Chapter 28: Hard Choices

Damages.

There was a hole in his office floor.

It was not just in his office floor however, the hole led all the way down from his office to the bottom of his house in the kitchen.

How did that happen? Well, the answer was the usual one in regards to things being broken.

Kiba.

The girl had been testing her abilities, on camera of course, and one of those tests was inspired by a test that Ochaco had told her about in her first day at U.A.

Ball throwing.

Not to her credit, she didn't throw it at the house itself. She actually threw it straight up into the air.

The problem was simple however, what comes up, must come down. And due to changes in the wind slight movements with momentum and all that, the ball came crashing down, not into the backyard, but through the entire house.

Izuku sighed and rubbed his temples. That girl, he loved her to death but she caused him so much trouble.

Kiba had of course been reprimanded but not much of a punishment was given, seeing as she didn't really predict the ball moving so far from where she had thrown it, and the damages were ultimately small and had not affected anyone with the exception of scaring the crap out of Yami when it happened.

The holes were small but still...it was just more paperwork for him to do.

"That Kiba girl sure doesn't quit huh?" Mr. Uraraka asked, having come to inspect the damage.

"No, no she doesn't." Izuku felt more and more tired as he looked at the hole.

"That girl may single-handedly be keeping us in a job." Mr. Uraraka jokes.

"No, it's definitely not just her," Izuku said, remembering the time Fu and Shiruku accidentally broke the staircase by smashing Fu into it.

"You ok boy? That paperwork getting to ya? Or is all this finally starting to affect your wallet?" Mr. Uraraka asked nervously. Izuku was their main source of income, heck since they moved here he was their only source of income, and his pockets dried up, so did theirs.

"No, money isn't an issue. This affects money wise about as much as buying a candy bar." Izuku said, before realizing how it could be interpreted by his present company. "N-not that I'm bragging or anything!"

Mr. Uraraka laughed. "Don't worry about it boy, the richer you are the more money we get! You bragging about it just reassures me I'm not gonna be out of a job. And that I can keep supporting my daughter."

"Y-yeah." Izuku stuttered.

Despite doing what basically everyone would consider a kind deed in hiring Ochaco's parents, Izuku still hadn't told Ochaco that he did it, nor did he tell the Urarakas why he hired them out of all people despite the fact they lived so far away and weren't exactly a famous high price construction company like most wealthy people would hire.

The main reason why is because while Izuku knew it was an overall helpful thing for him to do, he wasn't sure how they would perceive it.

On Ochaco's front, Izuku was concerned she'd think it was a handout or an act of pity, and she'd get so offended she wouldn't want to be friends with him anymore.

And on the Uraraka's part, he was concerned they'd see this as him hitting on their daughter.

So he wanted to find the perfect way to explain this to both of them.

"DAD!?" Shouted a familiar voice from behind the two of them.

Why is my life like this? Izuku wondered.

"Chako!?" Mr. Uraraka said, surprised at his daughter's sudden appearance. "What are you doing here!?"

"What am I doing here!? What are you doing here!?" Ochaco asked. "This isn't a few hours road trip from home you know!?"

"Well me and your mother we're gonna surprise ya with this, but we moved here for work!" Mr. Uraraka explained. "Mr. Midoriya here offered us a contract to stay here and do repairs on his house from time to time."

"HUH!?" Ochaco screeched in confusion. This had completely come out of nowhere for her.

Or had it. Ochaco looked at Izuku with a pout.

This was exactly the kind of thing Izuku would do. Spend exorbitant amounts of money and inconvenience himself for the sake of someone else. If she didn't mention she didn't like handouts he would have thrown money at her so hard it'd make her spin.

That didn't make it any less sweet though.

"Izuku you goof! Why didn't you tell me about this, this is great!" Ochaco made sure to express the fact that this was a good thing, and that she liked it. Knowing Izuku he'd somehow thought she could think this was a bad thing.

While Izuku was breathing a sigh of relief, Mr. Uraraka looked between the two of them. "Wait a minute you two know each other?"

"Uhhhh." Izuku quickly started getting nervous yet as he realized he was not yet out of the dog house.

"Yeah, dad, sorry I didn't have the chance to tell you about him. Izuku is my best friend." Ochaco explained.

