12

Chapter 12: She's Doing Her BestNotes:

(See the end of the chapter for notes.)

Chapter Text

The girl's eyes fluttered open, slowly taking in the sights shown by the light that was flooding the room.

It was bigger than any other she had before. The walls were covered by nice pastel colors: light blue, pink, and yellow. The ceiling was a very soothing shade of green. The furniture looked good too, and it was at the right height for her. Two walls were covered by wardrobes with sliding doors, covered by big mirrors. The table standing over the fluffy carpet had crayons, pencils, and a small pile of books on it. There were more on the shelves next to the wooden desk, big and small. A chest close to the bed had a "TOYS" written on it in big red characters.

- Am I still dreaming? -

She thought of someone with green hair and a kind smile who said he could make her escape. She had flown in the sky and seen the bright moon up close...

Eri sunk her head into the pillow, closing her eyes and trying to let the images sink in. She didn't remember the last time she had a dream as good as this one, and wanted to keep the memory for a bit more.

"Eri?"

Knowing that Overhaul didn't like to wait for her bad moods, she shot up from the bed immediately and turned to the side, coming to see the teen sitting on the edge of the covers. He had a smile as bright as the dawn.

"Good morning! Did you sleep well?" the greenette asked.

She blinked twice. "I-Izu-zuku?" she muttered, recalling the name she'd heard in the dream.

The boy nodded, keeping a kind smile. "Yes, I'm glad you remember- Eri?"

He cut himself off, calling her name as soon as her mouth started wavering, her eyes getting wetter.

"A-Am I still dreaming?" she managed to get out, starting to feel her nose run.

The boy moved a bit closer, the alarmed look turning soothing. "No, no, you're not dreaming Eri. It's all real. It's over, and he can't get to you anymore."

One of his hands cupped hers as the other handed her a handkerchief. She leaned closer, sobbing and hiccupping, as he stroked her hair.

"You're free, Eri. You don't have to worry anymore. I'm here, and I have you."

It took many more reassurances and tears to get her to calm down enough to take in the world again, but they eventually managed.

"Now, Eri, would you like something to eat? I want you to meet my friends. They will protect you too." Izuku, on one knee, offered her a hand to grab.

She nodded. Still insecure, but willing to try, she took his hand and stepped out of the door.

"What do you mean, 'she's gone'?"

Chisaki stared down at some of the trash that found their place between his subordinates' ranks. They bowed as deeply as possible, their heads scraping the ground.

"S-She disappeared, sir. W-We suffered some technical difficulties tonight-"

"What kind," he almost growled, finding it difficult to contain the hitch on his palms.

"An accident, sir! A power loss! Not man-made, we can assure you! We have triple checked! We got everything back online in five minutes, but by then she was gone!"

He pinched at his gloves behind his back. "And you want me to believe that the brat managed to unlock the door, make her way through a maze of tunnels, bypass all of my security, and disappear in the night?"

"No-Nothing was registered by any c-camera sir!" The panic in their voices kept rising. "She must have received help, but we haven't seen a thing!"

"Then you've outlived your usefulness," he declared with a tone that was so matter-of-fact that it seemed like he was reading a shopping list. A swipe of his hand, and the two guards became splatters on the floor.

Chisaki stood, rewearing his gloves and grunting. This was the biggest setback he could have ever met. Nothing—not Boss' defiance, not some subordinates' deaths, not nosey Heroes—even came close. The brat was vital, and now she was gone.

"Don't bother cleaning," he spoke to his aide as he walked out of the room. The general manager straightened up. If Overhaul didn't care about cleanliness, the situation had gone spectacularly off-rails.

"Mimic, send the word out, we're leaving this place. We've got to lay low for a while."

"Yes sir," the aide bowed in fearful respect.

Chisaki was many things. Ruthless. Practical. Precise. Deadly. But "idiot" wasn't among those things.

Somebody had taken her. Somebody knew of this hideout. Somebody would be back for him.

He would hide, change strategies, restructure... "overhaul" his whole operation, if necessary.

