Posted originally on the Archive_of_Our_Own at https://archiveofourown.org/ works/13956600. Rating: Explicit Archive Warning: Graphic_Depictions_Of_Violence, Rape/Non-Con, Underage Category: F/F Fandom: 僕のヒーローアカデミア_|_Boku_no_Hero_Academia_|_My_Hero_Academia, Tokyo_Ghoul Relationship: Other_Relationship_Tags_to_Be_Added Character: Original_Female_Character(s), Mado_Akira, Takizawa_Seidou, Amon_Koutarou, Arima_Kishou, Kanou_Akihiro, Furuta_Nimura, Midoriya_Izuku, Todoroki Shouto, Bakugou_Katsuki, Iida_Tenya, Uraraka_Ochako, Mineta_Minoru, Aizawa_Shouta_|_Eraserhead, Yagi_Toshinori_|_All_Might, Nedzu_(My_Hero Academia), Kan_Sekijirou_|_Blood_King, Class_1-B_(My_Hero_Academia), Class_1-A_(My_Hero_Academia), Toogata_Mirio, Sir_Nighteye_(My_Hero Academia), Amajiki_Tamaki, Hadou_Nejire, Honenuki_Juuzou, Tsunotori_Pony, Kodai_Yui, Awase_Yousetsu, Bondo_Kojirou, Tsuburaba_Kousei, Komori Kinoko, Kaibara_Sen, Monoma_Neito, Tetsutetsu_Tetsutetsu, Shiozaki_Ibara, Kamakiri_Togaru, Yanagi_Reiko, Tokage_Setsuna, Shishida_Juurouta, Kuroiro Shihai, Rin_Hiryuu, Shouda_Nirengeki, Kendou_Itsuka, Todoroki_Enji_| Endeavor, Sakamata_Kuugo_|_Gang_Orca, Shinsou_Hitoshi, Original_Male Character(s) Additional Tags: Torture, Psychological_Torture, Psychological_Trauma, Childhood_Trauma, Mental_Health_Issues, Mental_Instability, Mental_Breakdown, Mental Anguish, Card_Games, Crime_Fighting, Crack, Crack_Treated_Seriously, Alternate_Universe_-_Canon_Divergence, Fluff, Heavy_Angst, Hurt/Comfort, Action, Eventual_Romance, Rape_Recovery, Cooking, Social_Issues, Social Commentary, Slow_Burn Stats: Published: 2018-03-13 Updated: 2018-03-28 Chapters: 6/? Words: 16684 ****** Broken and Trying to Fix ****** by MetaDeviant Summary The greatest heroes, the greatest humans, were said to be made of steel. Unyielding and unrelenting. They were bright, in all senses of the word. Arima Akaiyoru was made of untreated iron. Weaker, uglier, and worthless on her own. She was dull, in all senses of the word. She was brittle; more likely to break than bend, even when the latter would be the best thing to do. She was the heaviest element, too much even for stars to endure. But she'd change the world. She had to. For what else was there for her to do other than press on? To run, to walk, to crawl as far as she could even as she rusted away, even as she deteriorated? To fight, when it was the only thing she was good at? ...she couldn't remember. ***** The Beginning ***** Chapter Notes See the end of the chapter for notes             Mado Akira had her whole life planned out from elementary school. It was only natural, of course. Her parents were world-renowned quirkologists credited with many important scientific discoveries. While it had never been explicitly said, she always felt that she was expected to be, at some point, just as, if not more, successful than them.             Despite having a quirk that made her effectively immortal, her mother and father both dying, and how hard it was for women to gain high positions in Japan’s economy, she had been well on her way to becoming a world- famous support engineer. She was already well known in the hero industry in Japan after only nine years of hard work.             Akira didn’t know why she had so easily traded it all for the baby currently screaming its head off in her arms but was happy she did. Happy enough that she had tears running down her face as she smiled and reached out to gently hold onto one of her daughter’s tiny hands.             Tiny. Her daughter was easily one of the largest babies she had ever seen.             “Shhshh, it’s okay,” she whispered, unbuttoning her hospital gown and bringing her baby close to her breast. “I’m here now, it’s okay.” Her daughter immediately quieted down as she began suckling, and Akira couldn’t help but laugh a little.             She might have been the smallest bit delirious after having just given birth, but who could blame her?             “Um, miss?” Akira looked up to see a nurse holding out a pen and her daughter’s birth certificate attached to a clipboard.             “…thank you,” said Akira, taking them from her. She set the birth certificate in her lap, staring at it.             She immediately wrote down Arima as her last name. It was the least she could do for Kishou. “Kishou…” she murmured, her mind drifting away.             Her daughter’s whimpering brought her back, and she looked down to see large, blood-red eyes staring up at her. Her daughter, content now that her mother was back in the present, went back to suckling, closing her eyes.             “Red…” murmured Akira. They weren’t violet like hers or silver like Kishou’s. Her daughter’s eyes were a beautiful blood red.             She wanted to be a little more original than just putting “red” in her daughter’s name. Her mind raced through different kanji, and she was glad that Kishou had gotten her even more into reading.             “Kishou…” she said, and her mind drifted once again. It was hard not to, with the wound being so fresh. It was like a missing tooth: no matter how hard she tried to ignore the urge to run her tongue over the gap, she always did.             It seemed like her life was the opposite of everyone else’s; always dark with a few bright spots interspersed between instead of the other way around.             She looked back at her daughter. The last few months had been darkest of all, and she was sure that the coming months would be even more trying. But for the moment, her life was bright again. Brighter than it ever had been, and that light would hopefully be with her for a long time.             “Akaiyoru,” she said, writing the name down on the birth certificate. She smiled up at the nurse. “Her name’s Akaiyoru.” ===============================================================================               赫: suddenly; brighten; illuminate; light up. Can be read as “kaku,” “akai,” or “aka,” the latter two being synonymous with the Japanese word for red.             夜: night; evening. Can be read as “ya,” “yo,” or “yoru.”             赫夜 / あかいよる: A suddenly brightening night. Read as “Akaiyoru.” Chapter End Notes I'm re-uploading this because I was thinking I might have to make some major changes to these two chapters for the sake of the entire story at large, but I worked it out. So it's back. In any case, I'm just going to do the credits here again. Credit, for the majority of the ideas this story is based off, to Horikoshi Kohei and Ishida Sui, who created My Hero Academia and Tokyo Ghoul (and Tokyo Ghoul:re) respectively. Credit, also, to Mark Lawrence, creator of the Broken Empire Trilogy and the Red Queen's War Trilogy. On another note, I used the translator Romajidesu for the Japanese. I don't know how accurate it is, and if anyone's reading this and knows Japanese, I'd like to know. See you next time, thank you for reading. ***** The Start *****             Takizawa Seidou liked working. Kind of. He liked being out there in the field doing patrols, making arrests, and taking custody of villains after the heroes subdued them. He loved heading out to drink after work with his friends. He liked that part, that was the fun part.             He didn’t like having to write out the various reports and hated how he sometimes had to do so much paperwork that he was stuck sitting in the office until almost midnight, hours after the rest of his shift had gone home.             That was the not-fun part.             He hated the times where he would have to bury one of his comrades, or the times where the only thing he could do after a villain attack or a catastrophe was help pick up the pieces. He hated the times where he was stuck feeling completely useless.             He was glad, however, that those times were few and far between, even more so after the rise of All Might, the Number 1 Hero with boundless strength and endless charisma. The hero whose very existence lowered the crime rate. The Symbol of Peace.             He still had a ton of paperwork though. Enough that he had concluded, factually and undeniably using statistics, philosophy, and the human genome, that it was the single most boring invention of mankind right after homework.             Takizawa picked up his cellphone halfway through the first ring. “Hello?” he said, almost managing to keep the relief completely out of his voice. He’d take any distraction at this point.             He frowned at the silent line, leaning back in his chair. “Hello?” he asked again.             “H-Hello, Sei-Takizawa.”His eyes narrowed slightly at the slightly familiar voice as he tried to remember where he had heard it last. “It’s Mado Akira… how are you?”            Ah. That’s where.             “…g-good,” said Takizawa after a moment, leaning forward to stare at the floor. He resisted the urge to give voice to the thousands of thoughts running through his head, and he instead reverted to basic courtesy. “How are you?”             “…good,”she said, and Takizawa snorted.             “I know you can lie better than that,” he said disdainfully, though they could both tell that there was no real bite in it. “I’ve seen the news, Mado.” He gave a hollow laugh. “I never thought you’d be one to get caught up in a scandal.”             “I didn’t either,”said Akira with a laugh just as hollow. “I… I need your help.”            “Yeah, I didn’t think you were just calling to reconnect,” he said, hating how easily he was sliding back into how he was when they still talked. “If it’s money or a place to stay, I can’t help you there. I’m barely making ends meet as is, and I’m currently living with three other guys in an apartment not meant for three other guys.” He heard Akira sigh.             “It’s not that,”she said. “I’m currently in the hospital after giving birth to my daughter. I had a basic allergy test done on her, and it seems she inherited my mother’s cat allergy. I’ve already arranged for the apartment to be… decontaminated to make it safe for her. I’ll be staying here in the meantime. However, I was… I would greatly appreciate it if you could take Maris Stella, my cat, her food, toys, anything and everything like that, and take care of her until I can find another home for her. I would also appreciate it if you could ask around to try and find a home for her as well, though it’s not completely necessary. The cleaners will be coming the day after tomorrow, so it would be best if you could take Maris Stella sometime tomorrow. I apologize for the suddenness of this.”            Takizawa was silent for several seconds. He rubbed his face with his free hand, letting out a deep breath. “God damn it,” he said tiredly. He had been planning to relax tomorrow, seeing as it was Saturday. “Fine. Sure. I’m gonna’ need a key or something to get into your apartment, you know. And the address of your apartment.”             “Do you have a pen and paper?”she asked, and her business-like tone helped convince him a little more that this wasn’t some weird alcohol-induced dream. “I can give you the address of the hospital I’m staying in, and you can come get the key to my apartment from me.”             “Give me your apartment’s address, too,” he said. He made sure to ask for her to repeat both. He didn’t want a repeat of the Moving Incident. “I’ll be there around noon, I guess. Anything else?”             “...a few things,”said Akira after a moment. “I… I don’t…”He heard her sigh. “I know that I have no right, but… you’re the only one I can ask for help, Takizawa. There is… I-I have no-one else.” He heard her let out a quiet sob, and he promptly panicked.             “O-okay, stop, don’t cry!” he exclaimed and ducked his head when he saw a few of his coworkers look over. “Look, I won’t… promise anything, but I’ll help you out as much as I can, alright? Just… just tell me.” He heard her sniffling.             Before she could reply, however, he also heard her baby start to cry. “O-oh, don’t cry, don’t cry, everything’s alright, shhshh,”Akira said, and Takizawa couldn’t help but grin a little when the baby’s crying only got louder. “Can I call you back, Takizawa?”            “Just tell me tomorrow when I come by,” he said gruffly. “It’s late, so get some sleep, alright?” He barely heard her chuckle over the sound of the crying.             “…thank you, Seidou,”said Akira slowly. “See you tomorrow.”            The line went dead.             Takizawa put his phone down on the desk and leaned back in his chair to look up at the ceiling. He rubbed at his eyes and covered his mouth with his hand.             “Akira,” he breathed, his mind turning to memories from middle school. “What the hell’s gotten into you?” ===============================================================================               Akira gave a small smile as Takizawa leaned over to get a better look at Akaiyoru while grabbing her apartment key off the table. Akaiyoru, in turn, stared at him warily.             “…she’s big,” he said finally after a long moment. Akira snorted.             “I know you can lie better than that,” she said, and Takizawa’s head shot up to glare at her.             “Very funny,” he grumbled, sitting down in the chair beside her bed. “So, what were you gonna’ ask me last night?”             “There were a few things,” said Akira, absentmindedly supplying her finger for Akaiyoru to play with. “First off, I would like you to oversee the cleaning of my apartment, as I don’t feel comfortable having the cleaners alone there. From what they’ve told me, it should take around five hours to clean it fully.” Takizawa groaned a little at the thought of another one of his days off disappearing.             “Who are these cleaners, anyway?” he asked.             “They’re from a company that mainly specializes in modifying the homes of people who have possibly dangerous or volatile quirks,” said Akira, and Takizawa marveled at how easily she slipped into her usual factual and logical way of speaking. “For example, modifying doors to fit certain body shapes or reinforcing the handles and hinges of cupboards. They also perform thorough cleaning for homes in cases like mine. My doctor recommended them to me after I had the allergy test done on Akaiyoru. He said that he’d recommended them to many families, and that they were highly rated and trustworthy.” Takizawa nodded.             “Got it,” he said tiredly. “What time should I be there?”             “They’ll be coming at 12:00 so you should be there by 11:30 to let them in,” said Akira. She paused for several moments. “I’ve already paid them online, so there’s no need for you to have any money on hand. I’d also like you to look through my jewelry and make as complete a mental log as you can and check it after they leave to make sure nothing is taken.” She met his eyes with a cold stare. “While I trust my doctor, I’d be stupid to have blind faith in his trust in them.” Takizawa nodded, trying to hide his sudden apprehension. He’d rather suffer a concussion than admit Akira scared him sometimes             Akira’s expression softened at his nod, and she leaned back slightly in her bed. She watched Akaiyoru commandeer her other fingers, sucking on them. “I’ll be released from the hospital this coming Wednesday, at six o- clock. I was hoping you could pick me up. While I could order a taxi, I would much more prefer having someone I trust drive Akaiyoru and I to my apartment.”             “…sure,” said Takizawa, trying to force down his slight blush. It meant a lot to him, strangely enough, that she trusted him. Even after everything. “Do you have a baby seat, or am I going to need to buy one?” Akira shook her head, smiling again.             “No, but thank you for asking,” she said. “There’s one in the hall closet in my apartment. I bought it beforehand.” Takizawa frowned slightly in confusion.             “Why?” he asked. “You don’t have a car.”             “For situations like this,” proclaimed Akira with a small amount of smugness. “I also plan on buying a car later down the road, as well.” Takizawa’s frown didn’t disappear.             “Why didn’t you buy one before now?” he asked. “You probably had enough money.” Akira was quiet for several long seconds, long enough that Takizawa considered apologizing and backtracking.             “I didn’t need one,” she said quietly. “While I have my license, I was living alone. It was always cheaper to take the trains or walk.” Takizawa nodded silently.             “…sorry,” he apologized. Akira shook her head and gave him a reassuring look.             “There’s no need to apologize,” she said stiffly. “It was a valid question.” There were several seconds in which they just looked at each other. “There’s only one more thing.” Takizawa groaned loudly, flopping back in his seat.             “What?” he asked, his tone frustrated. Akira chuckled softly, knowing he was only blowing hot air.             “I would appreciate it if you could help me with my grocery shopping and further transportation,” she said, and Takizawa looked up with furrowed brows. “My doctor said that these first few months will be an… important time for Akaiyoru and I. Necessary bonding, or some such. Whether there’s any truth to that or not, I don’t want to drag Akaiyoru to the grocery store or leave her with a nanny or neighbor so soon after being born. If I need to go anywhere in the future, I would also prefer to keep Akaiyoru off of trains.” She looked up at him, and he was only slightly surprised at the earnest look in her eyes. “I know that… I know that even before the end of junior high our relationship was strained. I know that I don’t have any right to be asking so much of you after twelve years without a call or text. I know that I don’t have any way to repay you for all of this except gratitude, but…” She swiped at her eyes. “I needyour help, Takizawa. I need you.”He stared at her for a moment before standing.             Takizawa made sure to be extra careful about hugging her. He didn’t want to squish Akaiyoru.             “Was it the twelve years or the whole ‘becoming a mother’ thing that made you so emotional?” he teased gently. Akira snorted a laugh as she pushed him away.             “You’re a jerk,” she said thickly. Takizawa chuckled.             “Yeah, I know,” he said, and they both dissolved into laughter. They were just as quick to gain their composure, though. He rubbed the back of his neck awkwardly. “Look, I was… I was a real di… jerk. Jerk. I was a real jerk to you in junior high, and I’m sorry about that. So, as a way to atone, or something like that, I’ll help you any way I can. What are friends for, after all?” He gave her a strained grin, and she returned it.             “Thank you, Takizawa,” said Akira gratefully. “From the bottom of my heart, thank you.” Takizawa nodded, and looked at his watch. He gave a quiet curse.             “Alright, I gotta’ get going,” he said, moving towards the door. “I’m gonna’ call a few people about Maris Stella, so I’ll call you about that either tonight or tomorrow.” Akira nodded her thanks, and he gave a small wave as he closed the door.             He pulled out his phone as he walked through the hospital’s halls and scrolled through his contacts. “Who the fuck even are some of these people?” he muttered, resolving to clean out his phone of junk sometime.             He made a small noise of satisfaction as he practically hammered his thumb onto the call button and raised the phone to his ear. “Come on, pick up,” he hissed as it rang. He hummed when she finally did pick up.             “Yo, bro.”             “Hey, Seina,” he began, sidestepping a nurse, “you like cats, right?” ===============================================================================               “Your owner asked me to come get you.”             “…”             “You’re a pretty girl, aren’t you?”             “…”             “The silent treatment, eh? Well that’s fine. All I need is for you to stay still so that I can get you into the-AH!”             “RRRAOMAAAAOR-HIIIISSS!”             “OW, FUCKING STOP IT!” ===============================================================================               “Your cat is a goddamn menace.”            “Really?” asked Akira, resisting the urge to laugh. “She’s usually very calm, even when we go to the vet.”             “She made me consider abusing my power as a police officer to arrest an animal for attempted murder.”            She laughed that time.             “Glad you find my assault amusing,”said Takizawa petulantly. “In any case, she’s taken refuge under my bed to escape Rocky, so that’s fine. I’ve set up her food and litter box in my room, so she should be good for the short term.”            “Thank you,” said Akira, pushing down the rising sense of guilt. She wasn’t sure whether it was directed at Takizawa for inconveniencing him so, or at Maris Stella who probably had no idea why she had been taken away from her home.             “Don’t worry about it,”said Takizawa immediately. “So, I called my sister, Seina, about Maris Stella. I didn’t say anything about Akaiyoru and her allergies, or anything like that. Just said you couldn’t keep her anymore. She said she’d be happy to take her but had to talk about it with her roommate.”He paused for a second. “Is Seina good?”            “What do you mean?” asked Akira, frowning.             “Is Seina good?”repeated Takizawa. “I mean, is it alright with you for her to take Maris Stella? I could also ask my parents if you’d rather have them take her.”            “No,” said Akira thoughtfully, “I’m sure Maris Stella will be happy with Seina.”             The unspoken “hopefully” hung in the air.             “Alright, that’s good,”said Takizawa. He sighed tiredly. “Unless you need anything else, I need to go work on some reports.”Akira shook her head with a hum.             “I don’t, but thank you for asking,” she said, “and thank you again for helping me. It means a lot to me. Once I’m in a better… position, I’ll take you out for drinks. On me.”             “Now you’re speaking my language,”joked Takizawa happily. “Alright, get some rest. I’ll give you an update tomorrow after the cleaners leave, but’ll call you if anything with Seina pops up. Good night.”            “Good night.” She set her phone down on her bedside table, not bothering to plug it in just yet. She, instead, laid back in her bed.             Her chest felt too heavy with emotions for her to not cry, and yet she couldn’t. The tears wouldn’t come. And she hated how she only felt like it was getting worse by the minute. As if everything was building up to a certain moment and would only explode when it reached that critical mass.             She somehow managed to fall asleep only an hour later, feeling worse for wear. ===============================================================================               Akira didn’t spare the time to savor the fresh air outside of the hospital, instead rushing straight over to where Takizawa was parked. It was way too cold for Akaiyoru to be outside for long.             “God, it’s freezing,” muttered Takizawa, watching her strap Akaiyoru into the baby-seat. They both ignored the various band-aids covering his hands and arms. And nose. And cheeks. And neck. “I’m somehow not surprised you had the foresight to pack warm clothes for her.”             “Of course,” said Akira, straightening the black beanie on Akaiyoru’s head. “Thank you again for this, Takizawa.”             “Would you stop thanking me like I’m saving your life or something already?” exclaimed Takizawa. “Every time you do it just reminds me how low the bar is for me. This isn’t being kind, Akira, this is being a moderately decent human being.” Akira just smiled and sat down in the backseat beside Akaiyoru. “You good back there?”             “Mmhm.”             “I guess we’re off then,” said Takizawa, pulling them out of the parking lot. “So about Seina, I-“             “Please focus on the road,” interrupted Akira quickly, and Takizawa glanced back with a glare. “We can talk after we reach my apartment.”             He opened his mouth to reply but closed it when he saw her fingers curl tightly around the handle of the baby seat. Takizawa sighed gustily, relaxing. “Goddamn motherly instinct or whatever.”             Akira breathed a sigh of relief when she stepped through the door of her apartment. While the hospital stay wasn’t terrible, nothing felt better than finally being home. For now, at least,she thought before she could help it.             She shook those thoughts away, however, and turned around as Takizawa closed the door to her apartment. “Go sit down in the living room,” she said with a small smile. “I’m going to go put Akaiyoru to bed. I’ll be out in a few minutes.”             Takizawa nodded, not bothering to shrug off his jacket as he made his way to the couch. He almost threw himself on it, stopping at the last second. Akira didn’t need a broken couch on top of everything else.             He felt drained just thinking about her situation, and he couldn’t even begin to imagine how she felt. She was the jobless, single mother after all.             He groaned, and let his head drop onto the back of the couch as he closed his eyes. This world’s a pretty fucky place sometimes,he thought cynically. And not even All Might can help with that.            “So, what were you saying about Seina?” asked Akira, and Takizawa’s head shot up to see her setting down a cup of tea in front of him. He forced down the blush as he sat up and picked up the cup. He had notbeen dozing.             “She called me earlier today,” he said as Akira sat down across from him. “She said her roommate was cool with them taking Maris Stella.”             “Oh,” said Akira, forcing a smile, “that’s good.” She hated how her heart sank into her gut at the thought. Takizawa silently raised an eyebrow. “When will you be taking Maris Stella to them?”             “This Friday, after I get off work,” sighed Takizawa, letting it go. For now.“Do you want me to bring her over here first? So, you can say goodbye, or whatever?” Akira’s eyes widened slightly.             “I can’t risk letting her in the apartment, Takizawa,” she said tersely. “You know that.” Takizawa clicked his tongue at her.             “I know,” he said in exasperation. “We’re not going to let her in the apartment, you idiot. You can just do it outside your door. You can even pet her, I have some baby wipes in my car.” Akira didn’t ask why he had them.             “Thank you,” she said instead. She gave him a cheeky little smile. “You’ve become more sensitive since junior high, Takizawa.” He glared at her over the rim of his cup.             “I think you mean that I’ve become less of an ass,” he muttered. “And yeah, growing up does that.”             They both fell silent after that, and Takizawa frowned down at his cup. He ran over the words in his head, trying to figure out the best way to phrase his thoughts. “Would you mind if I asked what happened?” he said after a minute, not looking up. “You know, with… Arima?”             “I would,” said Akira so quickly, so stiffly, so reflexively that Takizawa immediately felt angry. Just like…            “Got it,” he spat out as he stood. “I’ll see you Friday.” He stormed past her without looking at her.             It was only when he reached the front door that he stopped. And just like then, I’m throwing a hissy fit and trying to storm out.He heaved a sigh, forcing his temper under control. When he was sure he had cooled off a little bit, he turned around to face the living room, seeing Akira staring at him.             “Sorry,” he said tersely. “I’d say something about how it isn’t healthy to bottle stuff up like that if I wasn’t already sure that you knew that. So I’ll just say that I’m here to listen, however shitty I may be at it, when you’re ready to talk.” Akira didn’t say anything, and instead just nodded. He nodded back. “Good. So… good night. Call me if you need anything.”             Akira continued to sit and stare long after he had gone, too many thoughts filling her head for her to think about doing anything else.             The tea had gone completely cold when Akaiyoru started crying, and Akira finally got up. She didn’t have time to be thinking about these things. Not yet, at least. ===============================================================================               “She was calmer this time around,” said Takizawa as he set down the cat carrier, and Akira felt a bitter familiarity at the constant meowing coming from it. “I’m guessing she just wanted to get the hell away from Rocky.”             Akira just nodded, dropping down to kneel in front of her door. Maris Stella’s meowing grew only louder as she spotted her. Takizawa stared for a second before turning to walk away. “I’m going to go grab the wipes,” he said. “Be back in a few minutes.”             Akira didn’t bother nodding and pushed away thoughts about how he had gained only the barest amount of subtly. Instead, she unlocked and slid open the small panel on the front of the cat carrier, and Maris Stella immediately poked her head through.             “Hi,” said Akira, reaching out to pet her. The meowing quickly shifted to a deep, rumbling purr, immediately bringing back memories of the late nights spent in bed working on dificcult designs. “I’m… sorry about all this.” She ignored the burning in her eyes. “I… m-my daughter’s allergic to you. I-I can’t keep you…             “I-I know we’ve been together for… a long time, but I…” Akira sniffed, and violently shook her head. She needed to gain her composure. “Akaiyoru, my baby, she’s… she’s the most important thing to me now. B-but I’m sure you’ll like staying with Seina. S-she’s Takizawa’s sister, the guy who’s been taking care of you, so… I-I trust him, and he trusts Seina, s-so I’m sure she’ll take good care of you.” Maris Stella had gone silent, and Akira let out a single sob. “I’m sorry… I’m sorry.” Father…            She felt Maris Stella bump her hand, lick her fingers, and opened her eyes to see her slowly lay down in the carrier. Akira’s face screwed up uncontrollably, and she tried to keep her sobs as quiet as possible. She didn’t want a noise complaint, after all.             She had closed the panel on the cat carrier and wiped most of the tears off her face with her free hand by the time Takizawa got back. He silently handed her a wipe, and she made sure to clean her hand as thoroughly as possible.             “Thank you for this,” she said as she stood.             “No problem,” said Takizawa, his face somber as he picked up the cat carrier. “I’ll make sure to check up with Seina periodically to make sure Maris Stella’s alright.”             “Thank you.” She didn’t look up and instead glued her eyes to the baby-wipe in her hand.             “No problem.” After several seconds of silence, Takizawa sighed and reached out to touch her shoulder. “I’ve gotta’ get going, alright? Do you need anything before I go?” She shook her head, handing him the wipe. “Got it. I’ll call you after I drop Maris Stella off.” She nodded. “I’ll see you later, Akira.”             She couldn’t help but watch him leave and was thankful that Maris Stella didn’t start meowing again. She didn’t know if she could handle it.             Akira only entered her apartment once Takizawa had disappeared from her sight, and she leaned against the door. Strangely enough, her chest felt lighter. Her mind clearer. She felt… better.             She wondered if this was what people meant when they talked about leaving a chapter of their lives behind them.             In his car, Takizawa wondered at the fact that once again, outside of work this time, he was left with only being able to help pick up the pieces.             At least this time he didn’t feel completely useless. ***** The Job Offer (singular) ***** Chapter Notes See the end of the chapter for notes             Akira felt like crying as she rested her head in her hands. She could see the various bills scattered across her kitchen table out of the corner of her eye, illuminated by her laptop screen.             She had cut down on her spending quite a lot in the past month. But the money she had in her savings would only last another two. Maybe two and a half if she cut down even more on groceries. She felt sick at the fact that she had run through nearly nine years of savings in four months.             “What am I going to do?” she whispered to herself. You know what,a small, cynical part of her mind whispered. Even if you don’t like it, you know what.            She had applied to virtually every support company she knew of, and it had all ended basically the same way: rejection. She usually wouldn’t even get an email or a call telling her to stop contacting them without spending hours trying to.             She knew this was Ogichi Support’s doing. She knew it. They had basically black-listed her in the hero industry even after firing her. She didn’t even think that was possible, but she should have at least considered the possibility. They were the world’s single largest support company after all.             Akira had been hoping to be able to get a job at another support company and be able to work from home so that she could take proper care of Akaiyoru. It had been beyond wishful thinking on her part. She doubted she’d even be able to get a job as a secretary at a small-town hero’s pseudo-agency.              She had no job training aside from how to be a support engineer. She hadn’t had the energy nor time while working for Ogichi to even consider learning a second trade, or even get a hobby.             She sighed and resigned herself to the fact that she’d have to get a “normal” job.             But that also meant getting a nanny for Akaiyoru. She couldn’t ask Takizawa, as he had neither the time nor experience to be able to take care of her. He was already doing her grocery shopping as it was. She didn’t want to, but she had to.             “God,” she muttered. She had promised herself that she wouldn’t be like her parents. That she wouldn’t put work before her daughter. But she had made that decision with… “Kishou…”             She reluctantly reached for the newspaper, figuring that she might as well start with the listings. She’d have to look for the highest paying job available so that she could at least break even with expenses, but she wondered if she even had enough freedom to be thatpicky.             Akira jumped when her phone started ringing, and she lunged across the table to send it straight to voicemail.             She waited for several seconds after and groaned when she heard Akaiyoru start crying. She hated herself a little as she rushed to comfort her daughter.             That was another thing: they needed to move out of this apartment as soon as possible. There rarely went a night that Akaiyoru didn’t get woken up at least once by her neighbors moving around.             She had lived in this apartment for nine years, but she had chosen it as a young woman fresh out of high school. Not a mother. It wasn’t a place to raise a child. They could stay there while Akaiyoru was still a baby if they had to, but once she got big enough to start walking around even more problems would arise. They lived in the middle of the city. No fresh air, no nature, and constant noise.             Only once she was sure Akaiyoru was asleep again did she return to the kitchen and look at her phone. The number wasn’t one she recognized, but it had a Tokyo area code. She considered that it might just be a prank call or something of the sort but decided that nothing bad could come of it. At best it was someone from one of the support companies that she applied to. She felt a little better when it only ringed once before they picked up.             “Hello?” she said. “I’m sorry about before, I-“             “Needed to take care of the baby?”said a rather young-sounding man. “Don’t worry, don’t worry, my fault for calling so late at night!”She didn’t say anything. “Hello? Thisis Mado Akira, right? I didn’t call the wrong number, did I? Shit…”            “How do you know about my daughter?” demanded Akira immediately, scowling unconsciously. “Who are you?”             “Chokuken Chu, president of Sentinel Gear,”supplied the man easily. “And the same way everyone else knows about your daughter: tabloid articles and half-truths from those leaches at Ogichi.”His words practically dripped venom.            “Oh,” she said uncertainly. She pushed down what small amount of hope had risen in her chest. “How can I help you?”             “The question is how we can help each other,”said Chokuken happily. “I’d like to meet with you and talk, Mado-san! Probably hire you, if I’m being honest.”Her hope soared unbidden.             “I… yes,” she said, trying to keep her tone as neutral as possible. “I’d be happy to meet with you, Chokuken-san.” She heard him laugh gleefully.             “Nice, nice!”he exclaimed happily. “That’s awesome to hear! So, when are you free? I’m good for whenever.”Akira frowned to herself. She leaned over to her laptop, praying and hoping that Takizawa was either working late or was having a sudden bout of insomnia.             “Please give me a moment to find that out, Chokuken-san,” she said, typing out a message with one hand. “However, I do not have anyone available to take care of my daughter. Would it be possible for me to bring her with me?” Her frown grew as she tapped her finger against the table, staring at the box in the corner of her screen.             “That… should be fine,”said Chokuken hesitantly. “I scare children easily, though, you see, as I have the head of a spider.”            Akira froze even as she saw a message from Takizawa pop up. “Ah,” she said without meaning to. She glanced at the message. “I will be having a friend drive me. Would it be possible for him to come inside with me, and stay with Akaiyoru outside of your office?”             “Sure,”said Chokuken. “That should work. I’ll make sure to issue a warning to my employees to try to keep everything as quiet as possible.”             “Thank you,” said Akira honestly. “Please allow me a moment to ask him when he’s available.” Chokuken hummed assent. Takizawa Seidou: go to sleep You: I’m sorry about contacting you so late, but I need to ask for your help again. Chokuken Chu, the president of Sentinel Gear, is on the phone with me. He wants to interview me for a job, and I was hoping that you could drive me there. I was also hoping that you could take care of Akaiyoru while I talk with him. Takizawa Seidou: oh wow okay thats a lot. im not sure how i feel about taking care of Akaiyoru. i have zero experience with kids. which you know. You: I know, and I’m sorry to thrust this upon you so suddenly. However, Chokuken-san says that he has the head of a spider, and I would prefer not to scar Akaiyoru. You would just be waiting outside his office while he and I talk. I’ll make sure to feed and change Akaiyoru beforehand, so you need only watch her and keep her company. Takizawa Seidou: geez. okay yeah i guess i can do that. when is it happening? You: When are you free? Takizawa Seidou: ill clear my calendar for saturday. just text me the night before when im supposed to pick you up. You: Thank you so much. I’ll see you then, okay? Takizawa Seidou: okay now get some sleep. goodnight. You: Goodnight.            “Would it be possible for us to meet this Saturday, Chokuken-san?” she asked. “Around ten A.M. or so?”             “Of course!”said Chokuken. “Here, I’ll give you the address of our building. I’ll have someone waiting outside to guide you up to my office.”            “Thank you,” said Akira, and made sure to stick the note with the address onto her fridge. She doubted she’d forget about it, but it wasn’t a risk she was willing to take. “I’m looking forward to it, Chokuken-san.”             “Me, too,”he said. “See you then, Mado-san. Goodnight.”            “Goodnight.” As Akira set her phone down, she felt better than she had in the last week.             She didn’t feel good, but she felt better. ===============================================================================               “I wasn’t expecting you to wear a suit,” said Akira as she buckled herself in.             “I didn’t want to risk your job interview by showing up in a t- shirt or something,” said Takizawa mildly. “Do I look alright?”             “Mmhm,” hummed Akira, and he nodded absentmindedly as his finger tapped against the wheel.             “How do you feel about this Chokuken guy?” he asked, and Akira lowered her eyes thoughtfully.             “He seems honest,” she said after a minute. “Almost immaturely so. However, I don’t think he’s a bad person. At least not blatantly.” Takizawa nodded.             “I ran the name through the police database,” he remarked casually. “Nothing popped up, so he’s probably not some sort of pervert or psycho.”             “Oh,” said Akira in surprise. “Thank you.” Takizawa just shrugged.             “So,” he said, glancing back when they stopped at a light, “what’s Sentinel Gear? I know it’s a support company that’s super elite and super private, but that was about all I was able to find.” Akira relaxed slightly in her seat. This was something she could talk about.             “They’re a support company that popped up about five years ago,” she said, sliding into a coldly factual tone. “Most of the large support companies that are based here in Japan, like Ogichi Support, have made deals with high schools like U.A. or Ketsubutsu to provide costumes, support gear, and repairs for their hero departments. They usually only provide them for the first of the year, however, and after that its usually the support courses doing the work. In their third-year, students in the hero course usually make plans with the support companies that provided their first costumes to get repairs and upgrades after they graduate. That, or they form deals with the support companies that the support students they’ve been working with are applying to.             “In any case, most heroes and support engineers usually stick with one support company for their entire careers. Particularly high-ranked heroes can split off to form their own agencies along with personal support engineers, but that’s usually only a small percentage. It’s also not a popular profession with support engineers to go private, as it’s a lot less secure than working at a company. However, around twenty heroes and forty support engineers switched from Ogichi Support and various other large companies to Sentinel Gear five years ago. They ranged from young adults that had only graduated a year before, to veterans that had been working for up to twenty years.             “The heroes’ rate of solved cases increased dramatically, and their costumes and support gear were quickly analyzed by several third-party support engineers to be of a significantly higher quality than what they had before switching to Sentinel Gear. Within a year, Sentinel Gear exploded in size, and they’ve since then been going head to head with Ogichi Support among support companies. A problem I heard discussed at Ogichi Support was the fact that they made the market with new heroes and support engineers particularly uncertain. Scouters usually attend sports festivals and other school events, as well as watch for reports surrounding heroes-in-training, to make the decision of whether it was worth it to invest in them. There are a few factors that are pretty staple: personality, quirk, overall strength, temperament, etcetera. However, there seems to be no discernable rhyme or reason as to who Ogichi Support makes offers to.             “Combined with the fact that they’re a very private company, it makes that growth even more astonishing. Heroes and support engineers are a support company’s life blood: most support companies parade high-ranked and popular ones around to entice newer heroes to sign on with them. Sentinel Gear, in contrast, is very private with who they supply and who they employ. As of now, the highest-ranked hero they publicly disclosed was ranked only forty- eighth in Japan, in contrast to Ogichi Support who has one in the top-twenty, and several others in the top-fifty. However, most of higher-ranked heroes have their own agencies, and presumably their own support engineers. That information is usually kept quiet, though it’s rumored that almost all of the top-ten heroes are being supplied by Sentinel Gear. It’s not widely believed, though, and has no real proof to back it up.”             Takizawa looked slightly pained as he looked back at Akira.             “So, in short,” he said slowly, “this could be a fantastic opportunity for you?”             “Yes.”             “Just say that then, geez,” groaned Takizawa before sighing. “God, thatpart of you hasn’t changed from junior high.” She just smiled, though she quickly frowned as she looked around. “Good, you’ve noticed, Miss Encyclopedia. You’re sure the address you gave me is correct?”             Akira nodded, staring at the various run-down buildings and dilapidated warehouses as they passed. The street looked like it hadn’t been repaved in years, and there seemed to be more weeds than sidewalk.             She looked back to Takizawa as he paused at an intersection. He was scowling at the G.P.S. screen. She felt her stomach sink slightly when she saw that it was directing them even further into the dilapidated area. He sighed and turned around to look at her. “You sure about this?” he asked, and she knew that he didn’t mean the address.             “Pull over,” she said as she pulled out her phone. Takizawa did so silently and stayed silent as she called Chokuken.             “Hello?”greeted Chokuken. “Mado-san?”            “Hello, Chokuken-san,” she said, keeping her tone neutral. “We’ve reached the street you gave me. However, are you sure you gave me the correct address?”             “Yes, I’m sure I did,”he said, sounding slightly confused. He made a small noise of realization a second later though. “Oh, wait, crap. Okay, so this probably seems really sketchy, right?”            “It does,” she said. “This does not seem like the area that a support company would be based out of.”             “Yeah, you’ve got a point,”said Chokuken. “I forgot to mention that you’ll be visiting our… well I guess they’re our private offices. Our main set- up is in Shibuya, but if I hire you you’ll be mainly working here.”            “I have no proof that that’s true,” she said bluntly. “I also have no proof that you are who you say you are. Unless you can provide some sort of proof, I would prefer to meet in your Shibuya offices at a later date.”             “No, wait, I can have a recognizable hero wait outside with your guide!”exclaimed Chokuken. “Is that alright?”            “Yes, thank you,” said Akira. “Goodbye.”             “Bye!”said Chokuken, and he hung up. Akira lowered her phone, turning to Takizawa.             “He said that he’ll have a recognizable hero waiting outside for us,” she said, and he sighed, pulling away from the curb again. “I’m sorry about this, Takizawa.”             “Don’t be,” he said tersely. “Not your fault. I’m just a little… worried about this.”             “Apprehensive?” she supplied, and he nodded thankfully. “I know, I am too. But this opportunity is too good for me to simply pass up without doing as much as I can.” She forced a small smile. “Besides, you’re a police officer. I’m sure you’ll be able to protect me should the need arise.” Takizawa sighed.             “Yeah, but I’m also quirkless,” he said.             “Then a distraction.”             “Shut up!” exclaimed Takizawa, glaring at her image in the mirror.             “Is that Endeavor?” Akira asked suddenly, leaning forward a little. Takizawa quickly followed her gaze. He nodded, though he was sure that if the hero hadn’t had his beard flame on he wouldn’t have been able to tell. It wasn’t often you saw the No. 2 hero in a suit and tie, after all. There was also a man beside him, also dressed in a suit and tie, though he was wearing a plain black blindfold.             “Is that his car?” he asked, and Akira shrugged. “If it is, shouldn’t it be something like a fire-red Ferrari, or something?” She just shrugged again as he pulled in behind the black Subaru.             She didn’t get out, however, and instead rolled down her window to lean her head out. She glanced around a little when she immediately took notice of a deep bass-like humming.             “You’re Mado Akira, right?” said Endeavor, walking up. Akira nodded, tensing slightly and forgetting about the hum. The T.V. didn’t even begin to convey how intimidating he was in person. “You have my condolences regarding Arima Kishou. I worked with him on several occasions. He was strong.” Akira gave a small nod, but before she could say anything he started talking again. “However, I have wasted enough time waiting here. I’m sure that this will suffice to prove my identity.”             He raised his right arm to the sky and Akira shielded her eyes at the sudden heat and wind as he fired a pillar of fire into the sky. It was as solid as if he had built a column.             It was gone just as suddenly, and Endeavor stared her down. “Good day,” he said, straightening his tie as he walked over to his car. They all watched him go silently.             “That was… quick,” said Takizawa heavily. Akira could only nod.   Chapter End Notes Okay, so I feel slightly pained about this chapter. The pacing feels a little off, but it's already been a while since I posted, and I feel as if it would take a whole second re-writing of the chapter to get it to work. So, instead of spending another week possibly making something worse, I'll just leave this here. I might return to it in the future. Leave a comment, or something, with what you guys think. The next chapter should be a little bit more interesting and hopefully better paced. This is about the length I'm hoping to keep most chapters, but like I said, I'll do what I think is best in terms of pacing. Also, I forgot to add this in the other notes when I took down and re-posted the story. It will be a while before we get to the U.A. stuff. The majority of the first chapters will focus mainly on pivotal moments in Akaiyoru's childhood. And when we do get to U.A., I won't be changing any major plot points. No class 1-b in the U.S.J. during the attack, or something. Of course, I'll be changing a few things just for interests sake, as well as just making a realistic world, but I'm hoping to keep the major plot points the same. However, the manga is still ongoing of which I am reading as it comes out. It might turn out that I'll have to change a few plot points for the story I've already written or will write to make sense. But that's all. See you guys next time. ***** Job Interview ***** Chapter Notes See the end of the chapter for notes             “My apologies about him,” the other man said, turning toward them.             “Is he always like that?” asked Takizawa shrewdly. The man nodded hesitantly.             “He… is,” he admitted. He cleared his throat awkwardly and straightened his cuffs before bowing. “My name is Yochimara Naga. I’m head of the Management Division here at Sentinel Gear and will be acting as your guide today.” “It’s nice to meet you,” said Akira politely. “As you probably know, I’m Mado Akira. This is Takizawa Seidou, a close friend of mine.” Takizawa gave a small bow to Yochimara.             “It’s nice to meet both of you, too,” said Yochimara. “Are you satisfied that these are the private offices of Sentinel Gear?” Akira nodded, and he gave a pleasant smile. “I’m pleased. Now, we’ll be having you park in one of the guest spaces for now. However, should you be hired, you’ll be parking in another section that’s reserved for employees.”             He lifted a remote that she hadn’t noticed before and pressed a comically big red button on it. Almost immediately a large portion of the sidewalk in front of what looked like an abandoned office building to their right slanted down into a ramp. A portion of the wall behind it raised like a garage door, revealing what looked like an expensive and well-maintained parking garage inside.             “The parking space directly in front of the door is the one you’ll be using,” directed Yochimara, and Takizawa nodded. He pulled the car out of park and guided it inside.             Akira wondered at how much money it must have taken to build the offices. The floor looked to be almost freshly polished, and the entire area was brightly lit by white lights. To then mask the entire building to make it look dilapidated must have costed a fortune.             “This still seems sketchy to me, Akira,” said Takizawa as she started to unbuckle Akaiyoru’s seat. Akira paused and met his gaze for several seconds.             “I’ll be careful, Seidou,” she said quietly, looking away. “I need you to trust me.”             “I do,” sighed Takizawa, leaning back in his seat. “It’s these guys that I don’t trust.”             He fell silent as they both got out of the car and as Yochimara lead them to the elevator. Akira could tell he was holding back from asking Yochimara questions. He had come a long way in terms of self-control.             “This building has a total of eight stories,” Yochimara explained as he pressed the button for the fifth floor after swiping a card in his pocket. “Five above ground, and three below. The underground levels are much larger than this building, and are where the various labs, workshops, and storage areas for materials and prototypes are. The second floor above ground is for reception of heroes and various other guests. The third floor is the test range for finished products. The fourth floor is mainly recreational. It’s equipped with a mess hall, a lounge, a gym, showers, and various rooms with beds. Many of our support engineers have the tendency to pull all-nighters to finish a product, and it was deemed safest to give them a place they could rest on-site, rather than have them attempt to travel to their own homes or, god forbid, sleep in their workshops. The fifth floor holds the offices of senior staff such as Chokuken-san and I.” He raised his card, showing them the bright red coloring. A large white ‘3’ was printed on it. “All staff and heroes are given cards, which are needed in order to operate this elevator. Heroes are given only a clearance 1 card, which is blue. This gives them access to the parking garage and reception area. Support engineers, management staff, and most other employees possess a green clearance 2 card. Senior staff have a red clearance 3 card which gives us access to the top floor and our personal offices, as well as all other floors that concern us.” Before she could ask what he meant by that very last part, the elevator door opened and he stepped out. “This way, please.” They followed him quickly, and she saw Takizawa glancing around out of the corner of her eye.             They passed through a large square room quickly, with Yochimara giving a receptionist seated at a desk in the corner a nod and smile, flashing his red card as they walked past. She smiled at them all, before returning her gaze to her computer screen.             