"Izuku?" Mr. Uraraka was a little surprised by the use of Izuku's first name by his daughter, but more things slowly started to make sense to him as he put the pieces together. "Ohh. I see what's going on here."

"Y-you do?" Izuku asked, with the slight hope he had that things would go well showing in his voice.

"Yeah, this is an elaborate attempt to flirt with my daughter!" Mr. Uraraka said.

Izuku then promptly turned from green to red, as he blushed so hard he nearly passed out from blood rushing to his face. "Ah-I-ah-wa-fah-ka-"

"Dad!" Ochaco shouted at her father, her face turning red as well. "Get over here!"

Ochaco opened the door leading to the small hallway outside his office and rushed her father through it, before closing the door so Izuku couldn't hear it.

"Ok, I know you don't know him too well but this is definitely not flirting!" Ochaco said in a yell/whisper. "We're just really good friends."

"Come on sweetheart, no one would go through all this trouble just for a friend." Mr. Uraraka said. "At least he knows my baby girl is worth the money I'll give em that."

"Dad! Izuku IS just that nice." Ochaco insisted. "He literally adopts kids no one else wants because they can kill them! Just because he wants to give them a nice childhood!"

Mr. Uraraka paused, "Fair point."

"Izuku only has one real friend, me! So of course he's willing to do something like this!" Ochaco said. "He'd probably do a lot of crazy things if I asked him to! Something I'm trying not to take advantage of!"

Mr. Uraraka didn't seem convinced. "I don't know honey."

"Dad, trust me when I say, the day Izuku flirts with someone is the day pigs fly, that boy is shyer than half the kids here, and most of them have been abused in some way!" Ochaco said. "He's just a really nice guy, who's really glad to finally have a friend. Also, he's rich, this probably wasn't too much of an issue for him money-wise. He has a lot of things on his plate, so please don't stress him out with things like this!"

There was a pause after Ochaco's speech, as Mr. Uraraka thought it over. "I guess I'll drop it. For now. He is my employer after all. But still, if he wants to get with my little girl he's gonna have to go through me first."

Ochaco shook her head, blush still covering her face. "It's not like that. Just go back inside and say thank you!... Then, we can go home and get mom and we can celebrate being together again."

Mr. Uraraka smiled at his daughter. "Sure honey, me and your mother would love to."

Both of them smiled, before re-entering Izuku's office, and seeing that the boy was currently a moment away from having a nervous breakdown.

"Hey there, sorry bout that. No problems here. We'll have those holes fixed up in no time." Mr. Uraraka said.

"O-oh! Really, t-that's good!" Izuku said nervously.

"Yes, well I think I'll go talk to the others. You two kids behave." Mr. Uraraka jokes.

"Dad!" Ochaco and Izuku both blushed heavily as Mr. Uraraka left.

He smiled as he walked. At the end of the day, it didn't matter if they were friends or something more for now. Izuku clearly valued his daughter, and that was what mattered.

So for now, he'd stay back and watch. Just for now.

The Hard Choices

Izuku tried not to let his nervousness show.

Yesterday Namae had called him and told him that some government big wigs from the upper echelons of D.O.C. wanted to meet with him.

He had no idea what it could be about, but he had a distinct feeling that whatever it was about. He wasn't going to like it.

"Thank you for choosing to meet with us Mr. Midoriya." Said one of the three men in suits that had come into his office.

"I was told this was a matter important to the children," Izuku said, a nervous sweat drop dripping down his forehead.

"Yes, about that, we represent the second level of D.O.C., the level you and most people don't interact with." The man said. "As you know D.O.C.'s duty is to protect society from Overly Powerful Children or O.P.C.'s, as well as protecting the children themselves.

Izuku nodded.

"However you've only been dealing with the first level." The man continued. "This level has a few tasks. One, finding O.P.C.'s. Two helping out guardians of O.P.C.'s to make sure the child can live safely in society. And two, taking in O.P.C. 's whose parents have left them one way or another, and then giving them to you."

"Yes," Izuku said, wondering where this was going.

