74

Hitoshi waited tensely as Spinner thought up another question. So far, he'd been doing pretty well, but then again, he was also lying through his teeth to make himself seem more like All Might than he really was or even really wanted to be. He was really starting to get chilled from the water, but it was just a little longer until the heroes arrived and Spinner should be starting to go numb too, which might help him keep control longer...or might knock the villain out of his control immediately, but it was too late to do anything about that now, so Hitoshi was really hoping it was the first option. 

Spinner cleared his throat, like he didn't have Hitoshi's full attention in the first place, and asked his next question, "Can you face down even terrifying situations without flinching? That's necessary if you wish to be like All Might."

Finally, a question he could actually answer truthfully, "Well, considering that I'm here talking to you instead of running away screaming, I think you have your answer."

Spinner's expression soured, "There's no reason to be rude about it."

"I'm sorry." Hitoshi flinched when his phone vibrated on the side of the fountain and the minute that Spinner looked away from him to think again, he checked it as discreetly as possible, smiling when he saw what Izuku had just dropped in the group chat. He quietly set his phone down and turned back to Spinner, "Actually, no I'm not."

Spinner froze, "What did you say?"

Hitoshi spoke a little louder, "I said, I'm not sorry for being rude, not that I was anyway. But considering that you're the one that barged in here on what was supposed to be a fun day for goofing off, I'd say I'm entitled to a little rudeness, don't you think?"

"No!" Spinner snarled, jumping up stiffly, "True heroes are never rude! All Might is never rude!"

He pulled out his Katana and charged, slightly stiff from the cold water, but Hitoshi was faster. He smirked and activated his quirk, making Spinner stop short and drop his katana in the water, "Well, that didn't take long at all…"

Hitoshi frowned and trailed off. There was something weird about Spinner's mind. He was fighting back and the cold water was making it harder to maintain his control, but Hitoshi had been expecting all that. No, what threw Hitoshi off enough to break his control was that Spinner's brain felt exactly like Tokoyami's. Well, more precisely, like Tokoyami's and Dark Shadow's.

Spinner shook his head as the brainwashing dissipated and grabbed his katana with a splash as he started stalking forward again, "You little fake, how dare you…"

Hitoshi wasn't even listening, all he could do was scramble backwards in the fountain, soaking himself even more completely as he stared at Spinner in horror. He was supposed to be a lizard who could paralyze with blood. He didn't have a sentient quirk like Tokoyami did, but...Hitoshi's brain was spinning so fast he didn't even think to phrase it as a question, "You're not the only one inside your head!"

Spinner stopped, tilting his head in frustration, "What?"

Hitoshi opened his mouth to respond, but nothing came out. What was he supposed to say? He didn't know what was going on either! Thankfully, though, he didn't have to say anything, because that was when a bright red feather launched itself straight at Spinner, whose eyes widened as he barely had time to wing his Katana, slicing the feather in half. He shot one final look at Hitoshi, but his expression was a mis of so many emotions like frustration, confusion, and even fear, though that was probably wishful thinking on Hitoshi's part, that it was hard to tell exactly what was going through his head. Hitoshi tensed, mentally preparing himself for another attack, but instead Spinner turned on his heel and dashed away. 

"Get back here!" Hawks flew through the door like a bullet and made a beeline straight toward Spinner, but he had already disappeared through a spot of purple smoke on the floor. Hawks gave a disappointed snarl before turning to Hitoshi, "You hurt kid?"

Hitoshi shook his head and Hawks nodded in satisfaction before taking off again and flying up to the second floor. The heroes were finally here, but more importantly, what the actual hell just happened?

The first thing Fumikage had done when he saw Shigaraki was turn off the lights. There was still sunlight and other brightness coming in from the hallway outside the store he'd been trying to help evacuate, just enough to keep Dark Shadow firmly in his control, but without the harsh artificial lights directly above him, he was free to order Dark Shadow to spread out and form a wall between the small crowd of civilians behind him and the dastardly villain up ahead. 

