To Be A Hero.

I see Aizawa enter the room with his bored look as usual.

"Good evening." I greeted him. He just stood there looking at me while I unwarped an All Might chocolate with his face on it.

"There was food in my apartment, you know?" He said looking into my eyes to see what I would respond, but to his surprise, "OOooh…. I forgot to look in there…" Although his loose bandages covered the lower part of his face, I know that his mouth just twitched.

"Don't look at me like that, I know that I lived in a forest for 3 years and all, but I have at least some basic manners. I don't get in someone's room without permission." I argued because of the look he was giving me. I simply stopped sensing his room the moment I discovered it was his, so yes. I actually didn't know that he had food in there.

*Sigh~*

"What did I tell you about shenanigans? You really went out there jumping on buildings and caused trouble with villains. "

"What do you mean? I went on top of buildings instead of the street because people look less at the sky. And the villains caused trouble, I actually just solved it…" If the lie detector woman was here she would shake her head for sure, although I know that Aizawa also must know that I'm kind of lying too.

Seeing my smirk he knew that I wasn't gonna listen to some scolding.

He just sighed again and told me to follow him, which I did after cleaning the coffee table I ate on and picked the rest of my candies… I forgot to get money from those villains.

'Now that I think about it, they don't call them criminals anymore, they straight up put the label of villains on them… Interesting.' With these thoughts we arrived at the entrance of the police station, although I was thinking of something else entirely, it didn't mean that I wouldn't notice how hard Aizawa was trying to not look at Sansa… 'Is it because he is a cat? If yes, then I found something akin to his weakness hahaha.'

I went to ask Sansa about the weights that were confiscated when I was restrained.

"Can I get my weights back?"

"...those are my training equipment but whatever..." Aizawa complained, it somehow came as a whisper… 'Is he that uncomfortable because of what the cop looks like?'

"... Right, I almost forgot about them," Sansa said as he went to the office beside the reception desk. After a moment he brought a box which he had difficulty carrying…

"Yeah, just let me take them out." I approached him and took the weights out of the box then I put them on. Sansa sighed in relief, I guess that they were too heavy for him because of his mutation quirk?

______________

In the interrogation room, right after Shiro left.

"That's an interesting kid," Makoto commented as she saw Shiro's scars when he was freed from his restraints, aside from pretty much having done vigilante work and gotten away with it because of his age, he was an interesting character to her.

'Good thing that she hasn't seen his documents, if she finds out about him being quirkless… I better block that information from outer sources just in case. That kid's body is special so it's better that no one knows about it until he gets protection from someone who can keep him away from other organizations like the ones from El Hoyo.' Tsukauchi thought to himself.

"Thanks, Makoto, you can go now." Said Tsukauchi but as he saw her little smile he knew that she might chase the kid for an interview or something so he added, "This case has more than what you think, don't cause trouble." He said with a stern voice.

Makoto just pouted and nodded.

After she left the room, Tsukauchi turned to Tanuma. "So that's really him? The kid doesn't look like he has been through that kind of hell. I would've thought that you were lying if it wasn't because of his scars. His demeanor and attitude are rather laid back and relaxed." He said as he held the documents of Shiro's case of El Hoyo.

"I know, and even Eraserhead thought the same, but for what he told me. Shiro was trained in the wilderness by someone who called himself Alan and nothing more. From the reports, there seems to be no one like that near the North forest…" Tanuma spoke after some thought but trailed off at the end.

"I see, but have you found anything from the backers of that facility? I could only find… no, I can only guess that there are 2 of them." Tsukauchi said while taking out his phone and typing on it for a while. This got Tanumas' attention and stood by his side.

"... So one got the kids with good quirks and most of the money… But the other one just got a little part of it and nothing else?" Tanuma read and spoke with some doubt. But Tsukauchi answered with, "Not really, my guess is that the other backer wanted something else as if he wanted the facility for another purpose…"

"Hmmm…. Why would they make a facility where they make kids fight for their survival? They were all quirkless, what would they want from them?"

"That's what I'm trying to find out…But it's as if every record of that backer was erased somehow, unlike the other one who hid his tracks, this one is as if it was erased by every other source." At Tsukauchi's response, Tanuma felt something horrible, he couldn't really put it into words but his gut told him that whatever this was, it was gonna be a catastrophe in the future…

__________________

Aizawa led Shiro towards the apartments once again, but this time Shiro was carrying 2 bags that were full of clothes, all of them were long sleeves and pants as it would be awkward to be showing his scars in public.

