Chapter 5 Why am I on Fire? by Yojimbra

Starting a new job is always stressful. Normally I have hundreds of questions I want to ask but am too afraid to ask as I constantly worry about messing up. It's part of the reason why I avoided jobs where someone's life could be in my hands. It was borderline phobia. And being a hero was combining all the worse aspects of that.

What if I was late? What if I misread the situation and made things worse? I hesitated putting my shoes on! How was I supposed to even fight? I barely even managed to get a hit on All Might during a crash course of fight training that was really just me swimming in cold water and trying not to burn down the entire mountain because holy crap was that that easy with my quirk. At least when I used it I didn't break my bones or anything.

Was it wrong to make fun of someone that wasn't even born yet?

I'm going to go with no, purely so I don't feel like an awesome person in the future.

Besides, he might not even be born. Endeavor could have easily saved Inko and Hiashi's life at some point and there was no guarantee that I was going to be there to make that happen, there were dozens upon dozens of ways that Izuku might not even be born. Though, at the same time, he might just end up being vital to this universe and all but inevitable.

Maybe I should have talked to Nighteye when I saw him at U.A. But then again, it didn't really matter. Not right now at least.

Right now, I needed to focus on my job. Being a hero. Which meant, walking around, and fighting crime when I saw villains using their quirk or rescue when possible. At least I remembered most of the laws and rules for being a hero. Still, I shouldn't be too worried.

"Why so glum Endeavour?" All Might gave me a slap on my back, sending a fit of embers up despite there being very little fire on my costume. Both of us were dressed in full hero regalia, All Might was in his alternative hero costumes, Izuku called them ages or something, I really don't remember. Let's go withs silver age. All Might leaned down and smiled at me. "You know you gotta smile when you save people."

"That could be a problem." I gave a crooked smile to All Might and shrugged.

He let out a laugh and patted my shoulder. "That's the spirit! Now then! Let's get this patrol along the way! People are starting to stare!"

People already were staring, from the very moment we walked out of the agency all eyes had been on us. It was impossible not to hear the whispers, people were wondering why the number two and number one pro hero were walking down the street so casually. Some were even worried that something big could be going down. It was hard to blame them.

Still, I hoped that this was just going to be a nice peaceful stroll.

It took all of twenty minutes for that dream to be shattered.

A car crash got both of our attention and All Might took off in a dizzying sprint that I couldn't hope to match, but still, I found myself running towards the sound of the accident, cutting through an alleyway, between two large buildings and emerging onto the busy street, where I saw what had happened. It wasn't just a car crash.

By the time I had got there All Might already had a large wolf-headed man wrapped in a bent street pole. Basically, he looked like a giant werewolf in biker clothes. Several cars had been toppled over and some were nearly totaled. I stared at the scene for a moment, what was I supposed to do what was I—

"—Help Them!"

Right!

I ran towards the nearest car — it was upside down — there was a woman stuck inside, blood on her forehead. The door was stuck shut by the damage to the car, and wouldn't budge when I pulled on it. My quirk. Localize the heat towards the damaged. With a jet of flame coming out of my knee I weakened the joints and metal inside just enough for me to pull off the door and get the woman out quickly. I pulled her out as quickly as I could and checked her head.

My first aid knowledge was limited but in general, passed out, and bleeding from the head was a bad sign.

Looking into the car I saw the driver, a man, currently struggling to get out of his seat belt. He had curly black hair and was. Breathing fire to cut his seatbelt.

I looked at the woman. Green hair.

"Inko!" The man gasped as he fell down onto the ceiling of the car. "Is Inko alright."

You have got to be shitting me.

"She's breathing," I replied and extended a hand towards the man and pulled him out of the car with far more ease than I thought I would. I looked at the man and noticed his arm was bleeding a lot. "What about you? Are you alright?"

"I'm fine," He moved his arm and grimaced slightly. "Just a little cut up."

"Alright," I moved Inko to the side and gestured towards her. "Watch her until the paramedics arrive."

"Thank you. So much Endeavor."

