A My Hero Academia Story
"You're late".
Izuku bit his lip, wincing, as he slipped inside the laboratory. The older man didn't bother to turn around and face him, keeping his eyes steadfastly on his work, as Izuku tossed his jacket onto the nearby rack and swapped it out for his bright white lab coat.
"I'm sorry, Doctor", he began, "but there was a-"
"Let me guess", the other man interrupted, still not bothering to turn around, "this time, there was an old woman who looked like she needed help carrying her groceries, or perhaps, today, you met an elderly gentleman that required your assistance to safely cross the road. Could it be that you found a worn-down beggar in need of urgent medical attention? Or perchance, is today the day that you finally managed to find an actual cat stuck up an actual tree?"
He sighed the sigh of a man used to disappointment, "Honestly Midoriya, I can understand your desire to help people, but when it comes at the cost of letting other people down, you're really just choosing to help one person at the cost of failing others".
"I know, I know, I do, I just thought that you could-"
"That I could what? That I could do the work that is required of you? Your uncle all-but got on his hands and knees and begged me to grant you this opportunity - one not normally given to high school students, I should remind you - and an opportunity that any other lab tech in the city, nay, the prefecture, would have made being in your second year of university the minimum requirement, and yet, somehow, despite my little act of generosity, despite your uncle's near state of begging on your behalf, you seem to want to waste my time at every possible turn. Tell me, why should I even bother even keeping you as my assistant, if you've no desire to actually show up to do the job and assist me?"
"I want to do the job, Doctor Akatani, I do! I just-"
"You just wanted to help those people, yes", he sighed once again, finally tuning around to face him, "I'm aware of your usual excuses", he said, as he reached up to remove the small, rectangular spectacles that occupied his face, their faint golden tint causing his eyes to glow a bright, golden yellow for a moment, as they caught the light.
"No, it's not like that, I-"
"Midoriya", Doctor Akatani - Mikumo to his close friends, one of which Izuku was not - sighed, running one hand through his dark purple hair, which was gently brushed back; a style that Izuku knew would allow him to wear safety gear or his favourite knitted beanie hat without making it look messy. It was kept short, barely a few centimetres in length, and Izuku thought it was like that to help the young scientist to appear older than he was.
He hadn't checked the doctor's identification, but he didn't even look old enough to be thirty yet; he certainly looked younger than Naomasa.
"Tell me", he continued, as he pinched the bridge of his nose, "the people we're trying to help here, do they matter less to you? Do they not also warrant your concern, or even your attention?"
"They do! But those other people, they-"
"Hnn…", the older man sighed, "I've known you for a while now, ever since Tsukauchi joined the homicide department, actually", he said, as if just realising how long it had been, "but of all things, please tell me… when are you going to learn that no matter what you do, you can't save everybody?"
"One day… soon… maybe… possibly".
"You mean never?"
"Probably".
Izuku was certain that he caught a glimpse of a smile on the other man's face, before it vanished and was replaced with the usual stern visage that he associated with Doctor Akatani, "Right then, the fingerprinting analysis for the lab break-ins needs doing. Start with that. When that's done, start looking over our notes and make sure that casefiles are being updated. Remember, poor upkeep on our end leads to-"
"Poor information given to our officers. Poor information leads to poor arrests being made, and poor arrests lead to no convictions for criminals", Izuku finished for him, "yes, I remember".
"Then get on with it already".
Izuku didn't bother with a response, knowing that the man neither expected, required nor desired one. Izuku had first been introduced to Doctor Mikumo Akatani after he'd been taken in by Naomasa and informed him that of his desire to become a forensic scientist for the police. His uncle had been happy to introduce the two of them, expecting for the two of them to have an instant connection due to their mutual love of science, with a shared passion for Quirk science and forensics, but it was obvious from the moment that they'd met, that Mikumo had felt that he was being asked to babysit a child, rather than gaining an actual assistant out of it.
Still, Izuku had done his best to prove him wrong and, with some help from his uncle's investigative abilities, convinced the man to give him an internship position under his supervision. Positions like those usually went, as Doctor Akatani had told him, (repeatedly), to college and university students and not high schoolers, but as Izuku was in his final year of high school and the fact that the role required constant supervision anyway, the Doctor had eventually acquiesced. It had been a slow start, which Izuku knew was something of a specialty of his, but in the few months since they'd started working together, Izuku felt that the two of them had done some really good work.
Important work.