- And when I'm done, I'll find that little monster and whoever took her. They shall suffer for this. -

Delaying his cure for society's illness was the greatest sin Chisaki could think of. The punishment would be adequate.

Being surrounded by Midnight, Present Mic, Vlad King, and Recovery Girl wasn't a situation many would find themselves into. Having a Hero per side around you usually meant either that you were an A-Class Villain (or worse), or that you were another Hero in critical condition. Both cases weren't the best of circumstances.

But seeing the four trying to make conversation with Eri, and succeeding, was a moment capable of melting even the coldest hearts.

"Isn't that touching, professor?" Izuku mused, moving his sight on the raven-haired teacher.

Being able to drop his performance and "act his age" for a bit was nice. Or, at least, something akin to his mental age. He doubted that would be physically possible, even with a pseudo-immortality Quirk like Garaki's. He certainly felt more like a young adult than like a decrepit sack of dust.

The man huffed. "I'll never forgive you for giving those two thoughts about parenthood, Midoriya."

He laughed at the other's "misfortune". "You're thirty, Eraser Head. It's about time someone told you to get a move on."

"Tread lightly, Problem Child, you're on thin ice..." the man practically growled.

"Sorry, Mr. Aizawa." He raised his hands in defeat, turning towards the principal. "Thank you for arranging the room, Nezu. It's perfect."

"Well, you were very precise with your instructions. I just followed them to the best of my ability," the chimera admitted while stirring his cup of tea. "And it's a pleasure to help nurture young souls. Given the books you've asked of me, it looks like your little friend there will become a bright young lady."

"Oh, trust me, you'd be surprised. You would think she had your Quirk by how eager she is to learn," he replied, a bout of pride rising in his chest. 

The not-a-rat smirked from behind his computer screen. "Then I can't wait to be amazed."

"Will she manage being away from you though?" the teacher asked, voicing his worries. "Despite her current smile, it's easy to see she could be uncomfortable when staying away from you for too long, Problem Child."

He sighed, stirring his teacup. "She's in need of comfort, not a rock to attach herself to. But she does need supervision because of her Quirk. It's worse under stress, and the two of us are the only ones who can deal with her. I can hold her for around two minutes before it gets deadly, so [Erasure] is the best bet we have."

"So it's on me. Just what I needed," the man joined his sighing. "Fine. I'll have to miss out on your class of hellions apparently."

Izuku's smirk grew back. "Nah, you're not getting out of that one easily. She's been in class before, and she's an angel. Quieter than Todoroki, if possible. And it'll be alright to let her stay without us constantly watching over her when her horn turns smaller again. A few days will be enough."

"In time for the Sports Festival, uh?" the teacher mused, pointing a stare in his direction. "If Nezu and the others are fine with it, I'm too. But you'll be the one explaining this mess to your classmates and answering their nosy questions, Problem Child, and you'll be responsible for whatever shit they pull because of you two."

He rolled his eyes. "I can live with that, it's not like I haven't done it before."

- I should review some of my twenty plans to distract the girls... Mina's gonna be a tough cookie on this one. -

"I appreciate your willingness to sacrifice yourself for the good of the cause Midoriya," the chimera joked.

"The cause is my child and if anything happened to her, I'd kill everyone in this nation and then myself." Seeing a weird look from Aizawa, he amended the statement. "Within reason. Sorry, I use humor to cope with existential dread."

The man sighed again, muttering something about "finding a free hour to throw him in Hound Dog's office." 

The chimera chuckled. "Using dark humor as a copying mechanism to deal with trauma is not unheard of, on the contrary. Overwhelming stress, anxiety, and more difficult emotions are just the tip of the iceberg, and yours must be deeper than the one which sank the Titanic. But Aizawa is right, and I'll leave the matter in the hands of our professional counselor."

Nezu's words were both nice and serious as he finished to tap something on his keyboard.