The rest of floor seemed to be centered around the one long hallway they were walking down, with other ones branching off from it. Various doors flanked them with brass nameplates on them, but she could only make a few quick notes in her head about the various names she saw engraved.             The décor and color scheme of the floor was calming. It was all soft, warm browns and yellows, and the hardwood floor reflected the yellow lights to make it feel strangely dream-like. On either side of the doors, pressed up against the walls, were comfortable looking armchairs that only added to the homely feel of the place.             It put her on edge.             “Yochimara-san, excuse me if this is rude, but what is that humming noise?” she asked instead. “I’ve been hearing it before we even entered the building.”             “It’s my quirk,” said Yochimara easily, turning back to raise his blindfold. She made sure to keep her expression passive. “It’s called ‘Echolocation.’ While it doesn’t function like its namesake, I’m able to emit a hum in order to gain a basic understanding of my surroundings. The volume of the hum I output, as well as the size and shape of my surroundings, dictates how much detail I take in.”             She nodded, and she wondered if it had been pure luck that he had been born with no eyes, only smooth indentations in his face, or if it was something that had evolved with his quirk. “Thank you for telling us,” she said, and he merely smiled, replacing his blindfold.             “It’s no trouble,” he said as they approached a set of double doors flanked with sofas. “This is Chokuken-san’s office. I have several matters I need to attend to in the meantime, so this is where I’ll leave you. When you’re ready to head in, just knock.”             “Thank you, Yochimara-san,” said Akira with a short bow, Takizawa copying her, and Yochimara just smiled, bowing back.             “Best of luck, Mado-san,” he said before striding off back down the hall.             They watched him go silently.             “This place is freakin’ creepy,” muttered Takizawa, and she couldn’t help but agree. “You’re sure you’re sure about this?”             “I am,” said Akira quietly as she walked over to one of the sofas to set Akaiyoru’s seat down on it. She crouched down to fix her blanket and was relieved to see her daughter was still asleep.             Kind of. She was scared that Akaiyoru would be scared if she woke up to see her mother gone.             Akira kissed her on the forehead before standing up and turning to Takizawa. “Thank you again for this, Takizawa,” she said. “If she wakes up, make sure she can see you. Let her hold your finger or talk to her as well. If she starts crying, or something seems wrong, just open the door and tell me.” Takizawa glanced at the set of double doors with a slightly nervous expression.             “Is that going to be alright?” he asked, and she folded her arms with a stern expression.             “If you’re asking if it’s going to be alright with Chokuken-san, I don’t particularly care,” she said. “Akaiyoru is more important to me than this job, and if he can’t accept that then I would rather not work for him at all.” Takizawa gave her a silent look before nodding.             “Got it,” he said as he clapped her on the shoulder. “Good luck.” She nodded thankfully and knocked on the door as he sat down beside Akaiyoru’s seat.             “Come in!”called out Chokuken immediately, and she took a deep breath, trying to calm her nerves, before she entered the room.             “Good afternoon, Chokuken-san,” she said with a deep bow. “Thank you for meeting with me.”             “Nah, nah, I should be the one saying that!” said Chokuken immediately as he stood from his desk, bowing. “Sit down, sit down!”             She resisted the urge to glance around the office as she walked its length, but from her quick look around when she bowed, she assumed that this was probably the one he used second-most often, the first being the one he most likely had in his home.             She’d found in her time in the support industry that most important people kept their work offices clean and impersonal, and they were all similar. There were the standard large and expensive dark wood desks with a large leather armchair that spun, with semi-comfortable seats for guests. The rooms were almost always some sort of mixture of warm browns, usually dark woods, with wine-red splashes of color. There was probably some sort of philosophy around those colors (they were probably calming in some sort of way), but she hadn’t ever had the time to look it up.             They were usually impractically large, with lots of empty space in front of the door leading up to the desk, with a window behind said desk. Book cases would line the walls on either side, and there would usually be some sort of computer monitor on the desk, white or black and lacking any real distinguishing features. Maybe some papers around the desk, certainly pens, and almost always an open laptop to try and show how busy the person was.             Chokuken-san’s office was no different, aside from the fact that there were two shelves either side of the room between the book cases. One had a beautiful painting of a traditional Buddhist temple hanging on the wall above it, while the other had several ornate masks and what looked like a butterfly collection.             Chokuken, himself, was wearing a dark purple suit that matched his spider head, which was tarantula-like. Akira had to believe that there was something deep in the human psyche that had them hard-wired to fear spiders.             There really were no defining human features on his head; nothing un-spider-like. There were lots of hairs, the pincers moved seemingly unconsciously, and his eyes were pitch black which allowed them to reflect her perfectly. Nothing that seemed able to convey emotion.             He still somehow gave off the aura of an excited school boy.             “So, first off, let me say sorry again for not telling you these were our private offices,” he said, leaning casually in his chair. “I’m rarely in our public offices, so I guess I just internalized it that this was the normal place that normal people go to.”             “It’s quite alright,” she said politely. “Though I hadn’t been expecting to meet Endeavor.” Chokuken chuckled, the sound mixing with the clicking of his pincers.             “He’s pretty cold, huh?” he asked happily. She hesitantly nodded. “Yeah, but you can’t deny his efficiency. He’s a pretty enigma of a person.” He suddenly clapped his hands. “That’s actually a great segway into explaining why I wanted to hire you in the first place!”             “I was wondering that myself,” said Akira, wondering to herself if he actually ran a company. “I was also wondering why you have these offices.”             “Ah, that!” said Chokuken as he stood dramatically. “I wish to achieve a new world order!”             “…”             “…”             “…what?”             “Kind of,” he said, walking around his chair to look out the window. “Not really. I just wanted to sound cool.”             “Then…?” Akira let her words drop off, and Chokuken turned to her, his body language suddenly serious.             “I created Sentinel Gear in order to hand-pick heroes, support engineers, and everyone else I thought had a chance of making a difference,” he said quietly, all jovialness gone from his voice. “There’s a lot wrong with this society, Mado-san. But I mainly want to fix the support industry.             “Companies like Ogichi Support disgust me,” he said, leaning on his desk. “You know that feeling, too, right?” She didn’t say anything, but he plowed ahead. “You had to have realized how their business model works. They reel in young heroes right out of school that don’t know any better and keep them there.             “They’re not interested in actually helping those heroes. If one of them makes it lucky, cool: they move a little higher up on their priority list. But most of them stay at the rock-bottom, getting sub-par support gear and enjoying a career of mediocrity so they can provide a stable source of income for Ogichi Support.             “Tell me I’m wrong.” He sounded almost angry.             She stayed silent, hating how her stomach curled in on itself at his words and gaze. He nodded in a satisfied way.             “So, I created Sentinel Gear to do everything they weren’t,” he said. “Yeah, most of the heroes we employ won’t ever really do anything other than save a few people. But we don’t use that as an excuse to give them the bare minimum gear. We provide them with high-quality gear and upgrades to make sure they can do the best they can. Same with the support engineers.             “But the senior staff on this level? We hand pick heroes and support engineers that show promise. Realpromise. To make change, to do great, whatever. Heroes like Endeavor save a lot of people. A lot.No matter his personality, his temperament, his personal life, no-one can deny that. But more than that, he can show people that maybe not all heroes are good people. That they’re peopleperiod.             “And the support engineers that work here, that provide gear for heroes like him? The best of the best. Genius programmers, supreme metallurgists, exemplary support engineers. A few quirkologists, even, who help heroes make the most out of their quirks and help support engineers make the best gear to enhance those quirks.             “Managers like Naga-chan who are masters at pushing a deal, with the morals to make sure that no-one gets a raw one. Who can make sure that everyone working for us and with us is happy, productive, and efficient.” He somehow conveyed a sort of graveness with the position of his pincers. “I know that it won’t be people like me, or Naga-chan, or you, Mado-san, that initiate and make change. We’re only the enablers for the people that can.”             She stayed silent, staring at him. Her mind was oddly clear, and she wondered if this was something like the calm before a storm. “Why me?” she asked, and Chokuken shrugged a little.             “Nothing really definitive,” he said, sitting down again like he hadn’t given one of the most intense speeches she’d ever heard. “Some of your previous work stuck out to me, even while you were working in Ogichi Support. Why don’t you tell me, honestly, what it was like working for them?”             She had heard that a few times from her managers at Ogichi Support. They asked for her to be honest, and the few times she had been, she had always later regretted it. So, she had learned to hold her tongue and give them the answer they wanted.             She was tired of it. Plus, Chokuken seemed like the type of person who had a brutally cynical, but also hopeful view of the world. He seemed like a person who would always take the bitter truth over the sweet lie.             “Terrible,” she said bluntly. “Tiring. Unfulfilling. Soul-crushing. It made me hate the fact that I had become a support engineer, and it made me unable to be proud of anything I had even done remotely well, even if I did anything I could be proud of.”             “Yeah, that’s what everyone else has told me,” said Chokuken with a nod. “I honestly can’t figure out if they’re doing it on purpose, or if it’s just a happy little accident. But in any case, it’s always the same: ‘I’m always so tired’, ‘I don’t want to work’, ‘I hate it.’ Their support engineers can’t find the energy to put any real effort into the things their making, which keeps those heroes that I was talking about at the bottom.             “But you somehow still did, Powerhouse-Mado.”             She flinched slightly at the nickname she had heard murmured in the Ogichi offices and written in tabloid articles.             “They probably thought you were a gold-mine when they picked you up. You were renowned for your efficiency, exceeding all your coworker’s productivity rates by a mile and a half.” He gave a little shrug. “At least that’s what they told anyone who came asking. I believe it, don’t get me wrong, but you were so much more than that.” He leaned forward, picking up a photo from his laptop’s keyboard and sliding it in front of her. “Do you remember the Grappling Hero, Silver Feather?”             She nodded, staring at the picture. Silver Feather’s costume was as if someone had spray-painted Zorro silver and given him two grappling hooks attached to his hips. It looked like a photo from a magazine.             “I do,” she said as she picked up the photo. “I remember him attempting to flirt with me several times.” Chokuken laughed quietly. “I also remember designing these for him.” She laid two fingers on the large, rectangular pieces of metal at his hips. Heavy, spear-like points protruded from the front of them, with large black tubes trailing from above them to small grips in his hands. What looked like large batons extended form the top of them. “But I don’t recall his epithet being ‘the Grappling Hero.’” She looked up to see Chokuken nod.             “Yeah, he adopted that after leaving Ogichi Support,” he said as he gave her an unidentifiable look. “A month or two after getting these from you, in fact.”             They stared at each other for several seconds.             “Say what you mean, Chokuken-san,” she said bluntly. It looked like he grinned.             “Youwere the reason he jumped about two hundred places in the rankings,” he said. “His quirk was air-propulsion. Nothing major, he usually used it in combination with martial arts. And then you gave him these. Explain them to me.” Akira blinked and looked back down at the photo.             “They were inelegant,” she said immediately. “Two triggers on the grips in his hands to fire grappling hooks, with small holes at the back of them. He used his quirk to push air down the pipes and through the cords into the devices at his side. The air then shot out of the back to propel him along the path of the grappling hook.” She shook her head. “They were hard-to-use, required extra training to make effective, and were inefficient in the long- run.”             “Nope,” said Chokuken immediately, and she looked up sharply. “They were fucking works of art, Mado-san. Sure, they were obviously new, rough- drafts, and could have been refined a million different ways, and were, but they were amazing. If I remember correctly, that was your last piece of memorable support gear you made.” He tapped the photo. “The last one before Ogichi Support shut you down for actually trying to help a hero get better. Silver Feather’s now with us, being supported by the public offices. I’ve heard about twenty different support engineers comment about how ingenious those things were. Not only did they work, improving his mobility about a hundred- fold, but they were stylish.They were flashy.They grabbed him the attention he needed to soar through the rankings.”             She looked back down at the photo.             “That’s the main reason I decided to talk to you,” continued Chokuken, tapping the photo. “That is what you’re capable of. Ogichi Support squandered you, frankly.” He rubbed the back of his neck. “There’s also the fact that this will be a great opportunity for me to be childish and show Ogichi up. They fired you, tried to blacklist you, and did so wrongly. If I hire you, and you show the world the amazing things you can make, it’ll make them look like a bunch of idiots.”His tone turned joyful. “You can’t say that wouldn’t feel good, can you?”             She was silent for several seconds before looking up, her expression impassive.             “Thank you,” she said quietly. “However, I have a few conditions for me to be able to work here.” Chokuken paused before waving for her to go on. “My daughter is the most important thing to me. I want to be able to parent her… fully and completely. I don’t want to have to hire a nanny or a babysitter if I work here, but I’m not sure I have any other real choice.” She decided to throw away some of her bargaining power in the hopes that Chokuken was as morally sound as he seemed. “Frankly, this is my last chance to work in the support industry, and I would like to take your offer. However, if I think there’s other jobs out there that would better allow me to be a good mother to Akaiyoru than I would working here, then I’ll take those jobs.”             Chokuken was silent before slowly nodding, as if to himself.             “Alright,” he said with a tone of finality, “you’re hired. Tell me what you want out of this job, how you’d like to work, anything, and I’ll make it happen.”             “…are you sure?” she asked, blinking owlishly at him. He straightened in his chair.             “Yeah,” he said, “I am. You’re in a real shitty situation. I’m sorry about Arima Kishou, by the way.” She would have been a bit annoyed that he was only saying that then if not for the fact that he seemed truly apologetic. “He was a great hero. I can’t imagine how hard it’ll be for you to raise a kid on your own, so I’ll try to help. So, tell me what I can do.”             There were several seconds of silence as they stared at each other, and Akira’s thoughts ran frantic through her head.             “I’d like to be able to work from home almost exclusively,” she said immediately. That was the vital part. “At least until Akaiyoru starts school. I’d be happy to work here in person after that.” Chokuken nodded slowly, pulling his laptop to him.             “We could set you up in a sort of advisory position,” he said as he typed. “Kind of like a mentor. You’d basically be doing everything you’d do if you were working here, talking with heroes, designing gear, all that, but without doing any of the actual building. We have a few engineers that are ‘wet behind the ears’ as they say. They would do the building for you, you’d give them advice as a veteran. After you’re able to start coming in, then you’d naturally be doing the building yourself.” He paused, suddenly looking up at her. “Do you have personal computer of your own?”             “I have a laptop I bought two years ago,” she said. “There’s a few basic design programs on it.” Chokuken shook his head slightly in disgust.             “I’ll buy a proper computer for you out of my own pocket,” he said, and his tone left no room for argument. “Consider it an investment. Anything else?”             “How much would I be being paid?” she asked. “My living situation isn’t particularly conductive to raising a child. I’d prefer to move somewhere outside of the center of the city, in a much quieter neighborhood. Even a small apato would be preferable.”             “Understandable,” he said. “How much was Ogichi paying you, monthly?”             “Around ¥330,000 per month,” she said. “I’m sure I can find somewhere with much cheaper rent than what I’m paying now, so that should be more than enough.” He nodded a little absentmindedly.             “¥525,000 per month,” said Chokuken suddenly. “Approximately. That’s about how much private support engineers working for the top 50 heroes make. Sound good?”             She nodded silently. ===============================================================================               “B-bagh!”             “Yeah, I know what you mean,” said Takizawa as Akaiyoru played with his finger. “Your mom’s in a tough spot right now, but it’s not her fault. So, I hope you don’t blame her or nothing when you’re older.”             His head shot up when the door to Chokuken’s office opened, and Akira stepped out.             They stared at each other for several seconds, and Takizawa was acutely aware of how he probably looked stupid kneeling in front of Akaiyoru’s seat. “Is she awake?” asked Akira as she walked over. He nodded and hid his smile when Akaiyoru immediately began to babble and stretched out her arms to Akira when she saw her.             “How did it go?” he asked.             “Very well,” said Akira with a small smile as she picked up Akaiyoru. “I’m officially hired. I’ll be working completely from home, so I can take proper care of Akaiyoru.”             “Wow,” said Takizawa. “Sweet. How’d you manage that?”             “I didn’t really do anything,” she said simply. “Chokuken-san was just very understanding.” Takizawa gave a hesitant nod.             “As long as you’re happy, I guess,” he said tiredly. He’d trust her. They both turned around when they noticed the humming of Yochimara, who smiled at them.             “Hello, Mado-san, Takizawa-san,” he said with a short bow. “Congratulations as well, Mado-san.” Akira inclined her head with a small smile. “If you’ll follow me, I’ll escort you back down to your car.”             As Akira walked back through the halls, she felt more at ease. While the overly homey feel had been unsettling at first, she recognized it now as almost comforting. It was like walking through another family’s home for the first time. Alien, unfamiliar, but now welcoming.             She could breathe easy again. Chapter End Notes First off, the Undead Giant boss in Bloodborne, the first one, can eat my entire ass. Every inch of my rectum. As well as Gehrman. Persona 5's super cool except the part where they fuck up trying to handle sexual assault well. Go check out Extra Credits on YouTube, they're awesome. I need to finally %100 Nier:Automata. No-one in Dark Souls 3 has any honor: every invasion in the starting area at the starting level ends with two phantoms max-level pointing down at me as I fade away. I'm salty but I won't send them hateful messages, so you guys are just going to have to deal with me. Second off, this chapter's a little better in terms of pacing, I think. Not great, but better. Things kick up a little in the next chapter though, and basically every chapter after that until we get to U.A. will have some sort of time skip. I'll try and think of a clear way to portray that, or probably just leave it to you guys to figure out, but I'm pretty excited about these chapters. I've got a few cool ideas I think equally cool dudes like you guys'll like. But, that's then. See you guys next time as always, and thank you again for reading. Oh yeah, also, credit to Isayama Hajime, creator of Attack on Titan, for Silver Feather's support gear. God I'm unimaginative. ***** Appointment and First Days ***** Chapter Notes See the end of the chapter for notes             “The good news is that your daughter does indeed have a quirk,” said the doctor with a smile. She looked up in excitement while my mother leaned forward slightly (yayayayay!). “The bad news is that we don’t have any idea of what it is.” He flipped on the light on a board above his desk, and Akaiyoru stared at the two x-rays (cool) of a chest. Her chest. One looked like it was from the front, while the other was from the back. “This is a view of Akaiyoru’s chest area. Now, this may be hard to see, but if you look closely there are four organs along her spinal column, in her back.”             Akaiyoru leaned forward, squinting slightly. There were very faint, oblong shapes, a slightly brighter color than everything else. “Wow!” she gasped. “Mommy, look!”             “Wow,” her mother said as well, pulling her a little closer. “What do they do?”             “We’re…. not entirely sure,” said the doctor hesitantly. “They don’t seem particularly dense, though there does seem to be some concentration around their center. However, there were a few other things we observed.” He crossed his legs, raising the stick to point at Akaiyoru as he talked. “Her black hair color is completely different from yours, or even her father’s. This could indicate her quirk has some sort of affect on her melanin productions, but if that was the case, then it would have most likely affected her entire body to turn every part darker.             “Her eyes could be a slight mutation from your violet ones, Mado- san, but it’s hard to tell for sure. Another thing is that she is rather large.” Both Akira and Akaiyoru stared at him in shock. “I don’t mean fat, or tall. Kind of. It’s as if her entire body’s been scaled up one or two times. Her proportions, however, are similar to that of a very tall, slightly thin child. Even considering that, though, she is quite a bit heavier than she should be.” He turned fully to Akira. “Have you observed anything unusual about her at home?”             “She eats quite a lot,” said Akira as she rubbed her daughter’s shoulder. “Even as a baby, it seemed like she drank a lot more milk than was normal.” The doctor nodded slowly.             “Mutant-type, then,” he said. “Probably. My best guess would be that these organs are made to store or produce something. What that is, I don’t know. If, however, they contain a highly condensed material, it could explain her weight.” He glanced uncertainly at Akaiyoru. “She’ll be starting elementary school soon, correct?” Akira nodded, and he picked up his clipboard. “While most children manifest their quirks by age four, a large percentage continue to have them develop throughout their fifth and sixth years. I’m hesitant to do a more thorough examination at this time in case this is a similar case. It’s best to do those when quirks have fully manifested.” He looked at Akira. “Unless anything changes or there’s an incident, I would recommend bringing her to a licensed quirkologist around her seventh birthday, sixth at the earliest. That should give enough time for her quirk to manifest fully.”             “I will,” said Akira with a nod. “Thank you, doctor.”             “No problem,” he said easily. “However, I would advise not making any major changes to her diet or the proportions she eats. With uncertain quirks like these, it’s best to try and avoid anything that could cause them to react. Best to do that in a safe environment. Of course, that usually can’t be helped.” He laughed at the look on their faces. “Not to worry, not to worry! Most children’s quirks are weak this young! The most they can do is a little property damage, or a superficial injury. If that happens, just bring her back here and I’ll do a few more examinations.” ===============================================================================             “Is that Mado Akira?”             “Yeah, I’ve seen her a few times at the store.”             “And is that her kid? The one she said was the Reaper’s?”             “Yeah but look at her! Doesn’t look anything like him.”             “So, that bitch really did cheat on him.”             “God, it makes me want to switch Akemi to another school so she doesn’t have to look at them.”             “Me too. But Naoko’d be crushed to leave all his little friends behind.”             Akaiyoru squeezed her mother’s hand even tighter as they walked, staring hard at the ground. Her mother stopped walking, staring down at her. “Akaiyoru? Are you okay?” she asked.             When she didn’t answer, her mother crouched down and gently lifted her head. “Akaiyoru?” she prompted quietly with a concerned expression.             “…those ladies are saying bad things about you,” admitted Akaiyoru quietly (meanthey’remean). Her mother frowned, looking around, and Akaiyoru pointed to the two women on the opposite side of the courtyard. Akira’s eyes widened slightly.             “You can hear them?” she asked, and Akaiyoru looked up in confusion.             “You can’t?” she asked, and her mother shook her head.             “That’s amazing, though,” she said with a smile. “That must be part of your quirk. But about what they’re saying… do you mind telling me?” Akaiyoru returned her gaze to the ground (nononothey’remeanmean). “You don’t have to. It’s alright. But I want to know if I have to talk to them or not.”             “…they were talking about me,” said Akaiyoru in a whisper (don’theardon’thear), “and about how I don’t look like daddy… they called you a bad name and said you cheated on him.” Her eyes burned.             “Akaiyoru, look at me,” her mother said. She didn’t, and her mother cupped her cheek gently but didn’t force her head up. “Please.” After several long moments, Akaiyoru meet her eyes (mommy). “You’re Kishou’s daughter. You’re your father’s daughter. You are, and no-one can ever, everchange that. What they’re saying isn’t true. It just isn’t.” Her mother pulled her in for a hug, and Akaiyoru buried her face in her shoulder. “I’ll talk to them, okay? You just focus on having a good first day at school.”             “Okay, mommy,” Akaiyoru said, feeling much better. “I love you.”             “I love you, too,” said her mother, giving her one last squeeze. “I’ll see you this afternoon. Be good.”             “I will!” said Akaiyoru happily. “Bye mommy!”             Akira smiled softly as she watched her daughter bounce off to the school’s entrance. Slowly, she stood and dusted herself off before turning to the two women Akaiyoru had pointed at.             They stopped pretending not to see her once she started walking toward them. ===============================================================================             “U-um, excuse me?” said Akaiyoru, pulling a little on her teacher’s skirt. “Sensei?”             Her teacher looked down at her, and Akaiyoru wrinkled her nose as she smelled something suddenly come from her. “What is it, Akaiyoru?” said the teacher in a sugary-sweet voice, glancing back at where the children were gathering lunch.             “M-mommy and I went to a doctor before school started, a-and he said that I need to eat a lot because of my quirk,” said Akaiyoru shyly. “S-so, is it alright for me to get more food?” Her teacher’s gaze turned sharp.             “You need to come up with a better lie than that,” she said. Akaiyoru stepped back.             “B-but…” she started but fell silent at her teacher’s scowl.             “Everyone gets the same portions, Akaiyoru,” she said sternly. Before Akaiyoru could say anything else, her teacher stalked away to help with the food.             Her eyes burned as she clenched her shirt in her hands, but she just sniffled and walked back to her seat (whywhywhywhystupidstupid). ===============================================================================             “How was your first day at school?” her mother asked as they walked to the car. Akaiyoru shrugged, staring at the ground. “Did something happen?”             “…I told sensei that I need more food because of my quirk, but she said I was lying,” said Akaiyoru sadly. “I’m really hungry, mommy.” Her mother squeezed her hand.             “I’ll make you something when we get home,” she said kindly. “I’ll call your teacher and explain that you weren’t lying, and that you need more food, too. But, Akaiyoru?” Her daughter looked up at her questioning tone. “I need you to tell me if it happens again, alright? You shouldn’t have to go hungry at school.”             Akaiyoru nodded and smiled up at her mother (bestbestmommy’sthebest). ===============================================================================             “U-um, sensei?” asked Akaiyoru, and her teacher looked down at her. Her gaze turned sharp immediately this time. “M-my mommy called you y- yesterday, s-so-“             “Come with me out into the hall, Akaiyoru,” her teacher said, cutting her off. Akaiyoru startled as she grabbed her arm but kept silent as she was lead into the hall.             “S-sensei?” she questioned as her teacher slid the door shut and crouched down to her level.             “Akaiyoru, I can’t give you more food than everyone else,” her teacher said. Akaiyoru’s eyes widened and she opened her mouth only for her teacher to cover it. “Listen. It wouldn’t be fair to your classmates. If I gave you more, I would have to give everyone else more, too. But we don’t have enough for that. We don’t even have enough for youalone to get more.” Her tone turned softer. “Is that what you want? For someone to hungry so you can get more than your fair share?” Akaiyoru sniffled as she shook her head. “I thought not.             “You’re already causing a lot of trouble for me and your mommy without this nonsense about getting more food, Akaiyoru. You don’t want to cause even more trouble for us, do you? For your mommy?” Akaiyoru shook her head, staring at the ground as her eyes welled up with tears. “Good. Besides, if you eat too much you might get fat. And no-one would like that.” Her teacher stood and patted her on the head. “You can stay out here until you calm down, alright? I’ll set some food down at your desk, so you can go straight to eating. Don’t stay out here too long, though.”             (idon’twanttoidon’twanttomeanmeanshe’smeanbutmommyi’mcausingtroubleidon’twanttoi’msorry) She wiped her eyes roughly.  (idon’twanttobutmommysaidtotellherbutthat’dbetroublei’msorryicanjusteatabigdinnerit’llbefineiwon’tcausetroublei’msorry). Akaiyoru wiped her eyes and reentered the classroom, rushing over to her desk.             “You okay, Akaiyoru?” asked Hiro. Akaiyoru looked up in surprise to see the blonde boy leaning across the table at her with a concerned expression. “Your eyes are all red.” He paused for a moment before looking away. “N-not their color, I mean, they’re always red, but, y’know, around them.”             “I-I’m fine,” said Akaiyoru with a smile (nicenicehe’snice). “T- thank you for asking.”             “You don’t need to thank me,” said Hiro with a grin. “What are friends for? Oh, w-wait, I know what’ll make you feel even better! Look!” He held out his hand to her.             Akaiyoru watched in fascination as his skin started to glow white hot. After a few seconds, and a few grunts from him, the glow lifted off his hand and merged together into a sphere. After several seconds the glow turned orange, then red, then it was gone, and an eyeball the size of a golf ball landed in his palm.             It looked like it was made from steel. The way the iris and pupil were so finely engraved made it look almost real. The whole of it was covered in a very fine pattern that looked like it was part of the steel itself.             “Woah!” said Akaiyoru, her eyes practically sparkling (coolcoolcool!).             “Y-you see that pattern all over it?” panted Hiro, and she nodded. “M-me and my mom looked it up, a-and it looks like what you get when you etch crucible steel! It’s my quirk, and it lets me create any metal I want in any shape I want! A-as long as I can imagine it, at least, and have some metal already.”             “Cool!” said Akaiyoru. “What does ‘etch’ and ‘crucible’ mean?” Hiro frowned.             “Um… I think it means you put, like, steel into chemicals, and it forms a pattern based on how the steel was made? And crucible is a type of steel. It has carbon in it, which is what our pencil lead is made from.” Akaiyoru nodded rapidly (prettyprettypretty). “It’s yours!” Her head snapped up.             “W-what?” she blurted. He grinned at her.             “It’s yours!” exclaimed Hiro, grabbing her hand and placing the eye in it. “I can make as many of them as I want, but this one’s yours!”             “…thank you,” said Akaiyoru, tightly clasping the eyeball. “Your quirks super cool. Are you going to be a support hero? You could make a lot of cool stuff with your quirk.”             “No, I’m gonna’ be a blacksmith!” proclaimed Hiro. Akaiyoru looked at him in confusion (oldoldblackmisthsareoldarethereanymore?). “I’m gonna’ make a bunch of super cool swords and stuff for movies, and collectors, and other people! There’s still a whole lotta’ blacksmiths around!”             “Oh,” said Akaiyoru, nodding (coolsmartsmartswordsaresocool), “that’s awesome!”             “I know, right?!” said Hiro, beaming at her.             “You two!” called the teacher, and they both flinched. “You better get to eating!”             “Yes, sensei!” called out both Hiro and Akaiyoru, but they smiled at each other when their teacher looked away. ===============================================================================             “Mommy, mommy, look!” exclaimed Akaiyoru, running up to her mother. She shoved the eyeball out in front of her, and her mother’s look of bemusement turned into one of awe.             “That’s beautiful!” she exclaimed, leaning in to rub her thumb over the pupil.             “Hiro made it for me with his quirk!” chirped her daughter. “He said he’s going to be a blacksmith and make swords for movies and stuff!” Her mother raised her eyebrows slightly.             “You don’t usually hear that,” she said, but smiled as she held onto her daughter’s hand. “But that’s good for him. That’s a very cool goal to have.”             “Yeah, super cool!” said her daughter happily as she stared at the eye.             She ignored the pangs of hunger that shot through her (owowdinneri’lleatlotsdon’tmaketrouble). She focused, instead, on the fact that Hiro said he was her friend, and that she could now see him every day.             Even with her (mean) teacher, she liked school. A lot. Chapter End Notes This was originally going to be part of another chapter, but the pacing would have felt too rushed had I left them together. So, you guys get a quick chapter. The next one's going to be super fun, I'm super excited about it. As always, thank you for reading and see you guys next time. Edit: I DON'T KNOW WHAT THE FUCK HAPPENED WITH THAT ONE SUPER LONG LINE OF THOUGHTS. IT WOULDN'T WORK. IT WOULDN'T FORMAT. I DON'T KNOW WHY. WHY CAN'T I JUST DO INDENTS IN THE RICH TEXT. WHY ARE THEY ALL SPACES. FIX YOUR SHIT ARCHIVE OF OUR OWN. I'M LODGING A FORMAL COMPLAINT. Edit: Fixed it. :) ***** Incident ***** Chapter Notes Your computer isn't broken, by the way. See the end of the chapter for more notes             “So, blacksmiths forge out the other end of the blade, and that makes the tang,” said Hiro, pointing at the picture in the book both he and Akaiyoru were bent over. “That goes through the guard, into the hilt, and that helps make sure the sword doesn’t break.”             “You know a lot about this, Hiro,” said Akaiyoru, but he shook his head.             “Not enough,” he said, his expression turning slightly morose. “There’s barely any books about this stuff. It’s just hero stuff after hero stuff after support stuff.” He brightened up, though. “But that’s fine, ‘cause there’s a ton of videos online and stuff.” Akaiyoru nodded (heroesheroesalwaysheroesbutthey’recool).             “How does your quirk work, anyway?” she asked. Hiro’s face scrunched up.             “I can eat metal!” he exclaimed before pausing. “Kind of. If it’s small enough for me to swallow, then I can. And then it stays in me until I use my quirk, and I bring it out onto my hands to make stuff.             “It’s weird because it doesn’t matter what metal I eat, I can make whatever I want,” he said. He just shrugged, however. “As long as it’s metal, I guess it’s all the same?”             “Maybe,” said Akaiyoru with a small frown. “What kind of metal do you usually eat?”             “I don’t know,” said Hiro. “Me and my mom usually just buy some scrap from an art store near our house, and I look up different metals to make.” She nodded seriously.             “Maybe you could ask them what kind of metal they use?” she suggested. “If they use a bunch of kinds, then maybe they all just mix up inside you, and you just use the ones you need?”             “Oh, that’d make a lot of sense!” gasped Hiro. His face brightened even more, though. “Wait, wait! I don’t think I’ve ever eaten gold, so if I try to make some, we can find out if you’re right! Here, here, look!” Akaiyoru leaned in to watch as he stuck his hand out and scrunched up his face.             After several seconds of grunting and shaking, though, he let out a resigned sigh and let his hand drop. Akaiyoru pouted sadly. “So, either you can’t make whatever metal you want, or you can and just have to eat the metal used to make it first.”             “Yeah…” said Hiro, looking slightly disappointed (sorrysorryi’msorry).“But!” he exclaimed, suddenly standing up. “At least I know that! And I just realized that if I’m going to be using my quirk to be a blacksmith, I need to know it inside and out!” He grinned down at her. “So, thanks, Akaiyoru!”             She was quiet for several seconds before nodding with a small smile.             “You’re welcome!”             She felt sick. She felt really, really sick. “You need to stay home, Akaiyoru,” her mother said, but only gently tried to push her back down onto the couch. “You’re sick.”             “’m fine,” murmured Akaiyoru before she shook her head, standing up. “I-I’ll be fine, mommy. T-tomorrow’s Sunday, so I can get better then. I don’t want to miss something in school.” Her mother frowned worriedly (i’msorrymommy).“A-and Hiro’ll be worried if I don’t show up.”            There were several seconds of uncomfortable silence, and Akaiyoru cowed slightly under her mother’s piercing gaze. Eventually her mother nodded reluctantly.             “Alright,” she said firmly, “but on one condition: if you start to feel worse, you’ll ask your teacher to call me and I’ll come pick you up.” Akaiyoru didn’t say anything and didn’t look at her mother. “Promise me, Akaiyoru. Please.”             Her daughter slowly nodded. “I promise, mommy,” she said, and her mother pulled her into a hug.             “Thank you,” she said. “I love you, sweetie.”             “I love you, too, mommy. You’re the best.” After a moment she squealed and giggled, wriggling away from her mother as she felt her tickling her ribs.             “Really?” her mother asked, chasing her with her hands. “Oh, really?Because from where I’m standing you’re the best!” After she relented, she pulled her daughter back in for another hug. “I’m proud of you, honey. I’m glad you’re enjoying school so much.”             Her daughter just nodded against her shoulder, feeling her heart sink to her stomach (liei’mlyingi’msorrymommysorry).             “…thanks, mommy,” was all she said. It seemed to be enough for her mother, though, who let her go get ready for school. ===============================================================================               Akaiyoru could barely register the sound of her teacher talking, let alone understand what she was saying. She felt clammy, feverish, and she couldn’t breathe.             Her stomach hurt, too (mommy),but she also felt like she was about to throw up (help).             Everything smelled even more powerful than usual (people)and everything was even louder (tooloudbreathingstopbreathing).Her mouth was dry, but she couldn’t move to ask for a drink of water. She was frozen (helppeople).             Her entire body ached, and she felt like her head was going to split open  (helppeoplemommypeoplehurtfoodi’mhungrymommypeoplehelpmeican’tfoodhungryi’mhungryfoodiwantfoodowowowowowowowowowowowowowowowowowowowowowowowowowowow-             “Akaiyoru?” asked Hiro, and she finally looked up when he touched her shoulder. His eyes widened immediately, and he turned away. His hand didn’t leave her shoulder, though. “Sensei! Sensei, Akaiy-“ ************************************************************************************************************************ *********************************************************************************************************************************************************************************************************************************** ************************************************************************************************************************************************************************************************************************************* **************************************************************************************************************************************************************************************************************************************************************************************** ************************************************************************************************************************************************************************************************************************************************************************************** ***************************************************************************************************************************************************************************************** ********************************************************************************************************************************************************************** ****************************************************************************************************************************************************************************************************************************************************************************************************** **************************************************************************************************************************************************************************************************** *************************************************************************************************************************************************************************************************************************************************************************************************************************************************************************************            “It’s okay, baby, sweetie, it’s okay, Akaiyoru, it’s okay,” her mother whispered, rocking her slightly. “It’s okay, I’m here, mommy’s here, you’re okay, everything’s okay.”             Akaiyoru swallowed whatever was in her mouth as she lifted her head from her mother’s shoulder. Her eyes widened at the room everything was red the walls they were broken policemen they were pointing guns at her why why she was scared was that blood blood mommy’s shoulder she was bleeding why why why and then the pain hit her and everything went dark. ===============================================================================               Everything felt fuzzy and dreamlike. It felt hard to breathe, but not as bad as before. And different. It felt different. Like something on the outside, not on the inside.             She didn’t feel bad, though. Nothing hurt, and she felt warm, and soft, and sleepy. But she could hear beeping, and something heavy was pulling at her arm.             As she began slipping further and further away from sleep, she began to remember more. She had been in class, and she had been sick (iliedi’msorry), and then… her mother had been there, holding her.             Akaiyoru opened her eyes slowly, looking around the hospital room (whywhatwherehow). The lamp on her beside table washed out the pale moonlight filtering in the window, and instead bathed the room in a warm glow.             She looked over to her right to see her mother asleep in a chair, resting her head on the bed. She held Akaiyoru’s hand between hers loosely. Uncle Seidou was sleeping across two chairs in front of her bed, and his snoring was easily the loudest thing in the room.             “...mo…m-mommy,” whispered Akaiyoru, and she winced at the way her voice ground through her throat (owowowwhymommyi’mscaredwhy).             Her mother only stirred for several seconds before shooting up, looking around wildly. When her eyes landed on her daughter, she leaned forward to cup her face. “Akaiyoru!” she exclaimed, and Uncle Seidou snorted awake before falling off the chairs. “How do you feel? Does anything hurt?”             “N-no,” said Akaiyoru, leaning into her mother’s touch as her eyes filled with tears and she began to shake. “W-what happened? W-why are w-we in the ho-hospital?” Her mother stayed silent and traded a glance with Uncle Seidou who’s expression was wooden (talktalki’msorrytalk).             “You’ve been asleep for a few days, kiddo,” he said, pulling up a chair to her bed. Her mother nodded as her expression evened out too quickly.             “Your… your quirk activated while you were in class,” she said, and Akaiyoru’s eyes widened.             “W-what?” she asked, her mind screeching to a halt. Her mother lowered her eyes, and Uncle Seidou looked away. Her eyes caught on the stark white bandages peaking out from under her mother’s collar, and she felt her heart jump into her throat. “M-Mommy? W-what happened? Mommy!” Her breathe hitched, and her mother moved to very gingerly sit beside her on the bed. She held her daughter close, and Akaiyoru shook with hiccups and sobs.             “Shshshh,” her mother hushed, petting her hair. “It’s okay, Akaiyoru, it’s okay. It wasn’t your fault, it’s okay.” Akaiyoru just shook her head, and she couldn’t breathe, she couldn’t she was trying but she couldn’t and she was dying she was dying “You killed Hiro, and eleven of your other classmates, along with your teacher.”             She froze as her mother’s voice washed over her.             “There are five others in critical condition and two others died a few hours after arriving at the hospital. You also critically wounded all three of the heroes that tried to stop you.” Akaiyoru didn’t move, didn’t think, but registered her mother’s words. “I had to force them to let me try to calm you down and help you.” Her mother squeezed her closer, and Akaiyoru could hear her breathing hitch. “I’m sorry, Akaiyoru. This is my fault, I never should have let you go to school. I-I was scared of making you upset or unhappy or hurting you. But Akaiyoru, this wasn’t, isn’t,your fault. It isn’t.” Her mother’s voice was thick with tears. “You couldn’t control your quirk. I saw you, I heard you, you were in so much pain, and you were so scared. I’m sorry, I’m sorry, I’m sorry…”            And then everything clicked together violently in Akaiyoru’s head (hirohirohirodeaddeaddeadelevenonefivetwothreefourteenfourteenikilledfifteenpeoplei’msorryi’msorrynotmyfaultnotmyfaultnotmyfaultit’snotit’snotit’snoti’msorryi’msorryicouldn’tcontroliticouldn’tcouldn’tcan’tican’tmyfaultit’smyfautliwasn’tstrongenoughi’msorryi’msorryi’msorry),and she broke down again into tears.             But her mother was there, and so was Uncle Seidou, so she just let herself cry. Everything else could come after. ===============================================================================               Her spinal cord and parts of her ribcage and hip had fractured from her quirk activating, and most of her back had been ripped open. There were multiple burst blood vessels in and around her eyes. Her fingernails were gone, and the pads of her fingers had been torn up.             According to the doctor, she would have to stay upwards of two months in the hospital to heal, and after that she would have to go through physical therapy. Even after all that, he said that it was likely she would only have limited use of her legs and would have to spend most of her life on crutches.             “Is something wrong, doctor?” her mother asked the doctor after three weeks. He had suddenly asked to talk with both of them, and Akaiyoru wished that she could shuffle closer to her mother (whatnow).            “Well, we’ve noticed something after x-raying Akaiyoru, as well as when changing her bandages,” he said, pulling out several papers from a folder.             “We already know about the organs in her back,” her mother said with a small amount of frustration, and Akaiyoru looked down (myfault).Her mother had been with her as much as she possibly could, even at the cost of sleep (myfault).It was easy to see it was wearing her thin (mfault).The doctor shook his head and set two x-rays on the bed. They showed her back from the shoulders to her hips.             “No, this isn’t about those,” he said. “We noticed something about a week ago, after another x-ray. This one.” He pointed to the one in the middle. “On the left we have the x-ray we took when Akaiyoru was first admitted here. You can clearly see the numerous fractures along her spine, her ribs, and her hipbone. In the second, you can see that they’ve started to heal.             “However, the progress is slightly further along than we had predicted. This one is one we took yesterday.” He set the x-ray down, and Akaiyoru and her mother frowned slightly, both leaning forward slightly. “The fractures are still there, but they’re minimal. Not only that, but they look to be much more intact than they should be.” He met their eyes when they looked back up. “It’s much the same with the wounds on her back, as well as her fingers.”             “Is that part of her quirk?” her mother asked immediately. “Super regeneration?” The doctor frowned.             “Not… exactly,” he said uncertainly. “I’m not entirely sure, actually. You would be much better off having her examined by a quirkologist, honestly. But from what we can tell, it’s not regeneration. Not entirely. It’s like she’s healing exponentially.” Akaiyoru frowned.             “Exponentially?” she echoed, and her mother smiled down at her.             “It means something’s growing more and more rapidly,” she explained. “In this case, if I’m correct, it means that one day you might heal a certain amount, and the next day heal that amount, plus more.” Akaiyoru nodded seriously.             “Exactly,” the doctor said happily. “In fact, by our calculations she should be out of here before this next week is out. She shouldn’t even need physical therapy and should have full use of her legs.” Both of them felt a sort of relieved happiness, though it was buried by the constant sadness and guilt that seemed to pervade her hospital room (myfaultmyfaultmyfaulti’msorry). “However, she will still have severe scarring on her back. It shouldn’t impact her daily life at all, but I thought you should know.”             “Thank you, doctor,” her mother said, and he nodded. He gathered his things and left quickly, leaving them alone.             The silence that filled the room after was almost cloying.             “It wasn’t your fault, Akaiyoru,” her mother said suddenly, and her daughter started slightly. “You don’t need to feel guilty about getting better.”             Akaiyoru didn’t say anything, and her mother climbed onto the bed next to her. “You don’t have to start feeling better right now,” her mother said quietly. “I know it doesn’t work like that. But I’ll be here for you, whenever you need me. Okay?”             Akaiyoru nodded silently (trouble).Her mother didn’t say anything more, and she snuck a peak up at her face.             Her stomach roiled with guilt at the sadness, disappointment, and worry she saw in her eyes (i’msorryi’msorryi’msorrydon’tbesaddont’).             “I love you, mommy,” was what she said. She felt her mother let out a breath and leaned into the hug she offered.             “I love you, too, sweetie,” her mother said, and Akaiyoru felt the same relief she heard in her voice. Not a lot, but enough that she could forget her fears and doubts for a minute. Chapter End Notes And again down here for good measure: your computer isn't broken, by the way. It's supposed to be like that. This chapter was really weird and hard to write. Thanks for reading. See you guys next time. Please drop_by_the_archive_and_comment to let the author know if you enjoyed their work!