'When I meet Mom and Dad I will have to ask for some of those skin-thigh suits that you wear under your normal clothes, so at least I can wear sleeveless clothes for once. There should be a quirk user who can make that kind of clothes without making them uncomfortable or something…'

When they arrived Shiro noticed something new, there was a computer in his room…

"Come, I will show you where the food is." Aizawa then went to his apartment and it had… almost nothing in particular actually. Just a table in the middle, a sleeping bag that looked like a yellow worm thingy, a computer, and a minifridge. The bathroom was in another room of course.

Aizawa opened the minifridge, "Here."

Shiro had just a blank expression as he saw what was in the fridge, although he sensed what was inside already that didn't minimize the impact of seeing it with his own eyes. It was all protein shakes and rations…

"You know, I realized that when it comes to food, my standards are really low, you could say that the bar of expectations is on the ground even, at least for me. But you brought a shovel..." Shiro said flatly without a change in his expression. Aizawa just raised an eyebrow at this and responded, "...I can tell by your scars that you went through some intense training, can't you eat this?"

"My scars are a testament of how far my willingness to push myself to become strong goes, and I'm pretty sure that other people also do the same. HOWEVER, I'm sure of one thing also, there is no sane person who would eat this 'food' willingly bec-"

"There are grape, chocolate, yogurt, and many other flavors." Aizawa interrupted Shiro with the same flat tone.

There was a little silence as Shiro decided to walk up to the fridge and opened one of the protein shakes of grape flavor.

*Slurp*

"..."

"..."

"... you win this time, it's acceptable for my tastebuds…"

"Sure… drama queen." He rolled his eyes and... smiled???

'Was that a smile just now? Even with my great perception, I'm barely able to catch any other expression on him that isn't him just being bored or annoyed.' Shiro thought of Aizawa's expressionless face.

"Anyway, I know now that you definitely can protect yourself and even defeat villains while saving someone, but remember to not do that again until you get a hero license. You should just call the police so, here" Aizawa explained as he went to the table where the computer was and sat on the ground. He then put a phone and charger on the table for Shiro to grab them.

(The table was one of those Japanese ones, the small ones. You know which ones I mean.)

Shiro followed him as he kept drinking from the protein shake. He sat on the ground beside him, took the phone and charger, and saw him turn on the computer… The background was that of a cat of course. What else was Shiro expecting from him?

"Cute cat." He complimented genuinely.

"I know, its name is Sushi," Aizawa said in a tone that Shiro hasn't heard from him before.

'He sounded somehow nostalgic…?' Shiro tried to figure out why he would talk like that.

"So you haven't been in society for 5 years, but you should definitely know about All Might, right?" Aizawa asked as he searched a video which Shiro couldn't help but notice that it had Billions of views.

{The video showed many destroyed buildings, cars, streets, and a lot of debris around. It was night so it was hard to see anything clear even with the fire that was around everywhere. It was a scene of pure chaos but...

????: HAHAHAH!!!

In a place where there was only destruction, a charismatic laugh was heard.

Citizen: H-he is laughing!?

The person holding the camera said as if he heard something unbelievable, no one would blame him for that if it wasn't because of what happened next.

A huge figure stepped over a bus with a bunch of people on his back.

It was the hero now known as the Symbol Of Peace.

All Might

Despite being surrounded by nothing but chaos, he carried a confident smile as if everything was gonna be ok. And sure enough, he said that catchphrase of his with a tone of confidence and power.

All Might: WORRY NOT CITIZENS!!! IT'S FINE NOW. WHY? BECAUSE I'M HERE!!!}

The video somehow made Shiro feel some kind of excitement, which surprised him as there was only one person who made him feel like that… But he could tell that All Might was different from his Uncle.

'Uncle was rather rough mouthed actually, but he was someone who told the truth as it was and said what wanted without pretty words but knew when not to as he wasn't someone who liked being an asshole.

Thinking about it… it was ironic that he wouldn't really tell me what strength was since he told me to discover it myself and tell him… Unfortunately, I couldn't as he left too soon, I wonder if he regretted his decision… SIGH~ Anyway he had some kind of aura around him, it was something weird that told me that he was strong. I couldn't understand why really, not even now. But I know now that I want other people to look at me the same way I looked up to him.