"In any case, I've prepared the necessary documentation for 'an underage girl without a record found during one of Eraser Head's operations.' We have filled a couple of reports with an extra patrol around the yakuza's lair. If someone comes snooping around, we'll just say I asked him to change his patrol route for some nights because of some info I got." The chimera turned the computer screen so that they could see. "She's to become a ward of the school until something about her is found, which we know it won't. But I believe you had some more precautions in mind?" 

"I do," he nodded. "I want her to experience her life as normally as possible, without staying hidden for fear of being found. Overhaul and his people will be in hiding for a while, but we can't rely on that indefinitely. Before the Shie Hassaikai is taken care of, we need to disguise her. There are a third-year in the Business Department capable of altering hair color through touch, a second-year from the General Department who can change others' eye-color, and another in the same course able to create small, but permanent until removed, illusions that can also be seen by cameras. Combining those three, it wouldn't be hard to make Eri look like any other kid with a color mutation and a couple of horns."

"Reasonable enough. We'll see to that in a few minutes then," the chimera accepted, happy to oblige.

"Why not take care of the yakuza right away? Nezu told me you intend to make us wait on that front," Aizawa questioned, curious about his motives.

Izuku rubbed his eyes for a moment, hating to bring him into the discussion.

"Grow a spine," the voice venomously suggested, adding to his disgust.

- Okay, make a virtue of necessity and spit it out. -

"You've heard of the Boogeyman of the underground, right?"

"Everybody in my line of work's heard the tale at least once," Shota replied matter-of-factly as Nezu raised his eyes with interest.

"Well, he's real. His name is All For One, he's the fated enemy of All Might, can steal and give Quirks, and yadda yadda yadda."

Izuku had repeated the same speech ad nauseam, so he'd cut himself some slack.

"In short, if the Shie Hassaikai is taken care of now, there is a very high probability that Chisaki's Quirk, [Overhaul], will end up in AFO's dirty hands. And that would be a fucking problem."

"Language," Aizawa admonished, "you're starting to talk like Bakugo."

Izuku shivered at the thought. "Sorry, it happens when I'm not careful. Sometimes it's hard to keep it all inside. Anyway, whenever the yakuza collapses early, nine out of ten times AFO gets the Quirk and a considerable power boost. He then uses his regained powers to kill a bunch of Pros and possibly wound All Might to death before going down. The Boogeyman is wounded, but [Overhaul] could help in his restoration. Oh, and he would triple the production of nomus. So, no, we're not getting rid of the yakuza until he's behind bars."

He took a moment to think, then added a sidenote. "And, well, a couple of times Chisaki managed to use the Quirk before dying to get rid of AFO's hands, which are required for the Quirk as it has a five-finger activation requirement, but I wouldn't bet on that chance."

"Geez kid, you've made your point," the teacher grumbled, rubbing the back of his head.

"It's quite the spectacle to see others going through the same explanations," the chimera snickered. "But I would say we're currently out of time, as lessons should be starting soon. You two have a class of 'hellions' to deal with, and you still have three students to meet before that."

Izuku smiled and Shota sighed as they got up, moving back to the larger part of the lounge and finding themselves in the last couple of exchanges between the rest of the faculty.

"Hey Sho! Looks like our little listener here loves apples," Hizashi said as Eri crunched on the last bit of bunny-shaped slice.

"They're good for her," Chiyo nodded, showing a grandma-like smile.

Nemuri grinned towards the older lady. "You're not worried, Doc? You know, 'an apple a day...'"

"We spread the story in the first place, dear," Recovery Girl replied without missing a beat, but pointing her walking stick dangerously close to the teacher's shins. Midnight carefully retreated.

"She's got to put some meat on those bones. Lunch Rush will surely help with that," Vlad said, scared at how thin the girl was.

"She'll get to do a lot of things soon enough," Shota added, kneeling in front of her. "Hi, Eri. I'm Eraser Head, but you can call me Aizawa. I'll help Midoriya take care of you, okay?"

She looked confused for a moment, and he moved besides the man. "I'm Midoriya. Midoriya Izuku. But you can just call me Izuku, okay Eri?" He waited to see her nod eagerly before continuing. "Mr. Aizawa can keep your Quirk, your horn, cool when it starts burning. If you feel uncomfortable in any way, you come to me or to Aizawa, okay?"

