuku opened his mouth but closed it again. He shook his head, "No you are a hero,"

"So, let me ask you again, what did you want to be?"

"A pro-hero," Izuku clarified.

"Why?"

"To save people,"

"Are you sure? Because you can save people as a firefighter or doctor too? Are you sure it was because you wanted to save people, or because you wanted to have a cool quirk and get into awesome fights and you wanted people to recognize you? Because in that case, you wouldn't be happy even if you got a weak quirk,"

Izuku stopped crying and rubbed his tears. He sat quietly and thought about it.

"I'm not insulting your dream Izuku. I'm just helping you clarify what you want? Do you want to be a hero or a pro? Because if you want to be a pro, you can become one. UA does take quirkless heroes, you know?"

"They do?" Izuku asked. Hisashi nodded. His phone rang, "Hold on a minute. I have to take this. You don't need to make up your mind now, Izuku. Just think about it," Hisashi winked.

Hisashi exited the room and received the call, "Hello, commissioner-san!"

A snort was heard from the other side, "Please, if you wanted to, you could have the job right now and I wouldn't even have to fight you for it. Woof," Kenji replied.

Hisashi shrugged, "Maybe, but I'm happier on the field. So what made you call?"

"I heard you were back and was just checking up on you. You do know you can get a 6 month leave if you want right?"

"I do but an asshole tried to kill my son! And those shitty pro-heroes are useless!" Hisashi spat.

Kenji sighed, "I did read your report of what they did and you are right. We held them for processing and asked the court to deny bail due to public protests,"

"Hmmph, the heroes need to be brought down a peg. They think they have so much jurisdiction when they aren't even actually allowed to arrest people. Anyway, what happened then?" Hisashi asked.

"Hero commission thought they could just free the heroes just by ordering them. Some newbies even did it almost but luckily I was at the station by then and barred them," Kenji explained, "We can discuss that later. I saw an application for a warrant to investigate Aldera Middle School?"

"Yup. My son studies there and apparently they promote bullying, beat up those with weaker quirks and other things that I'm sure has been kept a secret,"

Kenji sighed, "Just back and already on a warpath huh?"

"Look at it this way Kenji. Japan only seems so prosperous in the quirk era on the outside. Sure crime has decreased since All Might appeared. Something I'm glad for. He's one of the only pros I respect. But on the underside, there's corruption in the hero commission with no government body to regulate them. Heroes run rampant ignoring the laws and fight only for glory. Right now, Japan is shit on the inside," Hisashi finished.

Kenji didn't reply. He knew that his friend had made these problems known a long time back but he was ignored and now his predictions had come to pass.

"The only people who have the authority to change things are the police. Yet they don't have a spine," Hisashi huffed, "Kenji, make a schedule for me to take classes. I never thought I'd say this, but it's time to boost some egos,"

Kenji chuckled, "You got it. But do we really have so much authority to go up against the hero commission and the government?"

"That reminds me, schedule a meeting with the prime minister. If he refuses, tell him I need his help,"

"Yeah, he would probably meet at once considering all the covert operations you pulled for him and the fact that you saved his daughter from a kidnapping. Do I call Nedzu too?"

"No, not yet. I want to meet him personally and deliver the news that I got his torturers," Hisashi replied, "The government we can fix with the prime minister's help. As for the hero commission, remember when I was action commissioner for about a week after Chizome senpai died?"

"Yeah..." Kenji said hesitantly.

"Well since everyone ignored my warnings about heroes becoming too prideful. I made sure to enhance perks and authority for police. And it all got signed because people never looked at the police twice. Unfortunately, officers also don't look at the authority we have and turned into cowards. So, that has to be changed. Thus the class,"

Kenji shook his head, "Well, I'll get to it then. See you tomorrow morning?"

"Yeah," Hisashi said and cut the phone.

Meanwhile, Izuku had been thinking. Hisashi did say that he could be a hero, even a pro-hero if he wanted. But what had him confused was why he wanted to be one? Was it really because heroes were 'cool'? If so did he deserve to have the title to be a hero? Everything screamed at him to take up the chance and work towards being a quirkless hero but he felt like that would be betraying his father who had explained everything so nicely to him. And his dad was right, even with a weak quirk he wouldn't be flashy. He did want to help people.

Hisashi walked in at that moment with a smile on his face and sat down next to Izuku in silence. Izuku bit his lips. It was scary to throw away his childhood dream of being a pro-hero but he had made up his mind now, he wanted to help people. And he wasn't going to be doing it in the name of those who told him he can't. He was going to help people like his dad, "I want to join the police dad," he said with a determined face, "Not because of All Might, but because of you..." he added silently in his thoughts.

Hisashi seemed a bit taken aback but nodded with a smile, "Sure," he patted his son's head.