Mind Games - Chapter 36

“So how does this all work?” Yagi Toshinori asked, cocking his head at the screens. “I've never been on this side of things before.”

Eraserhead sighed from the corner of the room he was leaning against.

Nezu simply chuckled, waving his paw at the banks of monitors before them. “Oh, it's quite simple. All of the tests are being recorded from multiple angles and will be reviewed in detail later. Our on-site evaluation right now is mostly a matter of the students' safety. As teachers and seasoned heroes, my staff and I must be available to respond to any potential accidents or disruptions to the testing environment.”

Toshi nodded, humming under his breath. “I see, so...”

“Just pick a monitor and stare at it for a while,” Aizawa interjected with a grunt. “If you see anyone that you think stands out for any reason, make a note about it. Good or bad.”

Nezu nodded, his beady eyes skimming over the relatively unremarkable crowd they'd gotten this year. Oh, there were some diamonds in the rough, but there was also quite a bit of rough in that equation. “Particularly if you think there's anyone that you'd like to take under your wing personally, unless your plans for a successor have changed with recent events?”

All Might took a breath, his eyes glancing over at Eraserhead, who gave an unimpressed shrug and kept watching a girl who... if Toshinori had to guess, her quirk revolved around the manipulation of centripetal force given how she was twirling like a ballet dancer.

“I'd hoped we would see her among the potential entrants,” Toshi murmured, one hand on his chin.

Nezu hummed, accepting the answer for what it was. “I'll assume you mean the vigilante, Perspicacious Mauve Avenger.”

Aizawa made an aggravated sound behind them at the name. “I'm not sure I should be thrilled or terrified at the prospect that she thinks she owes me one.”

Nezu tittered, his cup of tea clattering slightly as his own laughter made his form quiver, the saucer and cup moving along with it. “Ah... I have to admit it's been quite some time since someone so brazenly manipulated me. And to such incredible ends!”

Eraserhead suppressed the twitch that was building above his eye.

“I do hope she didn't put you too far out of your way with her scheme,” All Might murmured, his eyes glancing over a rabbit heteromorph. Likely one of Mirko's extended family, though precisely because of that they never tended to make it in the hero business. It was a sad truth of their world that a single event was a novelty, recurring ones were duplicates and knock-offs.

Mirko had inspired her family, it was true, but they were doomed to linger in her shadow unless they pulled up roots and moved to America or Europe. Although, one had bucked the trend and gone 'Down Under,' now operating under the name 'Wallaby.' He wondered if this girl was going to join the 'Rabbit Gang' here in Japan or end up overseas?

“Oh, think nothing of it... though I do wonder if she knew that I'd have backup waiting in the wings for Eraserhead. It makes me wonder if I've grown too predictable for someone like this vigilante to judge that I wouldn't send them to reinforce you instead of Aizawa.” Nezu cocked his head, his gaze on a boy with stark white skin shooting scales at the robots.

“It would be a predictable call to make for anyone,” Eraserhead stated, stepping up and flexing his limbs tiredly. “No one would see any way to justify sending backup to help the Number One while leaving an underground hero like myself to fend for themselves.”

Nezu nodded slightly, “But the fact that they were then positioned perfectly to help detain and arrest the Shie Hassaikai members that All Might had defeated? It leads one to wonder.”

“How's the public taking the news, anyway? There were too many cameras at the scene to keep things quiet,” Aizawa noted, looking at Toshinori.

The blond giant's hand reflexively moved to his side before he stilled it and forced it into a more natural pose. “Nezu's recommendation that we make an announcement that it was a unique quirk interactions with Kai Chisaki's quirk seems to have led many to believe the change in appearance is only skin deep.”

“It was, indeed, very lucky that Shota was on-hand and in communication with me when this incident went down,” Nezu chimed in again, nearly vibrating in his seat. “Why, if I hadn't been available for consultation, someone might have done something silly! Like tell the truth! Haha! Very lucky indeed!”