"Okay," she put her hand into his. "We're going back to the room?"

"Not yet," he shook his head gently, "Mr. Aizawa and me have lessons to take care of, but we don't want to leave you alone. Do you want to come with us? There are more friends waiting to meet you, if you want to."

A moment of fear showed in her red orbs, but it quickly faded away as the Heroes in the room put on friendly smiles and showered her with little encouragements.

"O-Okay! I want to meet your friends!"

Izuku liked seeing his little girl doing her best, especially if it brought her to smile.

"I think I'm doing pretty well! I've made a new move that I can't wait to use!"

Mina, legs idly dangling from her desk, was talking about her recent training results with Toru.

"That's great! I think I'm almost ready myself, but it's hard to find willing test subjects," the bubbly invisible girl complained, her face probably pouting.

Mina smirked. "I'd be down to help~ If you wanna risk it."

"And give you an advantage? Nuh-uh!" She noticed by the movement of her clothes that the girl was probably crossing her arms. "It's gotta be a surprise!"

"Yeah, I really want to surprise the others with what I can do too."

The other inched closer. "The others... or Midori?"

- Damn girl, teasing is supposed to be my job! - Mina thought, hiding her embarrassment and putting on a vindicative smile.

"Sister, I'm not the one who was carried like a princess during the battle trials."

That got Toru a bit, making her answer in a quick whisper. "I-It was only on one arm! And don't tell me you wouldn't have liked that, Mina!"

"My lips are sealed," she replied with a wide grin and an index finger before her nose.

As Toru pouted a bit more, she looked around the room. It was almost time for their homeroom, and there was only one student missing.

"Hey, isn't it unusual for Midori to arrive so late?"

The invisible girl stopped for a second, tilting to one side. "Now that I think about it... Yeah, it's- Oh my god."

The sliding door had opened in the midst of her sentence, making her change subject abruptly. If someone could have seen Toru's face in that moment, they would have witness wide eyes and a mouth shaped like an O.

Mina turned to look, and her black and gold orbs widened in the exact same way.

Making their way through the door, in front of the tired-as-usual Aizawa, was their class representative with his cute smile. And he was holding the hand of a child that was trying to hide behind his leg.

The little girl had his same color of hair, a forest green that turned darker near the roots, and they were flowing on her back like a disheveled cascade. Her eyes were also of a similar tint to his, but lighter and brighter, more like fresh leaves.

But the most important thing was that the girl had a beautiful pair of whitish horns on her forehead.

"That is the cutest thing I've ever seen!" she let out with a high-pitched squeal, jumping down from her desk and surpassing Aoyama's.

By that point, every eye in the class was fixed on the entrance, and many were risking ignoring their teacher's presence to get a closer look. They still had around two minutes!

Tsu inclined her head on one side. "This is... unexpected, ribbit."

"Is that his sister? Looks like his sister," Sero commented from behind to an equally struck Kaminari.

"You sure? I mean, I can see the resemblance in the doe eyes..."

"The spawn of the forest has multiplied," Tokoyami muttered.

Others remained silent, opting to show their surprise with their expressions and stupefied gazes.

"Hi guys, please don't swarm us." Izuku took the little girl to raise her up, letting her rest on his arm and bringing her almost to their same level. "She's Eri. Eri, these are my friends and classmates."

"H-Hi," the little one said, her tone settling the last missing piece to make her place in Mina's heart set in stone.

"Hi Eri!" she stopped in front of her, showing the widest smile she could muster. "I'm Mina. Nice to meet you! Look, we're horn buddies!"

Eri moved her head out of her hiding spot. "Horn buddies?"

"Yeah, because we've both got these!" She pointed to her own head and tapped her antlers. "Yours are even more beautiful than mine!"

The girl looked very taken aback by the compliment, letting one of her hands brush her swirly right one.

"T-Thank you, Mina."

- Oh, my heart! -

"Long forest green, c'est très chic!" Aoyama, observing from his seat, commented, leaving the girl confused until Midoriya translated.

