11Chapter 2 - Tomura
Tomura hated shopping malls.
He hated how bright they were, hated the large crowds, and above all else, he loathed all the hero merchandise that seemed to be sold in every other store. Even with his promise Sensei and Kurogiri not to cause any problems for the Inko, Tomura was tempted to use his quirk and destroy everything.
"Mukkun look. We're almost there."
Well … maybe not everything.
Looking at Izuka as she pulled his hand with determination, Tomura sighed and allowed himself to be dragged through the crowd by the cheerful girl. Behind them, Tomura could hear Inko snickering but couldn't understand what the woman found so funny.
As the trio continued their way through the mall until Izuka stopped suddenly, causing Tomura to walk right into her. Usually, a sudden stop like this meant one or both of them would end up sprawled out on the floor. The decay user however had experience with Izuka's sudden halts, so he was able to keep both himself and her standing.
Turning around, Izuka looked at her friend. "Close your eyes."
"What?"
"It's a surprise," the girl smiled, lifting the Tomura's sleeves to cover his eyes so that he couldn't peek through his fingers.
Rolling his eyes, Tomura did as he was told. He allowed himself to be led blindly the rest of the way into whatever store Izuka had been plotting to bring him to from the beginning.
"Ok, now stay right here," Tomura heard her say before Izuka's footsteps ran off somewhere.
The villain to be tried to lower his sleeves when he felt Inko's hands stop him. "I wouldn't do that, Izuchan has been planning this all month, and I would hate to spoil the surprise."
Frowning, Tomura looked backwards to where he assumed Inko was. "I feel stupid like this."
Inko laughed at how cute the boy was, even now two years later. Tomura still tried to act aloof, like he was just looking after Izuka because she was younger than him. However, the adults knew that Tomura secretly relished the love and attention the Izuka gave him. Izuka was on a shortlist of people that Tomura would let hug him, sometimes still flinching when Inko embraced him even though he knew she would never hurt him.
Still Inko should count herself grateful. Tomura had certainly gotten more used to people touching him then when Inko first met him.
Not to mention that Izuka could sit there for hours listening to Tomura talk about his teacher. In Tomura's eyes, the man was a hero and clung to him as Izuka clung to All Might. Though Inko shouldn't be surprised by what she had been told about Tomura's past.
Sensei explained to Inko over the phone that Tomura had come from a very abusive household. He had also apologized for not reaching out sooner about his ward's injuries; fear of disease and infection blinded him. Inko accepted the apology and explained to the man what he should do to make sure the wounds didn't become infected before viciously scolding him for being so careless with the child.
Thankfully, Sensei hadn't gotten mad or defensive like many parents she had seen in the past do. In fact, he had listened and thanked Inko promising to do better, even giving her daily updates so she wouldn't worry about Tomura or Kurogiri.
Now two years later, Tomura was a healthy and happy young man who, aside from the neck scratching that he did when stressed, loved to visit the small Midoriya family. Every few weeks, the pair would warp into the apartment, and Tomura would tell them stories about Sensei. Subjects could range from the latest machine they built from scratch or how the current laws and politics around the world might impact Tomura in the future.
However, if Inko got even the slightest hint that there was anything wrong, she had sworn to herself that Tomura would end up in her custody whether he wanted it or not.
Seeing Izuka running towards them present in hand, Inko took out her phone and started to record the scene already planning on making copies for Sensei and her brother.
"Mukkun," Izuka panted slightly out of breath as she held something out in front of her. "Happy Birthday."
Tomura taking the birthday wish as a sign that he could lower his hands and found himself face to face with a pair of bright red shoes.
"Mine?"
"Uh, huh," Izuka nodded, noticing the confusion on Mukkun's face putting the shoes on the ground in front of her friend before lifting up one of her own feet. "Now, we match."
Tomura looked at Izuka's own bright red shoes and smiled touched by the fact that she had remembered him saying he wanted a pair of his own on his last visit.
Unfortunately for the trio, the heartwarming scene was interrupted by an angry voice yelling suddenly.
"Thief! Somebody, call a hero!"
Heads snapping at the loud voice, the trio saw one of the shopkeepers holding a student by the arm as he shouted over and over for a hero. It was hard to tell how old the boy was from his height and had a noticeable mutant quirk from his shark-like face.
"Give me your bag!" the shopkeeper roared again, trying to grab the schoolbag.
Whatever the boy said in response as he pulled the bag away had the shop keeper going from a bright red to crimson instantly and steam to literally come out of his ears.
"Look at yourself, you think something like you can be anything but a villain!"
Not wanting to be part of the growing crowd of spectators, Inko steered the children towards the register so that Izuka could buy Tomura his new shoes. As they were paying, the cashier gave them an apologetic smile informing the three that particular shopkeeper thought everyone who had a mutation quirk was a villain in the making.
Inko frowned at this but held her tongue wanting nothing more than to march right over there and give the man a piece of her mind. But she had the children with her, and they came first no matter what. The three walked left the store, Inko gladly noticed that a hero had indeed arrived and was trying to defuse the situation.
Tomura also watched, unlike Inko though he noticed the hero was giving the crowd a show instead of doing his job. The hero yelled for everyone to hear that there were better ways for the boy to get attention then stealing all well the shopkeeper looked on smugly. Before Inko dragged him and Izuka away was the hero grabbing the student's bag and cruelly dumping it onto the ground as the crowd cheered him on cruelly.
Later that night, after Izuka had gone to bed, Tomura sat on the couch dozing and trying to get the look the student had given at the mall out of his mind. The decay user didn't care about the boy, whether he was a thief or not didn't matter to Tomura. What bothered him was the crowd of people who gathered to watch and applaud his humiliation as well as the hero's own grandstanding.
