Immediate Consequences.
The first thing Izuku notices when he first starts to blink to wakefulness is that the ceiling is spinning, the fluorescent lights drilling into his barely open eyes, causing him to squeeze them shut as a headache pulses behind them.
“W-Where am-”
“In the UA infirmary.” Came the tired old voice of Recovery Girl, making the young man turn his head in her direction just a bit too quickly, pain traveling through it again, “Careful now, I suggest you don’t move your head too much,” She got off her chair to stand by his bed side, putting a hand to his forehead to get him to lay on his back, a part of him belatedly realized he was still in his costume, “Just stay in bed for a bit, after using One For All to speed up your brain’s function the last thing you need to do is jostle it around.”
“R-right sorry about-wait how did you-?”
“You are far from the first idiot with One For All that I had to take care of.” The boy opened his mouth to voice some sort of complaint, before he sheepishly closed his mouth in surrender when the aged nurse hero gave him a look, “Also, Nighteye-san gave me an overall update on what happened…well, most of what happened.” She raised her brow at him, “You really never think before you do something stupid do you?”
He lifted his head slowly to answer that, before he realized something, now fully awake and his eyes widening. His stomach sank as he looked around the room in a mild panic, ignoring the mild ache in his skull as he did, the room starting to spin as he failed to spot her, before looking back at Recovery Girl, “Eri-chan! We rescued a little girl where is-!”
“Calm down!” She hissed, making calming motion with one hand while the other put a finger to his mouth to hush him, “You’ll wake the poor dear up!” She walked to the other side of his bed, pulling away a curtain that obscured the bed right next to him, which contained the sleeping form of Eri, completely dead to the world as soft snores escaped her tiny frame hidden beneath her two extra blankets.
Izuku let out a massive breath of relief, laying back down while keeping his eyes firmly on the little girl, “Is she okay?”
Chiyo looked between them for a moment before sighing, “She was supposed to head off to a more secure medical facility so they could check her condition before bringing her back here,” She rubbed her forehead with a tired smile, “But she refused to part with you, and whenever anyone tried she kicked and screamed and just held on tighter,” She narrowed her eyes at him, “You gave her a real scare with that stunt you pulled, or so I’ve heard.”
Izuku bit his tongue, his gaze still focused on the sleeping form of Eri, eyes shifting in regret, “Eri-chan…”
“…as soon as she got in the armored car along with you, poor girl just…collapsed on top of you.” The pro heroine walked over to her bedside, gently threading her gloved hands through the girl’s unkempt hair, “She was exhausted, both mentally and physically, must have been already running on fumes when you found her.”
Izuku continued to look in her direction for a moment, before casting his gaze to Chiyo, “How long have we been asleep?”
“A few hours,” She said quietly, patting the sleeping girl’s head one more time before turning to the boy, “I’ve done a few tests in the mean time, checking her pulse, her throat and ears, surface level to get an idea of her condition.”
Izuku sat up a bit, eyes filling with intrigue, Oh really? How is she then?”
Recovery girl looked back at Eri for a moment before letting out a breath, “Her pulse is a bit weak, but regular, she has a few sign of very mild malnutrition, and considering how pale she is, I wouldn’t be surprised if she’s lacking in vitamin D…” She put a hand to her chin, “I would need a blood sample to know for sure, as well as find out if she’s in need of any vaccines…” Her face twisted a bit in disgust, “..And only God knows what I’ll find when I unwrap those bandages…”
As she continued to mutter to herself Izuku looked back to Eri, his voice shaking a bit with worry, “You mean you…haven’t taken a blood sample yet?”
She stopped her muttering to look up at him, before clearing her throat, “I had a feeling she might want to voice her opinion getting a needle in her arm.”
The word again was a pendulum in the air, swinging back and forth over their heads.
“…Do you need to?” Izuku whispered, face twisted slightly thinking about how Eri might react to a needle, his head going nowhere pleasant, “I really don’t think Eri-chan will-”
“Nighteye told me about your little talk with Overhaul,” She said, making Izuku shut his mouth, “As well as how the man apparently reacted to what you said regarding her,” She locked gazes with the young man, “The sooner we find out what he’s been…” She shivered lightly, “Doing to her, the sooner we might find out why he’s been doing it.” Her tone turned a bit grave, “And the deeper the hole we can throw him into.”