Toshinori winced and ducked his head, taking the criticism on the chin. He'd often been told he was too honest for his own good – his secret former-injury and the true nature of his quirk aside – though he found being 'too honest' to be a better trait than the opposite.

Or... he had, at least.

Until recently.

“What's that one?” Toshinori asked, pointing at one of the monitors off to the side. “Is that Thirteen?”

“She drew the short straw this year,” Eraserhead confirmed with a nod. “Those are the recommendation students. The brats.”

“Now, now Shota...” Nezu chastised lightly, a smirk on his face. “They aren't all quite that bad.”

Aizawa grunted in response, narrowing his gaze as he watched a puffed-up boy who hadn't even bothered to take off his blazer complete the obstacle course in mediocre time... the strut around like he'd just earned a medal. “Too much ego, too few skills. They act like they're already licensed heroes just because they got a little training on the side from someone who thought they might have potential.”

All Might frowned. “I wasn't that bad, was I?”

Nezu chittered with laughter. “Hardly, Yagi-san, hardly. While we do have a number of recommended students who exhibit... hmm, 'attitudes in need of correction,' let's say... there is a reason why we have so few recommendation slots. Losing out in that practical exam gives them a chance to take the general admission practical and push themselves harder as a result.”

“Ah,” Toshinori nodded. “So, do you hold a makeup exam, or...”

“We,” Nezu stated pointedly, “actually hold three entrance exams every year. The recommended students have their exam on the first day, allowing any students who do not earn a place using that method to schedule a slot in either of the next two general exams.”

“Doing it this way also allows us to see what those with recommendations are like when they're mingling with the rest of the potential student body,” Aizawa added. “Although their test is nominally only an obstacle course, we've pushed several of the highest-performers into the general test simply as a wake up call based on how they treat the people around them.”

“Speaking of which, Aizawa... Bootstrap is up next,” Nezu stated, nodding at the monitor.

“Bootstrap?” All Might perked up. “Ah, Endeavor's young ward?”

“Oh, you know him? I'm somewhat surprised,” Nezu commented, turning to look at the blond hero. “You don't usually take notice of up and comers in the industry until they're active.”

“I, uh... caught one of his HeroTube videos,” All Might stated, then awkwardly cleared his throat. “He seems like a bright young man with his head on straight. Smart, insightful, and passionate about doing good in society, even if I don't entirely agree with how pragmatic his approach is.”

Or maybe he just didn't like the fact that someone so young was so pragmatic about things? There were moments where the boy's true belief in heroism shone through, though, and those were especially gratifying.

In any event, there was no need to mention the fact that he'd initially caught wind of Bootstrap and Buster's channel through their viral karaoke rendition of Hakuna Matata.

It had been one of the few times he'd been thankful for so thoroughly poisoning his HeroTube algorithm selections by watching ancient superhero media from before the dawn of quirks. Especially because little Eri had looked so in awe and amazed the first time he'd put on one of the old Disney movies for her after he'd accidentally left Bootstrap's rendition of Eye to Eye playing in the background on his laptop while working.

All Might leaned forward and watched as the young hero-intern took off like a shot from the starting line. “Is he wearing a hero uniform? Is that allowed?”

Nezu nodded. “All personnel on UA grounds have a right to wear their costumes or uniforms as long as they maintain an active hero license.”

Aizawa picked up the explanation when All Might's expression turned slightly incredulous. “Non-Combat, Rear-Echelon License.”

Surprise and realization flared in All Might's blue eyes as he watched the purple-haired boy on the screen take a climbing wall with a stunning parkour maneuver he'd rarely seen the like of. Then, at the peak of the wall, he popped out a piece of support gear – a collapsible longbow – and plugged an arrow into the shoulder of a villain-bot holding a hostage.

“Impressive for an Office Hero,” All Might murmured.

“Indeed,” Nezu nodded, his eyes narrowing on the image. “Endeavor has been particularly effusive with his praise regarding Bootstrap as well as his other intern, Toga Himiko. She acquired a recommendation from Hot Ice and will be taking the test soon as well.”