"Tomura," Inko's soft voice came snapping him out of his dark thoughts. "Kurogiri is here."
Looking up, Tomura saw the warp villain standing next to his sister as the pair peered over the couch at him.
"It's time to go home, Tomura," Kurogiri spoke just as softly as his sister, holding up the bag that no doubt contained his gifts.
Nodding, Tomura slide off the couch and let Inko hug him one last time before walking through one of Kurogiri's warp gates and back to the bar where Sensei was waiting for them.
The man smiled when he saw his protégé ruffling his hair slightly. "Welcome home Tomura. Did you have a good time today?"
Tomura shrugged as Kurogiri handed the bag over to All for One. Every time Inko gave them something, Sensei had to check it over. The man claimed it was to make sure that Inko wasn't being used by some hero unknowingly to find them. Tomura however was convinced that his teacher was just snooping to see if Inko had sent any more homemade treats back with them.
For some reason, anytime she did, Sensei would claim to have put them away, but Tomura would find it gone by the next day. Why the man didn't just come with them to meet Inko in person instead of talking to her over the phone, Tomura wasn't sure. Still, he knew one-day Inko would finally get fed up with the excuses and demand Sensei come for dinner.
"Ah red shoes," Sensei hummed, examining the footwear before putting them down next to the custom game controller Inko had gotten him. "Izuka has a pair just like them, doesn't she?"
"Yeah."
Sensei noticed the miserable tone from his apprentice and frowned. "I know we missed most of your party Tomura, I'm sorry, but I think you'll like why."
Tomura looked curious now as All for One produced a simple black box and handed it to him. Taking great care to unwrap it, Tomura gently lifted the lid eyes snapping up to look at the pair when he realized what it was.
"Father!"
The disembodied hand's fingers were now stretched out, giving the appearance that it was about to grab you, and there was also a gold band wrapped around where the wrist was. Tomura immediately picked the disembodied limb and placed the too large hand over his face.
"I know I used a preservation quirk on i- him and the others when you first arrived. I've just become worried recently about what would happen if it ever stopped working," Sensei explained, chuckling when the hand slipped slightly down on Tomura's face. "Kurogiri knew of someone whose quirk could permanently persevere them. However, they were set to be arrested, we had to leave suddenly so I could acquire it."
"I love it," Tomura smiled under the hand. "Thank you, Sensei. Thank you, Kurogiri."
"I'm just glad you had a good birthday." The warp gate user said, placing a glass of water on the bar for the boy well, he poured some alcohol for himself and All for One.
Tomura thought about how great his day had been before that nagging image of the student flashed in his head, and he frowned.
"What's wrong?" Sensei asked, seeing the unhappy look.
Tomura took Father off his face licking his chapped lips nervously. "Sensei is there … is there ... is there such a thing as a good hero?"
Both men were caught off guard by the question. Usually, Tomura wouldn't even talk about heroes except to describe in great detail how he would destroy them someday.
"Where's this coming from?" Kurogiri asked one golden eye raised curiously.
Tomura sighed, told his guardians about the scene in the mall, about the shopkeeper, and the hero had ganged up on the student for having what they thought was a 'villainous' quirk. How the crowd on onlookers had looked on not helping but instead feeding the hero's apparent overinflated ego with their cheers and cameras.
By the time he was done ranting about it, Tomura was completely red in the face. Kurogiri lost yet another glass to the boy's destructive temper.
"Sadly, that's just how heroes are," Sensei sighed sadly, taking a sip of his drink eyes darkening slightly. "They serve themselves before anyone else and don't care who they hurt in progress."
"I hate them," Tomura grunted, playing with some of Father's fingers. "I wish they would all just die."
All for One smiled at the words. "Then why don't we do just that."
"What?"
"We'll find the hero, maybe that shopkeeper to and start you on the next phase of our training," Sensei spoke, giving a twisted grin. He imagined what Tomura's quirk would allow him to a person without killing them.
Tomura returned the wide smile with one of his own and looked at the red shoes and thought about Izuka and how much she loved heroes. It would be hard for her to accept the true nature of heroes, that at their core, all they really did was use violence to beat people down. Labelling outcasts as villains and ruining lives all so they could give a false sense of security as they smiled shouting 'I AM HERE' to the world.
"Tomura?" Sensei said, placing his hands on the boy's own to stop him from scratching.
Realizing what he had been doing, Tomura apologized and began telling the men everything he could remember about the shopkeeper and hero.
'Izuka will see,' Tomura thought as he allowed Kurogiri to wrap his neck in bandages. 'One day she'll see that Sensei and I were right all along about heroes. I'll make her see, even if I have to force her to stay by my side as I rip their fake masks away one by one until she does.'
Tomura smiled again as he started to think about the future. In this future, he and Izuka could be together forever without having to worry about some hero coming along and ruining the day. A future where they could stand side by side as equals and rule from the shadows just like Sensei had for decades guiding society from behind the scenes.
One day Tomura promised himself one day he would make his dream a reality.
~*~*~*~Notes~*~*~*~
Thanks so much for all the reviews I really am glad that everyone enjoys the plot especially since it's my first My Hero Academia story. Also, if there is a reading of this chapter for some anonymous reviewers, I want to give a shout-out and answer some things they said in their reviews.
CrazyFanGirlJ – Thank you so much for my first reviewer. In response to one-part, Tomura is only three years older then Izuka. Mostly I think that attacking the USJ is like a graduation gift from Sensei for going from apprentice to full villain. When you think about it, Tomura had to make a plan and convince Kurogiri to help him. He defiantly convinces all those other villains to work with him, but who knows if Sensei gave him Nomu or if he had to ask.