Izuku gulped, before he focused his gaze on the older woman, a sudden protective instinct overriding what ever side of him agreed with her, “I still don’t think we need to put her through anymore-”
“DEKU-KUN!”
“MIDORIYA-KUN!”
The two of them were knocked out of their intense discussion when the infirmary was visited by two very worried teenagers. One Tenya Iida, who’s glasses were askew and hair was slightly messy, as if he had just gotten back in uniform, and Ochako Uraraka, who was still in her hero costume, her hair disheveled and face dirty, seemingly only just recently returning from her internship.
The both of their faces were filled with worry as they rushed over to his bed side, checking him over as he spluttered in shock of their sudden appearance, the two of them looked at him in a mild panic.
“We heard you returned from your mission unconscious Deku-kun!”
“We rushed over as soon as we could! I even ran in the halls to get here!”
“Is it true that you faced a villain Deku!? I heard something about a hero office getting surrounded by Yakuza!”
“The entire class is worried about you Midoriya-kun! Is everything alright!?”
“Would you two calm down!” Recovery girl shouted at them, shaking her cane at them, causing them both to cover their mouths in shock, “There’s more then one patient here you know! And she’s slee-!”
“Umm…” Came the week, still half asleep, whisper of a little girl from the next bed over, who was looking at the four of them with half lidded eyes, not quite knowing where she was as she slowly shook off her drowsy stupor, “Where am…I…?”
Izuku pushed his way gently passed his two friends, who were struck dumb by the sudden appearance of a child, to stand by Eri’s bedside, “Eri-chan, hey, did you sleep okay?”
She looked his way, still rubbing one of her eyes, nodding as she yawned, “Y-yeah mister…I think I…” She looked around, taking in her surroundings for the first time, the sheer white walls and sterile smell causing a pit to form in her gut almost on instinct, she clutched at her blankets as she shrunk away from the blinding lights above her, panic sinking into her head and drowning her, “W-w-where a-am I?”
“Eri-chan?”
“Oh no oh nonono I’m back nono please no I was so close-” She went on as if she didn’t hear him, all she could hear was the drilling hum of the
fluorescent lights filling her head, she was back in the examination room and any second he was going to come through the door and take back to that machine and then she-
“Eri-chan!” Izuku grabbed her by the shoulders shaking her just a bit to make her focus on him, “Eri-chan look at me,” Slowly her gaze righted it self, and she gazed at him, her breath easing out slightly as she felt the gentle grip he had on her, “You’re safe Eri-chan, you’re in UA!” He smiled softly at her, her nervous shaking petering out ever so slowly, “That’s my school, and the safest place you could even be in.”
Eri took a deep breath, her vision focused solely on the young hero-in-training in front of her, “S-so…I-he won’t f-find me here?”
Izuku hardened his face, “I promise, he will never find you here.”
Eri’s upper lip shook for a moment before she leaned forward to rest her forehead on his chest, Izuku rubbing her back to comfort her.
“Uh…excuse me Deku-kun,” Came Ochako’s confused statement, peering over Izuku’s shoulder to look at the child, who buried herself deeper in his chest to hid, her horn still visible, “But…who is this?”
Iida looked over Izuku’s other shoulder to look at Eri himself, adjusting his glasses to get a good as look as he could manage, “Is she related to you in anyway? Or to one of the teachers? Otherwise I see no reason for a child this young to be here.”
Izuku looked back in forth between his friends as he felt Eri crawl deeper into his chest to hide, her horn starting to to poke him as well, before he readjusted his grip on her, “It’s okay Eri-chan, they’re my friends,” He patted her head while he looked at them, “Iida-kun, Uraraka-san, this is Eri-chan, and I met her on that mission you heard about,” He looked back to the girl, rubbing her back in soothing circles, “I…rescued her from a villain.”
“Ah I see!” Iida exclaimed, moving his arms about in praise, Ochako grinning along with him, “Most courageous Midoriya-kun! Was she kidnapped?”