And then, just as he felt he was gaining some ground with the man, the two of them forming an actual bond of trust, Izuku would find something going wrong, whether it was him running late too many times in a row, missing something important, misplacing his notes, (or in one case, misplacing an entire casefile), and then Izuku would realise that they'd found themselves all the way back at square one of their relationship, ready to do it all over again.
But by now, Izuku knew at least some of the tricks.
Such as the fact that the best way for him to get on the man's good side was to make sure that the coffee was hot and fresh and then get on with whatever tasks he'd been given, without complaining about them.
This morning, that was fingerprinting analysis, fibre analysis and finishing off their casework write-ups.
=== === === === ===
"Hi Kid".
Izuku paused, his hand raised on the almost comically large door to the only office in the Department's Homicide Team, before pushing it open, realising that once again, he had been smelt before he had been seen.
"Hi Boss Kitsune", he said, as he took in the sight of the man sitting behind his desk.
Chief Inspector Niwashi Kitsune was the Homicide Department's Team's Leader, and compared to the others, he was unmistakable. He was the only member of the team with a Heteromorphic Quirk, which was evidenced with his imposing height of one hundred, ninety-three centimetres and the bright orange fur that covered most of his body. Like every other member of his team, he wore a professional suit to work, though his trousers were tailored to allow his large, bushy tail to hang behind him. His Quirk, Fox, was aptly named, giving him a truly vulpine appearance.
At forty-eight years old, Kitsune was over ten years older than Naomasa, though his Quirk made it so that it was hard to tell from looking at him, and despite being the senior and most experienced member of their investigation team, and supposedly the most jaded, Izuku thought that he had the best sense of humour. He was quick with a quip, and they almost never failed to make him laugh.
But that all seemed to vanish when he was in pursuit of one of his suspects.
Izuku had seen him enraged only once, and it was a sight that he knew, he would never forget: both of Kitsune's long ears flattened against his skull, his red eyes flared wide open, his lips pulled back in a snarl, with his pointed teeth bared in anger, as he brought in a man responsible for assaulting a woman in an alleyway, leaving her with bloodied thighs and legs that were unable to help her walk.
He knew that Kitsune was a genuinely nice person, with a strong sense of justice, but in that moment, he had looked like he was out for nothing but blood.
The man raised an eyebrow at his greeting, the action breaking Izuku out of reverie and he noted that it served to make him look particularly inquisitive in his foxy face, "I thought I told you just to call me Kitsune".
"Right, sorry!"
"Don't listen to him, kid!"
He shifted nervously, earning himself an amused look from his boss, "Err…"
The Chief Inspector shook his head, "Never mind that. Kaniga! Get your ass back to work!"
"Whatever you say, Boss!"
"Hnn", he growled in response.
"I've brought you that fingerprinting analysis you asked for".
"Ah, excellent", his eyes lit up, his irritation forgotten, as he took the folder he was being offered, instantly scanning over the written report, delighted to see that it confirmed the presence of his top suspect at the crime scene, before he looked back at Izuku with a satisfied smile, "great work, as always, Kid".
"Thank you, Boss".
Sighing and shaking his head at the sight of his grin, Kistune waved him out of his office, his attention already turning back to his file.
=== === === === ===
"Hey, Kid".
"Good morning, Inspector Kaniga".
The team's Deputy Team Leader was Inspector Kumori Kaniga and not only was the only woman on the team, but she was also the nicest of them all, forever keeping new styles of wagashi at her desk, in order to sate her sweet tooth, (and most importantly, always being willing to share them with him while they were working).
She was of an average height, being what he considered to be neither short nor tall, (the same height as himself), but she stood out due to her bright white hair, as well as a skin tone that had the faintest tinge of icy blue tinge to it, making her resemble a cold character from a cartoon, but despite that, Izuku thought that she was the warmest person that he knew. He'd never seen her use her Quirk before, but she'd told him that she could use it to make miniature clouds around her, including ones that she could ride on, which he thought sounded really fun.
Her only real drawback as a person, as far as Izuku was concerned, was that she always kept one of the windows near her desk open, even during the winter, leaving a faint breeze running through the office, even when the temperature outside was below zero.
Even now, as he handed over the second file in his hands, he was starting to feel a shiver coming on, "And here's that fibre analysis report that you were waiting on".
"Thank you", she told him, smiling as she spoke, before winking at him, and he felt himself flush bright red in response, causing her to laugh, a soft tinkle that left him feeling embarrassed and followed him, as he retreated to the other side of the office.