I'm sure Uncle would tell me to be myself or something, which I kind of agree. I know that I can't be as kind as him, there are just some people who can't be forgiven…'

"Takeshi?" Aizawa snapped Shiro out of his thoughts.

"Hmm? AH!... yes?" He answered a bit flustered.

"...You said that you wanted to be the strongest hero. What is it to be the strongest to you?" Aizawa asked, looking right into his eyes.

'...Like Uncle but different, All Might is the Symbol Of Peace. Can I be a symbol of peace...? No, I can't be, the message that All Might gives is different from the one I want to give to others… I want to inspire them to be strong, not just to be heroes.' Shiro contemplated before answering. "I… want others to look up to me and say: I want to be as strong as him.

Not necessarily being a hero, you know?… Am I explaining myself properly?" Shiro scratched his head at the end of his sentence.

Aizawa was amused at Shiro's answer, he knew that he was different from other kids who go around saying that they will become All Might or the best hero. 'The strongest hero, huh… I knew his answer was different from others despite them saying the same thing as him, I could somehow tell that he wasn't really looking up to All Might or trying to surpass him. It was like he was looking to surpass someone else… Is it Alan who he talked about before?'

"Well, you are about there, you will get your own answer one day. Now that you actually have an idea of what hero you want to be, you must know what you will have to do when you become one." Shiro nodded at his statement.

"There are different types of heroes and all of them have one or two things they excel at.

Speed to arrive at the scene of an incident before anyone or defuse situations before becoming disasters.

Strength, it helps in dealing with villains and protecting civilians from them or other danger.

Flexibility (Adaptability) which is mostly based on a hero's Quirk, Tools, and Intellect to help in any situation of villains or disasters… or both at the same time. Quirks and Equipment can hinder one's efficiency during certain situations so have that in mind. Intellect is the way you deal with situations either with normal or unordinary means, what matters is that you must do anything to deal with the situation without casualties.

If you want to be the strongest hero, you must excel at all of those… You have the potential to grow in both Speed and Strength already. When it comes to Flexibility… you have your special techniques too, but don't get arrogant, you must keep improving. Don't let your pride end up costing someone's life." At the end of his statement, he made sure to look at Shiro, once he saw that he didn't waver he kept explaining.

Aizawa kept on while he typed on the computer showing different cases where heroes stopped accidents in different ways, one where a hero named Ingenium saved a man from getting crushed by a falling building and even saved a group of kids from getting run over by a truck, other where a hero named Endeavor defeated villains with ease by just punching since he didn't even need his quirk directly as he just made a wall of fire to keep civilians and villains separated. The last one was about a hero named Ectoplasm who stopped a terrorist from destroying a bridge by making his clones take the bombs to the water by jumping off from the bridge then taking civilians outside of the explosion range with the remaining clones.

Shiro just kept quiet, listening and watching the examples that Aizawa was showing. 'Right, I wasn't too much of a weapons or tools guy before. I only used Aizawa's equipment because I wanted to have fun with it… I can't be narrow-minded about tools or weapons, for now, I'm not strong enough to do everything with just my hands yet.' Shiro agreed with all of Aizawas' statements.

"And one last thing," Aizawa said after he showed all the examples he could about what a hero does. Shiro could tell that Aizawa was more serious than ever with whatever he was gonna say.

"Humans aren't born equal, nature treats everyone unfairly. That's why there are heroes, we try to make things fair in the era where despite dreams becoming a reality for many, there is still discrimination and crimes everywhere. We do our best to give a chance to others through what we do."

He stopped for a second, he wanted to see that Shiro was paying close attention. Aizawa was gauging Shiro's expression during the explanations.

Aizawa wouldn't really explain or say this to a kid, kids would normally never think of heroes this way and only think of it as a cool thing to do. But Shiro was obviously different from other children so he had to make sure that Shiro understood what a hero does. He was quirkless and already quite strong so he was bound to attract a lot of attention, Aizawa had to make sure that he had the determination to go until the end. To his pleasant surprise, he saw that Shiro didn't waver or doubt but rather got motivated. So he ended his explanation with...

"Saving people isn't just a job, it's a responsibility one takes."