“…I don’t know,” Izuku admitted quietly, making his two friends friends stop short in confusion, “All I knew was that I had to get her out of there.”
Tenya and Ochako looked at each other for a moment before smiling and sighing, not the least bit surprised. Ochako came down to eye level with Eri, calling out as gently as she could, “Hey, Eri-chan?” Slowly, every so slowly, the young girl looked in her direction, and was rewarded with a gentle, warm smile, “My name’s Ochako Uraraka, and it is very nice to meet you.” Her smile turned apologetic, “I’m sorry that I scared you, I won’t do that again, okay?”
Eri looked at her cautiously, Ochako’s smile soothing her panic in a way she couldn’t quite explain, a light blush came to her cheeks as she nodded, “O-okay.”
Ochako’s smile grew a little, “Good! And this is Iida-kun,” She motioned with her head to the speedster, who was standing with his back and straight and looking like he didn’t know exactly where to put himself, Ochako then whispered to Eri, “He’s kinda shy, so give him a minute.”
Eri nodded uncertainly before looking at Tenya, who stopped fidgeting with his tie to look at Eri apologetically, “I apologize for my behavior as well Eri-kun, I should have known better then to act the way I did,” He bowed sharply at the hip, “I hope we can get along with each other!”
Eri looked at him blankly for a moment, before her shoulders started shaking a bit, and a soft giggle escaped her, “O-Okay.”
Izuku smiled in relief before he remembered something, “Oh right!” He put a little distance between him and Eri, just enough to be able to look eye to eye, “My name’s Izuku Midoriya,” He flashed a brilliant smile, “It’s nice to meet you Eri-chan.”
Eri was mesmerized, her eyes glinting as she nodded, “N-nice to meet you too, Izuku-s-.” She covered her mouth at her slip, looking away “I-I mean…Midoriya-san.”
“Izuku is fine Eri-chan.” She looked up to see him give her an honest stare, demanding her attention, “You can call me what ever you want, okay?”
“…okay, Izuku-san.”
Someone clearing her throat dissipated the moment, as all four of the children looked back at Recovery girl, who walked over to them with her signature grandmotherly smile, “If we’re all introducing ourselves, I’m Recovery Girl, the resident school nurse for UA,” She looked up at Eri, who peered back at her curiously, “I’m the one responsible for keeping everyone in this school happy and healthy, which as of a few hours ago, includes you Eri-chan!”
Eri continued to look at her quietly, letting her words sink in slowly, before she nodded.
Chiyo nodded back, “And to do that, I need to run a few tests.”
Eri’s blood ran cold, her pale face somehow losing color, “T-t-tests?”
“Nothing major!” The nurse quickly reassured, with limited success, “Just enough to get a general idea of how healthy you are already so I can work from there,” She walked over to a drawer, and pulled out a syringe, Eri’s frame freezing at the sight of it, which didn’t go unnoticed by Izuku.
“Eri-chan?”
She quickly buried her head again in his chest, muttering helplessly, “No no no please no.” Over and over, causing him to tighten his grip on her. his mouth setting in a thin line.
“It also means I need to take a small blood-” She turned around to see Midoriya and Eri nowhere to be found, Uraraka and Iida standing in the same place a bit sheepishly, “…sample.”
Ochako twiddled her thumbs for a moment, “Oh dear-I’ll go get him back!” After that she quickly left the room, ostensibly to look for Midoriya.
“I shall accompany you Uraraka-kun!” Iida exclaimed, going for the door before stopping just short of leaving to turn to Recovery Girl, “We will be sure to return him as soon as we are able!”
Chiyo stood there for a few moments before sighing, “Of course you will.” She put the needle back in it’s drawer, and went to sit on her chair, going through her notes, specifically about Eri. Her worries about the girl were evident in her writing despite the medical terms she used, what ever she went through has put her body under a serious toll.
It was a good thing Midoriya grabbed her when he did, another month or two of…whatever the hell Chisaki was putting the poor girl through and she would have…
“No no Chiyo,” She muttered to herself, writing some more notes about the girl’s mental situation as she saw it, writing down “needle phobia and general fear of medical procedure” among other things, while trying not to think to hard on what she might see under those wrappings.