"However the second level appropriately deals with the second level of O.P.C.'s. These O.P.C.'s, simply cannot exist within normal society, due to the nature of their quirk being so dangerous that we can not assure they wouldn't kill dozens of people accidentally every year." The man said. "As such our job is simply to find these O.P.C.'s and contain them within our facilities...indefinitely."

Izuku's eyes widened. "Wait, by indefinitely do you mean-"

"Forever, or until we manage to find a way to reduce their danger level to a level one O.P.C. however that rarely happens. Most of the time the child is simply confined in a facility, for the rest of their lives." The man explained.

Izuku felt a rush of oncoming emotions, shock, anger, sadness, despair.

"These children are of course allowed to see their families in the safest way we can allow, but the nature of their quirks mean they'd be lucky to ever go outside again." The man continued. "We have been looking for a solution to this issue, but have yet to find one...until recently."

Izuku thought about what that could mean, and what that had to do with him.

And then, he figured it out.

"You want Eri's blood." Izuku realized. "So you can use Overhaul's quirk erasing formula."

"We've been studying it since his arrest and subsequent death, but now I believe we can properly replicate it if we had more of that girl's blood." The man said. "If we could replicate this serum, then we could inject this serum into those people, and allow them to finally live their lives freely."

"You'd also be making them quirkless, subjecting them years of discrimination and mistreatment, and doing that by harvesting blood from a traumatized little girl," Izuku said, all his nervousness vanished instantly, as he switched into protecting the children mode.

"We understand you've had a bad experience with being quirkless, however that is simply because you lived in an area with heavy amounts of quirk discrimination." The man said. "Not all areas discriminate against quirklessness quite as badly and that discrimination pales in comparison to spending the rest of your life in what is essentially being locked in a very comfortable prison."

Izuku grits his teeth. As much as his mind screamed that being quirkless and a curse and doing it to others would be beyond cruel, the logical part of his brain told him that he was right and keeping them in those facilities would be even worse. "But Eri would-"

"Be donating blood." The man cut him off. "Millions of people have and still do donate blood every day. It's completely fine so long as one does not get greedy as Overhaul did."

Izuku winced. He didn't like this, he really didn't like this. But the man was making logical arguments. And as much as he disliked the idea of Eri's blood being taken again, he also hated the idea of just leaving those people stuck in the facilities to suffer.

But I can't do that to Eri. She just got out of that situation if I tell her they're gonna take her blood she might go into a panic attack. Izuku thought hard about this situation. But I can't leave those people. Ughhhhh!

"Just think about it, you and that girl will be heroes to dozens of people." The man said, making sure to use the H-word.

Izuku glared at the man, before looking away to think about it some more.

In the end, he couldn't make a decision.

Because he decided it wasn't his decision to make.

"I will ask Eri about this," Izuku said. "If she agrees, I will draw up a contract."

"Mr. Midoriya, the girl is only around seven years old." The man said. "You can't-"

"It is her decision to make," Izuku said, adding more edge to his voice. "I will not force my daughter to do what she is uncomfortable with. If she says she is ok with it, then I will call you."

The man opened his mouth to argue, but Izuku cut him off.

"This is the best you are getting," Izuku said curtly. "Now, if you don't mind, I would appreciate it if you would give me some time so I can talk to her, and let her think about the decision."

Izuku knew they were trying to pressure him, he would not allow it. Because if he was pressured, then so would Eri.

He and the man glared at each other, the agent testing to see if Izuku would lose his nerve.

He didn't.

After a few moments, the man got up. "Well, then we will be eagerly awaiting your answer. Goodday."

The men left. Leaving Izuku with a task he did not look forward to.

Later, in Eri's room.

Eri was currently on her bed, trying to figure out a mystery that had been plaguing her for over an hour.

A Rubix cube.

Kiba had bought the object(or rather she got Izuku to buy it for her) so she could solve it live on stream.

However Izuku was a hundred percent sure Kiba would break more than a few of them, so he bought about a dozen, and much to his surprise Kiba only broke five before taking a break.

Eri had gotten her hands on one of the spares and was having difficulties solving it.

Knock knock!

"Eri?" Izuku said his voice was weak and filled with hesitation, something that immediately caused worry to stir inside Eri. "Can I come in?"

Eri nodded, only to realize that Izuku couldn't see her nodding from outside. "Y-yes."