=== === === === ===
Izuku felt his grip on the final folder that he was carrying tighten as he approached the final desk on his venture around the office, as its occupant looked up, noticing his approach; an amused smirk slanting over his features, "Oh, hey, if it isn't Mini-Masa. How's it going? Trip over your own feet again, lately?"
Even his voice was irritating.
"It's still just Midoriya", Izuku sighed, pulling his head away as Toge, once again, tried to ruffle his hair, like he was a small child, "and no. I'm fine".
"If you say so".
Izuku was familiar with the other inspectors in Tsukauchi's unit, having made sure to properly introduce himself to them, once he'd been assigned to work with them, and he could say with confidence that Tsuiseki Toge was - by far - the most obnoxious person that he'd ever met.
The fourth and final member of the team, Inspector Toge, was Izuku's least favourite member of the team, as well as the person most likely person to be partnered with the Chief while on duty, and Izuku had to assume that was for two reasons: one, because they were the most and least experienced members of the team; and two, because he was also the most likely person to do something stupid.
He was loud, annoying, often wrong and treated everyone around him, as if they should consider themselves lucky enough to be allowed in his presence.
And as if he wanted to make Izuku feel as irritated as possible, the first time they'd met each other, Uncle Naomasa had decided to comment that the two of them shared a passing similarity with each other.
Izuku had never been more offended in his life.
As far as Izuku was concerned, the only thing that they had in common was the colour of their hair - and even that came in different shades. Izuku had inherited own verdette locks from his from his mother's side of the family, but otherwise, it was just a simple, base colour mutation in his genetic production of melanin, while Toge's came about as a result of the various plant-based Quirks in his family, including his grandmother, whose bright green hair had allowed her to conduct personal photosynthesis and had been green simply due to the overabundance of chlorophyll in her system, before she had passed it on to her daughter and grandson, as a form of natural colouring.
"Doctor Akatani finished your toxicology report".
"Right", if anything, Toge's smirk grew even smugger, "Akatani finished with it. He wasn't redoing your crap".
"I don't handle toxicology-"
"Sure, you don't".
"Toge", Kaniga barked at him from across the room, "lay off Midoriya, now".
"Alright, alright", he held his hands up in a mockery of surrender, "I get it, Tsukauchi's not here, so you're defending the Kid in his place", he shrugged, before eyeing Midoriya, "where is he this fine evening, anyway?"
"Running a personal errand".
His smirk went from smug to genuinely amused, "Where?"
Izuku just shrugged, "He didn't say".
"Heh", Toge leant back in his chair, "sounds about right".
"What's that supposed to mean?"
"Nothing for you to worry about, Kid, now don't you have work to get back to? Heard you were going to be pulling a late one".
"A late one?" Kaniga called out, her features morphing into a frown, "Akatani's making you", she started in his defence, before stopping mid-sentence, her eyes narrowing in suspicion and he made a note to pour something unpleasant in Toge's coffee mug, "Izuku, were you late getting in again?"
"Maybe?"
=== === === === ===
From the outside, Ranpato appeared as bland as it ever did: square in appearance; a building made of unpainted, plain grey concrete on the exterior and walls painted a dull shade of teal green on the inside. Even against the clear blue sky, it still managed to look dull, he noted, as he stepped out of his car.
Naomasa had made sure to leave extra early, already well aware that the Institute would keep to their strict timekeeping, and if he were a second over being five minutes early to his meeting slot, then they wouldn't permit him entry until his next scheduled visit slot, which wasn't for another fortnight.
He could appreciate their strict scheduling and discipline, but only when it wasn't impacting him directly.
He surrendered his hat, his coat and the contents of his pockets, before allowing himself to be pat down. As a police inspector, they took it slightly easier on him than they would most other visitors, but otherwise, he was still well aware of just how thorough their inspection of his person was.
He was escorted by a guard with a boar Quirk, who refused to speak with him, to a private room, where he found that Inko was already waiting for him.
For the most part, Inko still looked like she had on the day that they'd first met.
On the day he'd arrested her for the murder of her husband.
Short, slim and with dark green hair, were it not for the few lines on her face, you'd be hard-pressed to even know that she'd aged at all; in fact, the biggest difference in her appearance between then and now, was the fact that she now wore a prison jumpsuit, which had her inmate number embossed over her left breast and on her back.