“…At least she’s somewhere safe…” She muttered again, “Midoriya will take care of her…Toshinori taught him how to do that properly at least…”
Sir Nighteye sat in the silence of the school office borrowed, rubbing his temples furiously. That darker future lingered in his mind, much like the proceedings after All Might faced All for One six years ago. The hollow gaze after placing the mask on her face he could almost hear broken laughter… He was brought out of his gaze as the door opened to show a large round man wearing an orange hoodie.
“Thanks fer leading us over, Toogata -oof!” Fat Gum stated cheerily as he squeezed through, hopping on one foot before stopping. “Phew, close one. U.A.’s changed a bit since my day. Ha!” He sauntered over to a seat to the side, followed by Amajiki Tamaki huddled in his cape and a younger man in red – Kirishima Eijirou, if he recalled Mirio’s words.
“It hasn’t been that long, Toyomitsu-senpai.” spoke a cool voice that strode into the room, a woman with a dragon-like dress – Ryuukyuu – strode in behind with Hadou Nejire bouncing behind her alongside an amphibious girl in green, Asui Tsuyu.
“Heh! Tatsuma-chan, with how Ishiyama works and Nedzu-kouchou, we’d be in a maze fer his enjoyment!” Fat Gum laughed.
Eijirou leaned over to Tamaki. “You think the principal would really do that?”
“Kouchou-sama is always looking over us, judging those for everything we do…” Tamaki started huddling in on himself as he began to whimper. Eijirou flinched and started to panic.
“Ryuukyuu,” Nighteye brought attention on him and away from his own thoughts. “I was under the impression that you took two interns this time. Where is the other?”
The answer was given by Tsuyu, “Ochako-chan decided to go see Midoriya-chan after she heard he was sent to the infirmary.”
“Wha? What’d Midoriya get caught up in now?” Eijirou asked.
“That’s precisely why we’re here, young Kirishima~” the door opened again revealing Principal Nedzu flanked by Mirio, Aizawa, and Ectoplasm.
“My apologies, Sir, I couldn’t find Gran Torino on the grounds.” Mirio said, deflated. Nighteye pinched the bridge of his nose. He knew the older man was up to something. He always was.
“Regardless, let’s begin.”
Night reached over with one hand to grab a few folders, and while he opened it he motioned to Mirio to sit down while he faced the rest of the room, “Fatgum-san, Ryukyu-san, as you know earlier today I requested assistance from your offices to help bolster the defenses near my main building.”
Fatgum nodded, “Yeah, took me by surprise you did, I was gonna bounce on over myself when you called me again to come here an hour ago,” He reached into one of his pockets for a piece of candy, quickly chewing it and sitting down before continuing, “I’m happy to help my fellow heroes, but sidekicks don’t come cheap y’know.”
“Same for me,” Ryukyu added, crossing her arms as she found a seat of her own, Asui and Nejire joining her shortly after, “I had to expedite a mission to send over some of my own to help you,” She looked at him with a raised brow, tone slightly suspicious, “Which apparently was a sign for paparazzi to start hounding at my front door,” She looked at Fatgum, “Toyomitsu-senpai, have you seen the news yet?”
Futgum looked in her direction is mild surprise, “Huh? Uh, nope actually, couldn’t find the time.”
Ryukyu nodded, “Ah well, then no wonder you’re a bit behind,” She looked back at Nighteye, looking both tired and worried, “Apparently Sir Nighteye has somehow found himself on the wrong end of a Yakuza group’s short temper.”
“He wha’?”
Nighteye pinched the bridge of this nose again, “Yes, yes Ryukyu-san, I was getting to that,” He took a deep breath before putting one of his folders in front of him, opening it to a picture of a man in a plague doctor mask, “This is Chisaki Kai, alias “Overhaul”, reputed leader of a Yakuza group known as “The Eight Precepts of Death”, currently under investigation by my office for various charges, including drug trafficking, and conspiracy to commit assault.”
Fatgum’s eyes widened, “Oh yeah, that’s the one you were tellin’ me about a day ago! Asking for help to catch him and some such.”
