Disclaimer: I do not own My Hero Academia or Fate/Stay Night

...

It was easy to say that Eri was a curious girl by nature. Ever since she had been brought out of the darkness that had, until that point, been her life, the young girl had taken every opportunity to learn. She had to thank La Brava mostly for that, the older (yet not really much taller) girl had spent a great deal of time teaching her an assortment of things. She had had no idea that the colour orange was created by mixing red and yellow together, it was incredible!

Gentle, La Brava's close friend, had helped her with letters and numbers. She could now write very simple sentences and even accomplish simple addition without counting on her fingers. Even though it was boring at times, she knew that it was important to learn. She had learnt of a place called school where children gathered to learn together and have fun. Eri really hoped that she could go to school one day if Rin let her.

As for Rin, she didn't particularly spend much time teaching Eri anything specific outside of how gain better control of her quirk. If Eri came up with a question then Rin would take her time to explain why the answer was what it was in detail. It was very formulaic and Eri sometimes found herself more confused than when she had first approached Rin. Rin's approach to teaching her how to use her quirk however was a different experience all together. It was a lot more hands on which Eri appreciated. It was done however under very heavy watch, which given what Eri was capable of with her quirk, was very much appreciated.

The lessons that Eri took with Stain was her reward for doing well with her other studies. His lessons were all about the human body and what it was capable of. The acts of strength and skill he put on was incredible to watch and Eri had little doubt that he was one of the strongest people she had ever seen. She truly hoped that one day she could be as strong as Stain.

Which was why she found the current battle in front of her so difficult to comprehend. Clutching tightly onto the knife that Stain had given her as a training tool, Eri watched as her fighting teacher was overwhelmed in almost every aspect. For parts of it, her eyes couldn't truly keep up with all of the action going on but every time it seemed as if Stain was getting the upper hand he would swiftly find himself on the defensive or temporarily retreating before alternating his approach.

Eri wondered if it had something to do with the metal arm that Shirou had. Maybe there was something special about it that made Stain cautious and not want to get to close.

Regardless, part of her wanted to see whether or not Shirou would teach her anything new. After he and Stain were done fighting first.

...

The scowl on Eraserhead's face was clearly evident for all to see as he surveyed the scene that he had been called in to. A dozen criminals, beaten and restrained, were being led into the back of a number of police vehicles. "So why did you bring me out here?" grumbled Eraserhead in near disgust, given the fact the the criminals had already been apprehended well before he had arrived.

Fourth Kind, the hero whose agency had discovered the gang of crooks, crossed his bottom pair of arms over one another while the rings on his upmost hands gently tinked against one another. "My men came across this scene and informed me that you may be most interested," stated Fourth Kind, gesturing towards the nearby alleyway. Eraserhead said nothing as he followed the professional hero.

It quickly became evident what Fourth Kind was trying to show him as the evidence from the fight was clear to see. The most distinctive part of the alleyway was that the walls had been scorched from battle, char markings visible on nearby debris. "Despite the clear signs of a struggle, none of the nearby residents were awoken by the sounds of an explosion," stated Fourth Kind. "From what I've heard, that may correlate to one of your issues."

Eraserhead growled out something incomprehensible at the word 'issues' being used to depict one of his students. He was aware of how quickly word had spread of the failure and how the blame was being thrown about. On a very clear level, while Vlad King had been in collaboration with Shirou in regards to the end result, he and Midnight had been the ones to organize everything in the eyes of the public. If they had tried to recruit other heroes with the idea that they were following the plan of a teenager alongside a hero who had lost everything, chances were nobody would have signed up. They had taken the risk and now he and Midnight would be scrutinized by their peers until they fixed the mess.

"It might," scoffed Eraserhead. Power Loader had informed him that Bakugo had gotten his latest piece of support gear before storming out of the workshop. If there were soundless explosions taking out criminals, that correlated to the latest piece of equipment that Bakugo requested.