The standard jumpsuit of the Ranpato Women's Correctional Institution was usually solid blue in colour, but Inko wore one in solid green, which meant that she was considered to be a trusted inmate and therefore, had access to additional privileges within the prison.
And best of all, Tsukauchi knew, it would made her look good when her application for parole came up.
"Hello, Inko".
"Naomasa", she smiled warmly, the two of them sharing a brief hug - the single contact that Inko was permitted per visit - before the two of them sat down at the desk, "how's Izuku?"
The sight of Inko in her prison jumpsuit always left him feeling momentarily down, but every time he visited, her first and immediate desire was to know how her son was doing and it had never failed to bring a smile to his face.
"He's doing well", he told her honestly, "started his final year of high school now. He already passed the preliminary entrance exams for Yuuei next year. He's got a real shot at this".
Her eyes lit up, "And the internship? Did he get it? Did he-"
"Yes, yes", he waved down her concerns, "he got it. In fact, he should be there now, working with Doctor Akatani. He's supporting my team too".
She continued to smile, even as she relaxed in her seat, "How is that going? For both of you?"
He smiled indulgently for a moment, "I'm still loving my job, thank you very much", he shrugged, "despite everything else that I've done-"
"Which wasn't your fault", she pointed out.
"Agree to disagree", he said glibly, "but despite all of that, I'm know that I'm were I'm supposed to be".
"And Izuku?"
He chuckled, "Practically adopted by the squad. The boss loves him; Kaniga wants to steal him; and he and Toge are getting ready to kill each other".
"What?"
He laughed at the way she tensed up, her sense of alarm on high alert, "Toge doesn't like that the fact that the seventeen-year-old kid is now the smartest guy in the room, meanwhile the seventeen-year-old kid finds the grumpy older man to be obnoxious. So far, it's been limited to dumb office pranks, but wait until something major happens and then they'll be ribbing each other like a pair of brothers".
"Oh", she relaxed instantly, "oh, that's much better".
"I agree", he told her, enjoying the relaxed atmosphere for a moment, "you know, speaking of Izuku, I was thinking… maybe I should bring him along for my next visit?"
"Oh… no, no, that's okay".
"Inko, I really think-"
"Naomasa, no".
He sighed, "He turns eighteen in July. Eighteen, Inko - a legal adult. You have to know that the first thing he's going to do is schedule a visit. Ever since you've been in here, you've only let him visit twice a year: Christmas and his birthday. He's going to want to see you more".
"And all of his requests will be denied".
"Inko-"
"Naomasa", she told him, her soft voice replaced by one that had iron at its core, "I will not let my son see me in here on a regular basis", she gestured down at her jumpsuit, "they put me in here for the murder of his father. He'll be much better off, if people think that he only comes twice a year".
"He tells everyone he knows that you're innocent, regardless of what they think of him for it. You'll be up for parole in less than two years. Inko, you can't keep him at arm's length".
"No", she agreed, "but I am his mother and I am going to try".
His Quirk pinged.
Truth.
=== === === === ===
His visiting hour up, Naomasa and Inko said 'goodbye' to each other for at least another two weeks, or more, depending on his work schedule, and he allowed himself to be escorted back to the registration desk, where he signed out and completed the forms that the security officer on duty handed him.
He was relieved to have his hat and coat returned to him, always feeling more like a 'real' cop when he had them to hand and slid them back on with a smooth motion.
He dropped his wallet into his left inner breast pocket, while his phone went into his right, his thumb lingering over it, just long enough to start to power it up.
Feeling the faint hum of it waking up, with a faint vibration against his chest, Naomasa stepped back outside and into real daylight, only to be hit in the face with a complete downpour.
It was raining.
A lot.
He could barely hear anything over the noise of the water coming down onto the ground, bouncing off the building and cars.
He shook his head in momentary disbelief, wondering just where on Earth that this ridiculous thunderstorm had appeared from, before realising that he had to cross it, before he could leave.
Bracing his hat against his head, he took off for his car at a jog, mindful of his step, as he dashed across the car park, doing his best to avoid any puddles and remember where the potholes were.
Thankfully, his car worked on proximity, which meant that he didn't have to fish around for his keys and simply wrenched the door open, jumping into the driver's seat.
The noise of raindrops against the roof of his car left him surrounded by an irritating, tinny noise of tiny impacts, but the volume had dropped compared to being outside and now, not only could Naomasa once again hear himself think, but he could also hear the sound of his phone ringing.