"A very elegant hair color."

She seemed to appreciate the compliment more than expected.

"He's right," Kirishima added, "looks great! I'm Eijiro! But if it's too hard you can call me Eiji!"

"Eiji," she nodded.

"Come on, Midoriya, we don't have all day," the teacher, having reached his fill of waiting on the threshold, made the duo move further in.

"Mr. Aizawa!" Ida called as the others started to scramble to their desks. "These circumstances seem highly unusual! May we get an explanation?"

The teacher nodded with a sigh. "In short, we found this girl during a patrol, but we've yet to find any relatives of her. She's taken a liking to Midoriya yesterday, probably because of their similar features, and because of her unknown Quirk she's to be under my supervision. She'll stay in class until we deem it appropriate."

"Thank you for the explanation!" the boy bowed.

"Save the rest of questions for later, I've got a class to run. Midoriya, you can start with roll call."

The greenette, having placed the kid on an extra chair by the teacher's desk, started his daily job.

Now, how would she manage to pay attention until lunch? Mina couldn't wait for more!

"So, Green," Kyoka started as they gathered around the boy's desk, "how in the world did this happen?"

Seventeen pairs of eyes were on Izuku and Eri. The number would have probably gone into the triple digits if they'd dared venture into the corridors or, god forgive, the cafeteria, but they had been blessed with a "Lunch Rush's Special Bento Box" to eat away from the ruckus. For some reason (read as: "Nezu"), the thing contained enough food to feed a small army, and Eri had been happy to share after Izuku had suggested the idea.

"If Midoriya doesn't go to the canteen, the canteen goes to Midoriya," Mineta had declared when the box had arrived, obtaining approving nods and some laughs from the boys.

The only ones who had "something better to do" were Bakugo and Todoroki; the first had rushed off grunting, the other was still in the class, but silently sitting at his desk.

Kyoka could feel the inconstant heartbeat of the kid, as if she was constantly on edge. She had her moments of calmness, especially when she was closer to the other greenette, but she shied away from most gazes.

Kyoka tasked herself with keeping their classmates in check and at a comfortable distance. A circle with Midoriya on one side was much better than one with him and the kid in the middle.

"Yeah, spill! How did this cutie pie get so attached?" Mina, closer but not next to Eri, asked excitedly.

"It's nothing incredible guys," Green smiled, making sure that the kid would be able to hold her chopsticks right. She didn't look younger than six, so that was kind of weird... was she a foreigner? She didn't look like it.

"Come on, we're dying to know here," Toru giggled, letting a bite of rice disappear into her mouth.

"You have to admit that doesn't happen every day Midoriya," Sato said, looking like he was enjoying the company.

"Right!" Kaminari shuffled on his desk, rudely pointing with his chopsticks. "You gotta tell us man, we're even having this crazy lunch thanks to you!"

"I don't believe he owes us anything." Momo shook her head. "He can tell us when he feels the need to."

"Mr. Aizawa's explanation should have been enough to quell your curiosities," Ida added, truly believing every word.

"For you maybe, ribbit," Tsuyu replied, deadpan. "People get curious, Ida."

"Curiosity killed the cat," Tokoyami muttered between pieces of fried egg.

"And satisfaction brought it back," Sero grinned by his side, making Dark Shadow cackle.

"Again, it's no big deal, guys," Izuku interjected to end the verbal squabble. "Like Mr. Aizawa said, it was sort of random. I had to come back here after leaving because I forgot I needed to talk with him for a personal matter, and when I got to the teacher's lounge we met." His eyes moved on the kid's head as she was engrossed in engulfing double portions of fried rice. "Slow down Eri, it's not going anywhere," he spoke with laughter in his tone.

"Okay," Eri nodded, taking a break to drink.

"Would you like to try some curry, Eri?" Ochaco offered, showing the saucy concoction.

"I would suggest some fish. The salmon is delectable," Momo commented, as the taste seemed to be on par with what her chef was capable of.

"She should still eat some vegetables," Koda pointed out, barely audible, the phrase being picked up and repeated by Shoji.