“Me as well Toyomistsu-senpai.”
“No foollin’? Huh, you must be serious about catching him hu-” He paused as the implications sank in, “Wait, were the thugs around yer place working for this punk?”
Nighteye nodded, “That’s right Fatgum-san.”
The rotund hero looked at the picture with apprehension, Amajiki and Kirishima looking at him nervously as he drummed his fingers on the table before reaching in his pocket for another candy to chew on, “What did ya’ do to piss him off?”
Nighteye was quiet for a time, before he took a breath and reached for the second folder, “Earlier in the day, I went around the city to gather information on Chisaki along with one of my sidekicks, Bubble girl, along with my interns Midoriya and Toogata.”
He opened the folder, flipping a couple pages before he found what he wanted, “Bubble girl and I scouted out a reported base of operation on one side of the city, Toogata and Midoriya patrolled the other,” He took out a single file out of the folder, and handed it to Mirio, who was sitting next to, so he could hand it out to the rest of the table, “And while they were doing so…they encountered…Eri.”
The file that was passed around the table was a photo of Eri, her face away from the shot as she looked worriedly at something else out of frame, the pro hero Fatgum took a quick glance at the photo before giving it to his interns, “Huh, she looks so young,” Kirishima muttered, passing the picture to Tsuyu who looked at it for a moment before mumbling ‘cute’ under her breath, “Can’t be more then like what…six? Maybe seven?”
“Ohh!” Nejire exclaimed when she spotted the photo in Asui’s hands and snatched it, “She’s so cute! And she has a little horn and silver hair! She’s like a unicorn! Is she one!? But what about those bandages? Did she come from a hospital when did she-”
“Aright Nejire-chan that’s enough,” Ryukyu placated her excitable intern with a pat on the head before taking the picture to look for herself, “Hum, so this is it Sir Nighteye?” She stretched her arm to hand it over to Nedzu at the far end of the table, giving Nighteye a piercing cold look, “Is this the child you reportedly kidnapped?”
“You WHAT!?” Fatgum bolted up from his seat, slamming his hands on the table as he glared at the thin limbed hero, “That better be a damned joke Nighteye! Or I’m putting you through a wall!”
Kirishima bolted up as well, his arm curling into a fist before hardening to a slab of stone, “Yeah! That crap’s ain’t manly at all!”
Amajiki stood up and placed himself in front of the two overzealous heroes, trying to nervously calm them down, “E-easy you t-two! There has to be some explanation! O-o-or-!”
Mirio stood up next, his eyes blazing, “Nighteye-san would never do something that awful! You’re not even listening to his side of-!”
“That’s enough Toogata,” Nighteye quieted, placing a calm palm on Mirio’s shoulder to get him to sit back down, “I’m sure Ryukyu-san is only repeating and acting on what she knows, I doubt she thinks that little of me,” He looked up at the heroine, matching her ice cold stab with an iron wall, “Isn’t that right Ryukyu-san?”
The dragonic heroine flexed her fingers, her nails growing by a single inch each, “If I didn’t have the utmost faith in my comrades I would have quit ages ago, but when dealing with a child this young, nothing can be treated as obvious,” One of her pupils sharpened and narrowed, her voice a floating glacier, “So if you indeed have an explanation for this I would like to hear it.”
The two of them kept their gazes locked for a moment before Nighteye continued, “When the two of them found Eri, she was coming out of an alleyway, barefoot, arms and legs wrapped in those bandages you see in the photo, and running so fervently she didn’t notice them until she ran into Izuku’s legs.”
The two pro heroes relaxed their stances slightly, Fatgum sitting back down with his fists clenched, and Ryukyu’s eyes losing a bit of that sharp edge, but her fingers still razor pointed and curled on the surface of the table.
“And right at her heels,” He continued, “Came out Chisaki himself.” The two heroes lost a bit more of their hostility, what was lost being replaced with confusion, “Toogata can give you a more detailed report of this encounter.”