"There's one other bit of evidence that you should look at," stated Fourth Kind, getting irritated at Eraserhead's attitude to the whole situation. "See in the wall there."

Eraserhead looked at where Fourth Kind was indicating, paying attention to the damage that had been done to the wall. There was a cut, roughly an inch deep and a a foot wide where a bladed weapon had cleanly sliced through the side of the building with little issue. "What of it?" asked Eraserhead.

"So, does this prove to you that your four students are running rampant around here?"

"Three."

"I'm sorry," said Fourth Kind. "Three of your students left U.A and have met up with Shirou Emiya. If explosions and bladed weapons have been used, then it is clear..."

"It's a decoy. Creati, Earphone Jack and Bakugo are trying to create the impression that they have met up with Shirou," declared Eraserhead, turning around to walk out of the alley. "I'd hazard a guess that they have little to no idea where he actually is."

"How can you be so sure of that?" asked Fourth Kind. "The proof is right there."

"All you've proved to me is that at some point, a weapon missed it's intended target and temporarily struck a wall. It wasn't Shirou, simply because he wouldn't miss."

...

"Figured he wouldn't be fooled so easily," said Yaoyorozu as she stopped peeking through the blinds. "I had hoped that somebody other than Mister Aizawa had come as the school representative but it seems we weren't so lucky."

"Doesn't matter," scoffed Bakugo loudly, ignoring the fact that Jiro was currently sleeping after having taken the latest guard stint. "Fact is that we drew him away from any other potential leads. As a result, we've probably given Shirou a few extra hours to get to wherever the hell he is going, if he isn't there already."

"So our objective now is to provide support by keeping as many heroes eyes on us," said Yaoyorozu, taking a seat on the other side of the room. "Even if it is only a couple of agencies searching for our whereabouts, that reduces the number that could be utilizing their resources to find Shirou. We just have to trust in his plan."

"Our plan was crazy from the start, and we're still going to find ourselves fighting villains just to keep luring heroes closer to our location. If we get injured, we can't seek medical aid without getting caught. If we get surrounded, there is nowhere to hide. For now it's only going to be small fries trying to track us down. Eventually though, someone is going to enter the fray where we will find ourselves out of our league."

Yaoyorozu went silent in understanding. Taking on casual criminals and petty villains was one thing, something they could handle given the training they had undertaken. While they knew that heroes were after them, in the proper situation they could use it to their advantage. If they were being pursued then it was possible to create an ambush or something of a similar nature to temporarily incapacitate their pursuers. While they were actively trying to hunt them down, they were professional heroes so there was little to no point in causing any sort of real damage.

The real issue though was that if they continued down this path, how long would it be before a hero ranked in the double digits decided to act. When such a time came, how would they react? Could they even react or would they concede defeat and be done? Sadly it only seemed as if they would know how they would react when the time came. Hopefully by then it wouldn't be too late.

...

"I'm sorry that you have to go through all of this young Midoriya," said Toshinori as he sat in the confines of his student's room. He did his utmost to ignore all of the All Might merchandise that plagued the walls of the room. It felt a touch painful given how little he could remain in such a state anymore. "After all, you can't put the fault of others onto yourself."

"But, I think the thing that troubles me the most, is that I had the choice to do something," said Midoriya, not lifting his head to meet All Might's harrowing gaze. "There has to have been something I could have said, something I could have done..."

Toshinori kept quiet as he waited for Midoriya to continue, only to realize that he had quite literally stopped his train of thought. Or at least was choosing not to vocalize it at that moment in time. "It's easy to react in situations where somebody is in danger, or if something is happening where you know the right way to act. You, along with your friends, found yourself in a situation you were ill prepared for in a way that none of the staff here could teach you. No one should find themselves in a situation where they are confronting their friends," said Toshinori in an attempt to provide some comfort.

"All Might," said Midoriya softly, finally looking up at his mentor. "What is a hero? Not in the sense of a job or title but the person who is behind the position? Who is the hero behind the costume?"

Toshinori could honestly say that this was not the way he expected this conversation to go.