I nodded and moved to the next vehicle. There were a total of four that had been caught up in the accident, and Inko was by far the worst case with everyone else being in various stages of disgruntled, shocked, and done with this shit. It took the paramedics only five minutes to show up, which for a busy city like Tokyo was probably pretty good.

Inko was stabilized on the spot and then taken to the hospital for a more thorough check, everyone else was given a clean bill of health.

It was all a bit strange. The way the werewolf looked wasn't ferocious, or, vengeful if anything he just looked downtrodden.

I walked past the officers as they loaded him up into the police truck and managed to meet his eyes.

"Hey, what happened?" I asked in a low voice that wasn't quite a whisper.

The werewolf blinked at me and in a low growly voice pointed towards his leg. There was blood on it. "It was an accident. I got hit and it set my quirk off."

That didn't feel right. It really didn't. Being arrested for an accident. But that was the law in this world.

"If you need me as a witness, call." I reached into my pocket and pulled out one of a dozen cards Endeavour had made for various reasons. Mostly lawsuits. "I'll give you the benefit of the doubt."

His tail started wagging, slapping an officer in the face a few times before he was shoved into the van.

All Might stood near me as we watched the transport take off and the tow trucks appeared to move.

"Not bad for our first team-up." He nudged me slightly and nodded towards the road. "But we should get going before the reporters show up."

"Hey, All might, what did you see when you showed up?" I asked looking up towards the man. An unquestionable sense of justice, the willingness to always do the right thing, and the strength to do it, those were the qualities that made up All Might. Or, they should have been. "I mean, what was that man doing?"

"The villain? Well, he was growling and flipped a car over, his eyes were red too, though he didn't put up much of a fight. Why?"

I shrugged, "I'm not sure because I was too slow, but I think all of this was an accident. And that man doesn't deserve jail time."

All Might's hand tightened on my shoulder. "I understand why you're concerned. But that's what the investigators are for."

I just hummed and followed All Might on our patrol once again. It still didn't sit right with me. Hopefully, the police and investigators were good at their jobs and could figure out what happened.

Hopefully, the rest of the day would be uneventful.

It wasn't.

I found myself just chasing after All Might as he would ditch me, and already have everything done with by the time I showed up. Which was actually pretty alright, I didn't have to use my quirk to fight, mostly I just helped people. But man, were people just addicted to crime and accidents in this world or something? Or maybe this was standard and I'm just used to living in a sleepy little town in the middle of nowhere.

"Oh, man!" All Might slapped his forehead and smiled down at me. "My bad Enji, I've been hogging all the action today, haven't I? Sorry! I was so excited to be doing a team up with you that I got a little ahead of myself."

"Oh, don't worry it's—"

"Nonsense! Why don't I let you handle the—"

As if on queue—because of course, it is—a scream of terror followed by shattered glass resounded from down the alleyway.

"This one is all yours!" All Might nudged me forward. "Don't worry, I'll keep an eye out if you need any backup!"

Before I could protest All Might jumped away, and I ended up finding my legs heading towards the screaming anyways.

Once again it was another scene that at first looked bad. A large—taller than All Might—man that had the armor of one of those black beetles, actually beside the human face, he looked like a Heracross from Pokemon, was standing amongst the wreckage of a restaurant front, his large wings buzzing as he looked rather furious.

"Hey," I waved to him and walked over to the scene. Everyone looked at me with a sort of respect that felt a bit out of place. Then again, it could just be fire safety. Or gun safety. Both? "So—"

"Endeavour!" The beetle shrieked, his large wings vibrating. "Back away! Or I'll—"

"Look, I'm not here to fight." I raised a hand and put on my best smile. "But if you run, I might have to do that. And I know what happens when you heat up a beetle."

Not really, but I assumed it wasn't pretty.

"Oh!" The beetle-man tucked in his wings and pointed to the store. "I umm. I placed an order and." The miniature beetle-like limbs on their torso twitched and fidgeted. "With the app, and when I came to pick it up they refused to serve me, because of my appearance."

An employee stuck his head out from inside the restaurant, he was a younger guy, with thick pink hair. If that was a Hatsume I was going to punch something. How many people lived in Tokyo? A lot! That's how many! Far too many for me to keep running into the parents of all the characters I know.