He did his best to wipe his hands dry on the inside of his coat, even as he dug his phone out of his pocket, just in time to see that it was Kaniga calling him, before the ringing ended and left a notification on his screen for a missed call.
And that wasn't all he saw.
According to his lock screen, he had a grand total of forty-one missed calls:
Ten missed calls from Chief Kitsune.
Nineteen missed calls from Kaniga.
Five missed calls from Toge.
Six missed calls from Akatani.
And most surprisingly, four missed calls from his sister, who last he checked, was still in New York, where it would currently be the early hours of the morning.
"What the hell-"
His phone screen lit up again, Kaniga's name flashing in front of his eyes, and determined not to see forty-one missed calls turn into forty-two, he tapped 'ANSWER', as quickly as his fingers could move.
"Kaniga, what's-"
"Tsukauchi!"
"Yes, I-"
"GUYS, I GOT HIM!"
As she yelled out, he yanked the phone away from his ear, in a desperate attempt to avoid hearing loss. He heard more voices, his trained ears pulling out the rest of his team, before they quieted enough for him to put it back beside his ear and finally hear what they had to tell him.
"What do you-", he swallowed, his throat dry, as something heavy and painful settled inside of his stomach, making him feel ill, as he struggled to get the words out, "what do you mean, 'there's been an accident'?"
=== === === === ===
Author's Notes
Gee, I wonder what happened there?
If you know, then you know.
Mikumo Akatani is the original concept name for the character that would one day become Izuku Midoriya. I wanted Izuku to have a mentor as an investigator (Tsukauchi), a Pro Hero (I'm not revealing that just yet) and also as a scientist. At first, I struggled to come up with a possible science mentor for him, outside of Power Loader and David Shield, both of whom are engineering-based, as opposed to the more bio-chemical role needed for forensic science.
Given the lack of possible mentors, I decided to go the OC route, and since he was mentoring Izuku and serving as his pseudo-predecessor, I eventually decided to simply take up the name of Izuku's original design, Mikumo Akatani, rather than creating a completely original one, and given the multiversal and time travelling nature of many of the Flash's stories, I really found the idea of Izuku being mentored by 'himself', as it were, to be quite funny.
Though it hasn't appeared yet, his Quirk is Techno-Touch, and it allows him to morph his fingertips into various shapes, so that he can plug himself into devices directly, to use and control them.
We also needed to create some additional OCs for Izuku and Naomasa to interact with at the police station. I don't imagine that any of these characters will turn out very often, but they do exist, so we'll start with:
The Team Leader, Niwashi Kitsune.
Niwashi (庭師) is translated as 'Gardener' and Kitsune (キツネ) is translated as 'Fox', literally making his name, Gardner Fox. For those of you who don't know, Gardner Fox is one of the co-creators of (among several others) Jason 'Jay' Garrick, the original Flash and is also the founder of the DC multiverse. His Quirk, Fox, gives him the physical features of a fox, including orange fur, long ears, muzzle, teeth and bushy tail.
The Deputy Team Leader (and token female - kidding), Kumori Kaniga.
Her first name, Kumori (曇り) simply means 'Cloudy', while her surname, Kaniga is named for Robert Kanigher, one of the co-creators of the second Flash, Bartholomew Henry 'Barry' Allen. Her Quirk is Cloud Step, as she creates small, floating clouds that she can step on.
She has a sweet tooth for wagashi (和菓子), which is a very traditional Japanese sweet, often served alongside tea. They're very artistic and styled beautifully but making them is a dying art as they're becoming less and less popular compared to more western-style sweets and deserts and as a result, the number of people being trained in the art of making them is also decreasing. In the future, they may vanish altogether.
And last, but certainly not least, we have Tsuiseki Toge, (AKA 'Mister Obnoxious').
Tsuiseki (追跡) means to 'hunt' or 'pursue', which is very fitting for a police officer, but can also be looked at as another way of saying 'Hunter', which is the name of Hunter Zolomon AKA 'Zoom', from Flash comics. Toge (棘) means 'splinter' or 'thorn'. His recorded Quirk is called Thorn, and it allows him to create plant thorns from his hands, which he can then make use of.
The number of missed calls that Tsukauchi has, is also a small Easter Egg:
10 missed calls, representing the month of October.
19, 5 and 6 missed calls, representing the year, 1956.
A further 4 missed calls, representing the issue number.
The Barry Allen incarnation of the Flash made his debut in Showcase Comics #4, which was released in October 1956.