...

Eri sat at the dinner table that evening, doing her best to stare holes into Shirou in an attempt to get him to pay some manner of attention to her whilst he sat at the opposite end. Throughout the course of the day she had tried her best to get him to communicate with her but to little success. Through the same course however she had rarely seen him talk to anybody over the day.

She couldn't help but wonder if he was shy.

"Shouldn't you be going to bed soon?" he asked, startling her slightly.

"It's not that late," she quickly countered, more out of instinct than anything else.

Shirou grunted something incoherent in response and Eri couldn't help but feel as if that was his way of saying that he was done with the conversation. To her, it didn't matter if he was done with the conversation, those were the first words that he had spoken to her and she wanted to see where it lead. "You were pretty cool with your swords in your fight against Stain," she said, giving him a compliment. Everybody liked it when they were given a compliment.

"It was fine for what it was."

Apparently Shirou didn't like compliments. Maybe a different approach was necessary to get him to open up. "Do you want to see a picture I drew?"

"The one on the fridge, I've seen it."

Eri puffed up her cheeks in annoyance, having had her wings cut out from underneath her in her attempt to get Shirou to actually talk. There had to be some topic of conversation where he would give more than ten words to answer. "How did you lose your arm?"

"Because he was an idiot," answered Rin, startling Eri as the woman of the household made her presence felt. "And he should feel like more of an idiot for not wanting to see your picture again."

Whatever nerves had stirred through Eri were quickly diminished as she smiled at the compliment that she had been given in a way that normal people should react when being complimented. If she had to set an example on how to properly act then she would do just that.

"Eri, you know how we have been working hard on your quirk," said Rin as she knelt down to be able to look the young girl in the eye. "I have to say that you've been making marvelous strides in your work."

Eri couldn't help but beam in excitement before swift realization washed over her at where Rin was going with this. A cold shiver went down her spine at the knowledge that Rin wished for her to use her quirk on another human. Rin wished to use her, to use her quirk, just like...

"Eri."

Shirou's voice snapped Eri out of her train of thought in an instant. His voice pierced through her and forced Eri to turn and face him. Slowly, he got out of his seat before walking toward her with purposeful strides. Eri resided the urge to step back before she watched as Shirou knelt down in a similar style as to what Rin had, looking at her eye to eye as his gaze visibly softened. "From what Rin has told me, you have a quirk unlike anything else, something that could be used differently in the hands that use it. You, however, are the only one that can use it. People can tell you when to use it or how to use it, but only you can actually choose to use it. Now, while I would appreciate my arm back, I'm not going to tell you or force you to do anything that you don't want to. You should choose to use your quirk only when you want to."

Eri couldn't help but feel a small tinge of warmth inside her with what Shirou had said. It was her quirk. It should be her choice.

"Seems spending your time with all those students did something after all," chuckled Rin.

Shirou said nothing in response as he rose back to a standing position before focusing on Eri once again. "Stain was telling me that he has been teaching you how to defend yourself. Perhaps you'd like to show me one day."

Eri couldn't help but swell with the idea of showing off what she had learnt. Perhaps, even though he wanted her to use her quirk on him, that didn't necessarily make him a bad person. He was just different.

Yes, Shirou was definitely different.

To be fair though, Eri did think that everybody who lived here was a little different in their own way.

...

Midoriya contemplated everything that All Might had told him, everything that the number one hero believed to be the epitome of a hero. Their mettle and strength of fortitude. Their willingness to give it their all and never let those who badmouth break their will. It truly was a daunting challenge, one which troubled dozens if not hundred of professional heroes on a day to day basis.

This however, had been his dream since he was a small child. All Might had given him a gift, and he still dreamed of using that gift to become the number one hero in Japan. It was sad however that, in order to prove himself, he would more than likely be required to help stop the man who had spent a vast amount of time that they had shared together training him.

He could honestly say that this was a confrontation that he wanted to avoid. In order to become a hero, it was a confrontation that, sadly, had to happen.

...

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