Izuku opened the door and walked in, before carefully closing the door behind him.

He looked at Eri, with a pained expression, that made Eri even more nervous.

"A-are y-you ok?" Eri asked him fearfully.

"I'm fine." Izuku sighed. "It's just...Eri. You know what D.O.C. does right?"

Eri nodded. "T-they take kids with dangerous quirks so other people won't get hurt."

"Basically yes. And those kids are either taken to me or their parents take care of them with the help of D.O.C." Izuku explained. "But...there are people with quirks that are too dangerous, and they have to be stuck in special places like Shiruku, Kai and the others. Except they have to be there forever."

Eri's eyes widened. "But...they didn't like those places."

"Yes, that's the problem. If we make them stay there then they'll be really, really sad. But if they don't stay where they could hurt a lot of people." Izuku explained as simply as possible.

"S-so what do we do?" Eri asked.

Izuku took a deep breath and pooled all the will power he had.

"Well Eri...they...they have a solution but...they want to take their quirks away...and...they need your blood." Izuku managed to say even though it felt terrible.

Eri's eyes widened in horror, and she instinctively backed away. The act of which broke Izuku's heart more than a little.

"You don't have to worry Eri no one is forcing you!" Izuku quickly reassured her. "No one will take your blood if you don't want them to!"

"T-they won't?" Eri asked fearfully, vague incomplete memories of Overhaul flashed in her vision.

"No! Um...let me explain this better," Izuku said. "If you say yes, then uh...let's say once a month, some people will come to take blood from you. First, they'll put you to sleep so you don't panic or feel any pain or fear, all you'll feel is a little soreness when you wake up. Then they'll take a needle and take a small amount of blood from you and that's it! Then they'll leave. And that's it. They'll use that blood to make the quirk erasing serum so they can give it to people who have quirks that are too dangerous so they can live normal happy lives again. But if you say no, then no one will come, and you can keep doing whatever you've been doing."

"But-but-but th-than no one w-will be h-helped." The horror set in on the poor girl as she realized the weight of the choice in front of her. Either she did something she was insanely uncomfortable with, or she would have to lead an unknown, but presumably large, amount of people to suffer for the rest of their lives.

The pressure...was immense.

And Izuku could sense it, and guilt weighed down on him heavily, as he watched the poor girl struggle to try and make a decision, getting overwhelmed by the consequences that could come from either choice.

"You don't need to make that choice now!" Izuku said. "Just...just...think about. Maybe talk to your siblings about it."

"O-o-ok," Eri said, thoroughly shaken.

Izuku looked at her for a moment, before wrapping her in a hug. "It's ok, no matter what decision you make, I'll always love you. And your siblings too."

It took Eri a moment before she hugged back, tightly.

After a few minutes, the two eventually separated.

"D-do you want me to stay with you?" Izuku asked her, to his surprise Eri shook her head.

"I-I wanna talk to Kioku," Eri said.

"Ok, but I'll be in my office if you need me, I have to work out how this is gonna work if you say yes or no," Izuku told her. "But if you need anything, anything at all, just talk to me."

Eri nodded, and slowly, Izuku walked out of the room.

And immediately started kicking himself. (Metaphorically.)

Stupid! Idiot! Worthless! Izuku berated himself.

He felt like he was about to vomit. How could he put Eri through such a difficult and stressful choice? Especially after what she's been through!

But at the same time, what else could he do? Was he supposed to force her? That would be terrible! After being forced to give blood to Overhaul and then this! She would never trust him again.

And he couldn't just say no and condemn all those people to suffering! He PHYSICALLY could not bring himself to do that.

But there had to be something he was missing! Some easy choice that didn't involve hurting his little girl! He was just too stupid to see it!

Izuku hit his head against the wall in frustration, trying to release pent up frustration. Why her? Why out of all the children did it have to be her!?

Because the truth is, the agent was right, donating blood wasn't a huge deal, people did it all the time. It's just that it was Eri donating blood. I'd be like taking someone who was almost stabbed to death to a knife museum.

Izuku sighed, continuing his depressing walk towards his office. Now it was out of his hands. He would have to wait for Eri to make her decision. Hopefully, her siblings could help alleviate the stress of that choice.

Hopefully.