Mirio was caught a bit off guard, looking to his mentor who simply nodded, motioning him to do as he said, “W-well, he was calm, way too calm considering how freaked out Eri-chan was,” He cleared his throat and straightened his back when he felt the full focus of the room on him, “He claimed to be her father, and asked us to simply give Eri-chan back to him,” The third year student started scratching his head, “…But Midoriya wasn’t convinced.”
His teacher and fellow students didn’t seem all that surprised, Aizawa looking like he was bracing himself for the headache of the century.
“He kept pressing Overhaul for why she was so scared of him,” Mirio went on, rubbing his forehead, “Even though I was trying to get him to let it go, say we could get her back later in the worst case, he wouldn’t have any of it,” He let out a breath, “Eventually, Chisaki seemed about ready to tell us what was going on with her, telling us to get into the alley with him,” Mirio paused for a moment, “…which in hindsight might not have been the best idea,” He shook his head, “But anyway, instead of doing that…Midoriya-”
“Acted without thinking?” Was the unanimous guess of both Tsuyu and Eijirou, their faces lighting up with a mild smile, the both of them knowing their classmate well enough to see where this was going.
A grumble from Aizawa made them flinch, “You two don’t have to say it like its a good thing,” The two lowered their heads and mumbled ‘yes sensei sorry sensei’ while the teacher rubbed the bridge of his nose, letting out a breath of pure suffering, “I need to beat that bad habit out of him before it gets him killed…”
Mirio looked between the three of them in mild concern before he cleared his throat, “R-right, he made a small distraction with his quirk, and then grabbed Eri-chan, getting out of there as fast as he could,” He lowered his head, “I couldn’t very well stop him at that point, so I just lead him in the direction of Nighteye’s office and well,” He looked at Ryukyu, “You probably saw the rest on the news.”
“I was skeptic of Midoriya’s decision myself,” Nighteye spoke up again, making Mrio sigh in relief as the focus shifted away from him, “So I decided to take a look into the girl’s future…and what I saw was…” His mouth twitched, some strange pressure building in the back of his nose as he thought back to his vision, “Very convincing of the fact that Midoriya grabbing that girl was the right, if rash, move.”
Ryukyu was not so easily convinced, “And did you see that convinced you that doing something like snatching a child in broad daylight was the right move?”
“Red Riot,” Fatgum looked down at his youngest intern, “You know this Midoriya kid right? Is he the kinda guy to do something this boneheaded without good reason?”
“No way!” Was Kirishima’s instinctual response, “If Midoriya did that, he must’ve thought it was the right move! He’s too manly to just grab a child for no reason!”
“Indeed,” Nighteye’s voice rose over the red haired boy’s argument, “While the act itself was rash…not doing so would have probably been worse,” He let out a breath, slowly as to steady his heart rate, “I saw a fissure in the girl’s future, a split down the middle causing two ways in how it could go,” He pushed his glasses up, “In one, she is content, surrounded by the shadows of people who care for her and that she cares for.”
Ryukyu relaxed her fingers slightly, “And in the other?”
“Atop a pile of corpses, stacked as high as a house,” He muttered gravely, making everyone in the room freeze in place, “In one hand a dagger, and in the other Chisaki’s bloodied mask,” He took in a shaky breath, “As you can imagine, seeing that convinced me that what Midoriya did was worth standing behind,” He looked at Ryukyu, eyes tired and honest, “Does that convince you of my intentions towards the child, Ryukyu-san?”
Ryukyu looked at the student and pro hero for a moment before letting out a breath, her nails going back to normal before she rested her chin on her palm, “To be honest, that statement you gave to the press felt a bit off to me, sounded to me like you were holding something back,” She scratched her chin a bit, “Though I suppose I shouldn’t have reacted that strongly…”
“You and me both Tatsuma-chan!” Fatgum laughed a bit, trying to dissipate the tense air, “We should have been a bit more calm, but with a child this young you shouldn’t be too hard on yourself!” He laughed a little and smiled until his former junior returned it, and then looked back to Nighteye, “Though I’m guessing this isn’t where this mess ends does it?”
He nodded, “Correct Fatgum-san, shortly after I returned to my office to discuss how to move forward from there, my office received a call,” He paused to adjust his glasses, turning his head slightly to address the whole table, “From Chisaki, asking to talk to Midoriya.”