"Leave here." Fumikage said, sounding a lot braver than he felt. "I will not allow you to hurt these innocent people."

Shigaraki scratched at his neck, "What makes you think...they're just a bunch of NPCs anyway, it's not like they're gonna drop any loot. I...stupid side quest. The party is supposed to communicate and clear things with the party leader…"

Fumikage watched suspiciously as Shigaraki paced back and forth, still scratching his neck and muttering unintelligibly. Finally, he stopped, his hand falling limp at his side, "Whatever, you're not high enough HP to be worth my time. I'm outta here."

He put out his hand and Fumikage hadn't had time to take more than one step forward by the time the outer wall collapsed into dust. Shigaraki gave a mocking salute and moved to jump out of the hole he'd just created when a portal appeared just a few feet away. 

"Ah, young Tomura." Kurogiri said, materializing out from the portal, "I've been looking everywhere for you."

To his surprise, Shigaraki tensed, "Yeah, and?"

"And the heroes have arrived, so it is time to retreat for the time being." Kurogiri said. "We shall regroup and prepare our forces for another day."

Fumikage had to be imagining the way Shigaraki looked almost disappointed about that prospect, grabbing a bright red feather that had been flying toward them and disintegrating it to dust, "Fine, whatever. Let's just get out of here."

They disappeared into the portal and Hawks came flying in, "Tokoyami! Are you alright?! I felt Shigaraki dust the feather I sent up here and…"

"I am alright." Fumikage assured him. "The villain did not harm us."

Hawks' shoulders slumped in relief, "Thank god. Get these people out of here, I'm gonna make sure there's no more villains."

Tokoyam nodded as Hawks sped away, stopping for just a moment to stare at the wall Shigaraki had disintegrated instead of attacking them. Weren't villains supposed to have a terrifying inner darkness? What had happened to his?

Shouta hated this. It was just like Shirakumo all over again. He and Mic ran as fast as they could, steps echoing on the pavement as they burst into the mall. He should have made Hitoshi stay home, he should have warned Nedzu about Todoroki's link with the league immediately instead of researching it more. In hindsight it was obvious. Of course the league would attack a class outing where no teachers would be present! It was only logical! But no, he'd been blinded by his own hopes and had let his students, and his son, walk into a villain attack with no preparation and no back up. He was so stupid!

"He's gonna be alright Shou." Hizashi sounded like he was reassuring himself more than Shouta, but the effort was still appreciated. "Hitoshi can handle himself and he's got the support gremlins to help him out, plus the rest of his class. He'll be fine."

Shouta nodded, but didn't say anything. He could see a few of his other students talking to the police, but he could worry about them later. Right now, he just needed to find his kid. His eyes scanned what was left of the weekend shopping crowd until he caught a glimpse of purple hair. He almost didn't realize it was hitoshi at first because his hair was darker than usual and hanging around his face in wet clumps rather than sticking straight up like it usually did, and the rest of him was equally soaked. It looked like Yaoyorozu had made him a blanket at some point, but he was still dripping onto the tiles and slightly shivering as Uraraka awkwardly rubbed his back. 

Hizashi was the first to take off running, but Shouta was only half a step behind and he was pretty sure it looked like they'd both inherited Urarka's teleportation ability because almost instantly, they were barreling into him and wrapping him in a hug. Hitoshi was ok. He was safe.

Hitoshi went tense for a short moment until he realized who it was, and then he immediately slumped over into the hug, "It's been a long day."

Hizashi gave a wet chuckle, "I bet kid, I bet."

"Are you hurt anywhere?" Shouta asked. "How did you get so wet?"

"I, uh…kind of invaded the fountain?" Hitoshi grimaced. "And no, I'm not hurt. Just cold. Todoroki offered to warm me up with his fire, but…"

Shouta's face went stony, "Right. I think this is all the proof we need."