There was a sudden ringing and Nezu blinked before reaching into a pocket and unfolding a small flip-phone. “Hello? Oh, Hot Ice! May I ask for the reason... I see, yes, he's undergoing the test right now.... oh my! How very clever! I'll see that it's noted in his file!”

Nezu turned to Aizawa and Yagi with a wide grin as he hung up the phone, both with curious expressions. “It appears that, prior to his exercise, young Bootstrap called in and notified his agency that he was going to be engaging in combat with one or more villains here at UA.”

Eraserhead blinked, then leaned back with a thoughtful look. “It's part of the standard instruction to all students ahead of the tests to treat the exam as if it were a real crisis.”

All Might began to chuckle, feeling himself grin as he watched the boy in question quickly diagnose a 'broken leg' on a civilian stand-in dummy, then pick it up and deliver it behind an overturned car to a robotic mannequin dressed as a police officer.

“Dibs.”

Nezu and Toshinori both turned to the underground hero.

“Dibs. He's in my class this year,” Shota stated, crossing his arms as if daring either to contradict him.

“You'll be using one of your slots, then, I take it?” Nezu asked thoughtfully.

Aizawa grunted, nodding. “The first thing he did when told to treat the exam as a real crisis was to call for backup. It's an impressive feat of logical reasoning.”

“Slots?” Toshinori asked, looking between the principal and teacher.

“I extend a significant amount of autonomy to my staff in deciding whether or not to admit or advance students,” the anomalous ursine-rodent replied. “As such, although the official number of students in each class is twenty, there are an additional five slots open for the teacher in question to fill with their own picks. Often, these slots lie fallow given that our tests already select for the best and brightest, but occasionally someone falls through the cracks and deserves a chance to prove themselves.”

“Usually after the Sports Festival,” Aizawa added with a shrug. “I got picked up like that my first year. Robots aren't the best opponents to show off my quirk against, but the experience of being shuffled into the general education block taught me valuable lessons.”

All Might nodded slowly. “I see. That does explain why my own class was twenty-three students, I suppose. I'd always wondered about that.”

For a long moment, no one spoke as the young hero completed the last leg of the obstacle course, a fifty-foot gap that the students were supposed to cross. The boy barely paused, shooting a dozen arrows in rapid succession into the concrete wall on one side of the gap. Immediately after, he used them like stepping stones, quickly leaping from one to the other before they could snap under his weight.

Toshinori rubbed at his chin again.

The boy is intelligent, insightful, clever, uses his resources well, and has a good heart buried under the cynicism and pragmatism he likes to front with.

“Granted, that's far from our maximum operating load as far as students go,” Nezu waved the top hero off. “If I feel its warranted, I have the authority and resources to hire another home room teacher and recruit specialists to expand each track by two classes.”

“Why don't you?” The blond hero asked, though it was Aizawa who answered.

“Because the hero system is already saturated with lazy half-wits that barely do their job,” Eraserhead stated, his eyes briefly glowing red. “It's better to let the diploma-mills churn out half-rate heroes than lower UA's standards. Isamu Academy is proof enough what happens when you go down that route.”

All Might grimaced slightly. Isamu was a generally good school. Not on the 'Big Three' level – that being UA, Shiketsu, and Ketsubutsu – but certainly on Seiai or Seijin's tier.

Or, it had been until a few years ago. A few of their graduates had formed an agency after graduation, something that was common enough, but they'd been rather thoroughly implicated in a smuggling ring. Given that every ranking member had been a graduate of Isamu Academy, the school's reputation had taken a serious hit that they were still struggling to recover from.

Perhaps Young Bootstrap's perspective is more realistic than I'd like to admit?

“What'd Thirteen give him?” Aizawa asked, interrupting All Might's spiraling thoughts.

“Ninety-three out of a hundred,” Nezu replied, smiling widely. “The highest for the recommendation exam this year so far. Slight point deduction for the potentially-serious injury on the villain robot with the hostage and another for some property damage he did to a few of the mock vehicles, but very good overall.”

“I want him in my class,” Aizawa repeated. “I've seen licensed pros that couldn't make a run that clean. Half the kids this year don't even seem to understand they're supposed to save the hostage stand-ins.”