Kirishima and Tsuyu snapped to attention, their faces filling with worry, meanwhile Aizawa’s stare turn hard as stone, and Nedzu threaded his fingers together a bit more tightly, before speaking up for the first time, voice passively cheerful, “And what did he have to say to one of my students, Nighteye-kun?”
Nighteye adjusted his glasses one more time, “I am unsure, due to the abruptness of the call, and how short it ended up being, I do not have any recording of what Chisaki said, but I do know of Midoriya’s side of the conversation at least,” He cleared his throat, “He spent the whole conversation casting doubt on Chisaki’s motive to take Eri back, poking holes in whatever argument the man had until he arrived at a conclusion that apparently cut close enough to home that Overhaul said something…drastic.”
Fatgum shared a confused look with Ryukyu before going back to Nighteye, “Drastic how exactly?”
“Drastic enough that Midoriya’s response was to crush the phone in his grip,” Nighteye stopped to let that piece of info sink in properly, “So if I had to make a guess, I’d say Chisaki threatened him in some way, though again with no recording I can not know for sure.”
“Not to mention,” Tsuyu spoke up, catching everyone’s attention, “Without that recording, there’s no proof that Chisaki threatened Midoriya-chan at all, and it would be the word of the worried father of a child against that of a kidnapper.” She noticed everyone looking at her oddly, “…would be my guess, kero.”
Nighteye was quiet for a moment, “…Right, you are correct Asui-san, and that puts us in a bad position, legally speaking,” He cleared his throat, “Fortunately though, Midoriya’s conversation with Chisaki did result in something that could help us,” He reached for Chisaki’s folder before taking out some files, and reaching over to give them to Fatgum and Ryukyu, “Before Chisaki made Midoriya crush the phone, the boy came to the conclusion that whatever Chisaki is up to, it has something to do with Eri’s quirk, which gives us a lead to go looking for information.”
“Which is why Tatsuma-chan an’ I are here.” Fatgum said, taking the file with a smirk, happy they finally got to the point.
“Indeed,” Nighteye nodded, “We need to gather as much information as we can on him, so I requested the assistance of your offices to expand the range of our search, in hopes that we can prove that he was no suitable guardian to the girl in any rate, thus clearing Midoriya and my office of any legal tangle.”
“One more thing that’s still bothering me,” Ryukyu spoke up as she looked at her own file, a list of addresses of several local businesses reputed to have ties with Chisaki, “..is he her father? All we have is his word on the matter, if we can prove she isn’t then maybe-?”
“We do not know,” Nighteye shook his head, “I had bubble girl do some research into the matter, but there is no information regarding the girl at all,” He took out another folder from under the table and flipped through it, “No birth certificates of any kind, no missing persons report matching her description in any way from the last four years…nothing.”
Fatgum scratched his head, “So…we can’t prove he is her father-”
“-But we also can’t prove he isn’t.” Ryukyu rubbed her forehead, the situation starting to weigh her down slightly, “This is a headache…”
“That’s putting it mildly,” Nighteye deadpanned, closing the folder and setting it down next to him, “Currently the only reliable source of information about that is the girl herself,” He sighed, “And I figure the only one who can get it out of her in any reasonable amount of time is Midoriya…”
“That reminds me!” Nedzu exclaimed of a sudden, getting up on the table with a flourish, “I myself have seen your statement earlier today, and one part of it has been bothering my ever since,” He started walking on the table from his end all the way to the other where Nighteye sat, the pro hero keeping his gaze firmly on the speaking animal, “In that statement, you said that the girl was under the custody of your office and UA academy,” He stopped just short of being under the lanky man’s nose, his face still stuck in his signature smile but his voice just on the edge of something dangerous, “Regarding the second part of that statement, Nighteye-kun,” His voice tipped over just a bit, just enough to touch the far end of annoyed, and yet it seemed enough to make everyone sitting at the table just a bit nervous, “What exactly did you mean by that?”
Nighteye tapped the tips of his fingers together, his voice shaking just a bit, “Ah yes,” He cleared his throat,” I was…about to get to that actually…”
Rex's place 