The girl graciously accepted a bite of everything, first with caution, then with glee as the taste proved to be beyond her wildest dreams. Izuku seemed so happy as she joined the conversation every few sentences.

The look he gave the girl reminded Kyoka a lot of how her parents would look at her when she was having an off day, offering a jam session, a movie, or an embrace to pick her up. Was Midoriya just naturally gifted in caring for others?

Though, despite the distractions, something felt slightly off to her in the way he spoke. Plus, their teacher's beat had been slightly off as he had explained... The chaos made by their classmates that disturbed her hearing didn't help, but she couldn't shake the feeling away.

- Let's see if that training is paying off... -

Slowly, she lowered one of her jacks to the ground, guiding it to touch Green's chair.

"She probably felt some connection because of the hair color," Ochaco offered with a smile.

"Nah, it's because it's a bushy mess," Mina snickered, "which, by the way, is totally great."

"Said with absolutely no self-interest," Kirishima grinned, receiving back a playful jab.

"Do you know why she was with Mr. Aizawa in the first place?" Ojiro asked.

"Not really," Green shook his head. "He found her on patrol it seems. No adults around or anything. They're looking for relatives, but for now she'll be in U.A.'s care. We don't know what her Quirk is, so it's better if she stays closer to Aizawa-sensei for now."

Kyoka blinked as Green's heart vibrations reached her jack. - Miss. Lie. Miss. Partial truth? Truth. Lie... Truth. -

It wasn't like she was a real truth detector, since her skills did leave room for human error and required a great deal of concentration, but her hunch had been right. Midoriya was very, very good at controlling himself it seemed, but she was fairly sure of her assessment.

"Kyoka, are you alright? You haven't finished your plate." A voice to her left brought her out of her concentration.

"Ah, uh, yeah, Yaomomo, everything's fine," she scrambled to get back to her food, withdrawing her jack. Midoriya didn't seem to have noticed her spying, as he was too engrossed in his babysitting.

"Does anybody else know how to peel an apple into a rabbit?" Izuku asked, taking the fruits out. "She really likes them."

Tsuyu grabbed one. "I have siblings, ribbit, I know a thing or two."

"Très jolie!" Aoyama clapped his hands. "I have to try!"

"I know how to handle a witch's red gift," Tokoyami nodded, grabbing another.

"It's his favorite too," Dark Shadow commented, taking a third fruit and breaking it cleanly in half.

"How difficult can it be?" Kaminari shrugged, cutting away with no idea of what he was doing.

"I believe I have seen similar works before. May I try?" Momo asked, making her own knife.

Placing the result on a bigger plate, to share, it was easy to see that Tsuyu and Tokoyami hadn't been kidding. Kaminari's results were disastrous. Aoyama's and Momo's were so-so. Midoriya's...

"Bro, what the he- heck?" Kirishima, and others, stared at the cut apples like they were seeing a piece of art. Instead of the "idea" of a rabbit, the guy had carved the animal out of the fruit.

"Did he use the seeds to make the eyes?" Sero observed.

"It even has tiny paws!" Toru squealed in glee.

Koda observed, being both amazed by the object and terrified by how much it resembled Yuwai-chan.

"It's too cute to eat," Ochaco muttered, shutting up as the little girl's eyes became worried about the apple-made creature.

Eri looked up at Izuku at those words, searching for counsel.

"If you don't eat it, it'll spoil," he said, bringing it up to her hands. "And we can always make more, Eri."

Relieved, she nodded and munched on the artwork, proceeding to bite her way through their other works as they shared the dessert.

Kyoka accepted her share, still thoughtful about what she'd heard.

Were those white lies? Was he doing it to protect her, or them, or both? Had the teacher asked him to lie? He really did seem to care about the girl, that had been the absolute truth.

Kyoka put Izuku's words in the back of her mind. She'd ask him later.

- I'd better concentrate on the Sports Festival for now... And we'll be in the same dorm soon enough. -

Even though she liked her solitude at times, she could admit that eating all together wasn't bad at all.