Besides! Mei was from not Tokyo, She was from Kyoto.

In theory.

The fake-Hatsume jumped a bit and pointed towards the beetle. "The girl that was taking the order has arachnophobia and started screaming."

"But he's a beetle."

The employee shrugged.

I let out a sigh and looked up to the beetle. "I can understand being upset about being refused service, I'm not allowed to go into firework stores. But," I gestured towards the ground and all the damage he caused. "That still doesn't mean I can wreck the place."

"I know," The beetle continued to twitch their hands. "It's just I'm so hungry and, I just wanted to get my food and I'm tired of people screaming at me, and I lost my cool for a bit. I'm not a villain I swear."

"I believe you," Honestly I did, really I don't think that half the people labeled villains actually meant any harm, but I haven't seen all that much of it. "But, still, when you're your size, you need to be more careful and be more patient with others."

"I know," They whined, and looked at me with a pout. It wasn't cute. "What happens now?"

I scratched my head and shrugged. "You might end up spending the night in jail? Or we could just file an accident report with the police. I can stay and talk with them once they show up if you'd like."

They nodded eagerly.

I looked up at the skyline and saw All Might giving me a thumbs up. How the hell did he hear that conversation from all the way up there? He jumped away, no doubt continuing his patrol solo.

Or he was going home, we had been doing this for nearly half the day already. I rolled my neck and looked at the shop inside, well, it wasn't Mexican, but it did smell good. But damn, could I go for a burrito right now.

I pulled out my phone and dialed.

Rei picked up on the third ring.

"Enji?" Her voice was soft.

"Hey, Rei, It's going to be a bit before I head home. Have you started cooking?"

"No, not yet."

"Good, do you want to? Cause I'm standing right next to a take out place if you'd like."

A pause. "Sure. That'd be fine."

XXXX

A scream woke me up in the middle of the night.

My heart pounded in my ears and I was towards the door before I even registered getting out of the bed.

That scream.

It was Fuyumi.

I crashed into the wall, my feet barely gripping the smooth wooden floor as I made my way to her room. I found her sitting up on her bed, crying, and screaming.

"Hey," I said gently, scooping down to pick her up and holding her to my shoulder. "It's okay, daddies gotcha, you're okay now, you're okay." I bounced her a few times and moved to turn on the light, "It's okay Fuyumi, it was just a bad dream. You'll be okay."

"No!" Fuyumi grabbed on tight and pressed her head into my neck. She was crying. What was I supposed to do? I had no experience with crying, little girls! Which was probably a good thing. But what did my little sister do when they had a nightmare? Sleep in front of my door? I don't think that would work here.

"You'll be okay," I repeated, still patting her back. "Do you want me to look under your bed?"

"No."

"What's wrong then?"

Fuyumi just let out a few more sobs and continued to cry.

I couldn't help her if I didn't know what scared her. I let out a sigh and tried not to let my own tiredness get in the way of helping Fuyumi. What was I supposed to do? I should read some good parenting books. Or something.

"Enji?" I turned and saw Rei standing in the entrance, her hand was gripping the wall slightly, and I could see bits of frost forming where her hand touched. Anger? Fear? Distrust? "What happened here."

"Mama!" Fuyumi pulled herself from my shoulder and extended her arms towards Rei.

I gave her to Rei without a second thought. "She had a bad dream. I ran here as soon as I heard."

"Yeah," Rei said calmly, bouncing Fuyumi on her hip with ease. "Thanks. Thanks for that." rei kissed the top of Fuyumi's head and smiled. "It's okay, Fuyumi, Mommy's here, do you want to sleep in my bed?"

Fuyumi nodded and held onto her tight.

I sighed. That made sense. "Hey Rei," I asked in my own soft voice. "How do I become a good father?"

She stopped in her tracks and looked at me. Looked right at me for a long long time. "I don't know," She admitted after a moment. "But, I think you're on your way. Good night Enji."

"Good Night Rei. Night night Fuyumi."

"Night Night Papa."

That night. I dreamed of Tacos.