All Might hummed in thoughtful agreement. Although he didn't have much experience in evaluating young heroes, this crop of potential seemed... rather lacking, if he was brutally honest. Their quirks were strong enough, to be sure, but their motivation was lackluster, their performance rather mediocre, and none of them appeared to want to excel.

Was... was this the best that Japan had to offer?

He caught his reflection against one of the monitors standing off to the side, the faint silhouette of his new youthful appearance catching him off-guard again. It had only been a few days, after all, and he suspected it would keep happening until the man in the mirror was no longer a stranger, no longer someone he never thought he'd see again.

Nineteen. That's what Recovery Girl said when she compared my records. I even lost the fillings I'd had in the interim. I really did have my clock rolled back. Little Eri's quirk is a marvel.

Now if she would only stop bursting into tears when he told her that.

But recovery would be a long road, he knew.

His fingers found his chin again, searching for the almost-invisible scar he'd earned in a battle against the villain Kevlar while in America and finding only smooth skin. He'd never expected to miss that old badge of honor so much.

Would he ever receive another one like it?

How long would it take? Either for that or another serious injury?

Another one like that man had given him?

'A Phone Call is Here! A Phone Call is Here!'

Toshinori winced at the scathing glare from Eraserhead and the amused chittering of Nezu, his hand immediately going to his phone and holding it up to his ear. “Yes? This is All Might.”

The top hero felt his eyes widen at the reply. “He's awake, really? And he's offering information on-”

All Might felt his gut clench and his blood turn to ice water in his veins.

“Take everything down!” Toshinori barked into the phone, an edge of command entering his voice. “I'll be there – wait, what?!”

Another few seconds of frantic talking as the situation on the other side got worse and worse.

Toshinori took a deep breath. “I see. I'll be there as soon as I can.”

Looking at his phone as he pulled it away from his ear, he noted the hairline cracks in the case and screen, both of which were specialty materials David produced on I-Island that were made to withstand extreme stress.

Yet another mark against my control.

“Something is clearly wrong,” Nezu stated, a plain prompt for information.

For a moment, Toshinori glanced at Aizawa and debated disclosing what had happened, but pushed past the momentary doubt. The other man had shut down Eri's quirk, kept Overhaul pinned after he'd slammed him through a meter of concrete into unconsciousness, and likely saved his own life by halting the backwards flow of time which had undone his injury. Circumstance had already forced his hand in disclosing that much to the disheveled teacher, and Nezu had assured him the man could handle the secret of his search for a successor as well.

“Kunikida Naburo woke up from the coma Chisaki put him into,” All Might stated, succumbing to the urge to rub at his chin again. “We think that, given his own regressed age, Chisaki or one of his men attempted to use a sample of Eri's quirk factor to heal him and return him to power over the Shie Hassaikai.”

“Logical reasoning,” Eraserhead noted.

“But when he woke up and realized what had happened, he started offering information,” All Might continued with a scowl. “To cut a deal.”

The underground hero scoffed, crossing his arms and narrowing his eyes. “Normally, I'd say there was nothing valuable enough to even begin to touch the kind of sentence he's looking at, but your face says differently.”

Nezu hummed, his eyes sharpening. “I'd very much like to be wrong about the guess I'm about to make, Toshinori. Having known you as long as I have, and given your history, there are few enough things that could make you react like that.”

All Might swallowed, forcing the bile in his throat back down. “He said he had information on the man he'd acquired Chisaki Kai from, as a child. A man who could give and take quirks.”

Aizawa's eyes widened. “I've heard those rumors before, in criminal communities, but the way you're talking...”

“I'll brief you in full later, Shota,” Nezu nodded, “but suffice to say, those rumors and legends refer to a very real figure. One we'd thought – hoped – was long dead by now.”

“It gets worse,” All Might announced, his eyes glancing over the young heroes-to-be... the children that he'd failed by not ensuring the death of that monster. “After he began to provide information to the officer on-site, he cried out and slipped under the table, disappearing. They're searching the facility now, but...”

“It's unlikely to turn up any kind of clues,” Nezu nodded, frowning. “We'll need to order Overhaul moved to a secret location. Perhaps even Tartarus itself while he awaits trial.”

“I'll go assist in the search,” Toshinori stated, turning towards the door.

“Not that I would presume to give orders to the number one hero,” Nezu called out, stopping the blond in his tracks, “but given the unlikely chance you'll find anything substantial, let along be of use in the investigation itself... I think staying here and helping to evaluate these prospective students would be a better use of your time.”

Toshinori opened his mouth to object, but Nezu continued.

“Especially given the state of your quirk,” the principal pointed out ruthlessly.

The blond hero grimaced, looking back down at the phone in his hand again.

There were more cracks in it.

“I'll... need a moment, in that case,” All Might forced himself to admit, heading towards the door and stepping out in the hallway, away from the darkened cave that was the monitor room.

He is alive. Alive! All these years...

He drew his fist back, slammed it forward, and only barely stopped himself in time. Even then, though, there was still a spiderweb of cracks from the pressure alone, slicing through the reinforced concrete of the school's structure.

“Just because we have Cementoss on staff doesn't mean you should feel free to damage school property,” Eraserhead's voice came from behind him, the sound of a door closing punctuating it.

“I-I'm sorry,” All Might stated, his shoulders slumping as he reached up to rub at his eyes. “This... what we were talking about... it's very personal, for me.”

He felt Shota's gaze on him for a moment longer, then heard the man walking closer before seeing him lean against the wall nearby. “I get that. Nezu told me enough about your quirk after the incident that I can fill in the blanks now that I know about this.”

Toshinori jerked his head in a terse nod.

For a long moment, neither of them spoke.

“You have a son, don't you?” Toshinori finally asked, forcing his mind onto another subject. Later, when he had time to brood over the other subject, he'd return to it. When he had privacy.

“I do,” Shota nodded, reaching into a pocket and producing a packet of liquid food ration, the kind Toshinori had seen military men pass around a few times. “What of it?”

Toshinori forced himself to breathe. “Any words of advice for a prospective parent?”

The underground hero paused at that, mid-suck on his pouch, and gave the top hero a searching look while slowly swallowing. “Yeah. Make sure you're not taking care of her for some stupid reason, like you think you owe it to her. Or that you need to protect her. That girl will need a parent. Someone who loves her. Not a bodyguard.”

All Might grimaced, his thoughts having been going down exactly that path. Eri had returned his youth to him. With the revelation that he was almost certainly still alive, the girl who'd given him his life back needed to be protected at all costs. Not just for her own safety and happiness, but also because of the dire consequences that could result from her quirk falling into the wrong hands.

But Aizawa Shota was right. That would be doing the girl a disservice, to protect her out of a sense of obligation instead of genuine love and affection.

“Anything else?” Toshinori asked, mulling the answer over.

“Hmm... don't bother with any of those Parenting for Dummies books,” he replied after a moment's thought. “They're all a crock of shit.”

All Might opened his mouth to ask how the other man knew that, then decided it would probably be both rude and too personal to do so.

“There's no right way to raise a kid,” Aizawa continued, sighing. “There's only what works and doesn't work for you. And you'll know what doesn't work pretty damn quick, trust me. They'll make sure of it.”

Despite himself, Toshinori let out a snort of amusement.

“I'm going back to watch more teenagers make fools of themselves,” Aizawa stated, taking a step off the wall and nodding at All Might. “You coming?”

Despite the urge to find a particularly deserving villain to take his frustrations out on, Toshinori nodded and followed Eraserhead back into the monitor room.

~~~

Alright, last chapter of Mind Games for the month. And a good chapter to tie several plot threads up and leave space for some new ones.

Next Mind Games will return to Hitoshi as he and Himiko recover from the exam and settle into their lives more fully now that everything is a little less hectic.

Or so they'd like to believe.

Look forward to a few last surprises life has to throw at Hitoshi before UA.

Thank you for your support!