….
"?!" Dabi stopped near the bottom step.
He tilted his head enough to catch his brother in the corner of his eye; under his arm, Himiko had stopped squirming and gone limp.
"Fuyumi's making soba and chicken tonight." Natsuo said, rubbing the back of his neck–
"She's with Mom right now, but she told me to ask... if you're not busy with hero work or whatever, she wanted you to bring the kids over to the house. Or she can just bring some food to your dorm so we can all eat together."
Dabi stared ahead for a moment.
"Pass."
He paused, then added, "Maybe later. Just give me a day's notice next time you're planning something like this."
Natsuo's face fell, a brief look of disappointment flashing across his eyes.
Dabi caught the look and let out a quiet sigh before adding, "Besides... I am talking to Mom's doctors this week. In a couple of weeks, once the media circus dies down, I'm getting her discharged. She's moving into my place."
Natsuo's head snapped up, eyes wide. "You're... taking Mom home?"
"Yeah." Dabi said, his tone casual, though the sincerity was unmistakable. "And you three better show up. Just you, Fuyumi, and Shoto. Alone…
"Also Fuyumi can help me cook Mom's favorite dishes."
Natsuo stood frozen. His chest tightened as the words sank in, and a messy grin broke across his face.
"Yeah." Natsuo managed, his voice cracking slightly. "Yeah, alright. I will tell her. She's... she's gonna cry like a baby, but she will love it."
"See ya, kid." Dabi moved on.
Before he could take two steps, Himiko started thrashing under his arm like a landed fish. "Wait! Stop, Papa! Lemme down!"
"What now, goblin?" Dabi sighed, dropping her down.
Himiko immediately grabbed Eri's sleeve, dragging her back up the steps toward the stunned young man.
"Uncle Natsu!" Eri called out softly, patting his knee. "Bend down! You're way too tall!"
"Uh... like this?" Natsuo blinked, confused as he crouched down to eye level with the two of them.
Eri stepped up on her toes, held his cheek with both hands, and gave him a gentle little kiss.
A split second later, Himiko lunged from the right, grabbing his jaw and planting a smack on his other cheek with a booming "MWAH!"
Natsuo short-circuited; red blush erupted from his collar, creeping across his throat and blazing all the way to the tips of his ears.
"Bye-bye, Uncle Natsu!" Eri said with a bright smile, giving him a small wave with both hands.
"Don't forget to smile, giraffe uncle!" Himiko giggled loudly.
Both girls spun around and bolted down the steps, before they dove straight behind Dabi's long coat.
Rumi leaned back, letting out a loud laugh. "You broke the poor kid! Stop bullying your uncle before he passes out on the welcome mat."
The girls peeked out from behind Dabi's legs, while stifling little giggles.
Dabi looked down at the pair of mischievous kids.
"Who taught these little monsters to use their cuteness as a weapon now?"
….
Across town, the central hospital–
Even though the Class 1-A hadn't fought or used their Quirks in battle, except for Midoriya, the police hadn't just let them walk away.
And although they were neither mistreated nor dragged into interrogation rooms, Kenji Tsuragamae and the police brass knew better than to antagonize students related to Dabi, so the mandatory medical scans, psychological evaluations, and administrative hold-ups kept them sequestered until late afternoon.
One by one, their parents had come to take them home.
Iida, Kirishima, and Todoroki had already left.
Bakugo is also currently being dragged out by Mitsuki, their familiar screaming match echoing down the stairwell…
Now, only Room 308 remains occupied.
Toshinori Yagi looked frail.
The towering muscle form that the world knew was gone. He was wrapped in bandages from his neck down, hooked to an IV.
The doctors and Recovery Girl had patched the worst of the internal bleeding, but pouring every last drop of his strength into that final fight had hollowed him out.
Beside the bed stood Izuku Midoriya.
For the past hour, Izuku had been talking to his mentor through everything that happened during the battle. He talked about One For All, and every question burning in his chest.
Toshinori had listened carefully, offering weak, gentle nods from his pillows, his sunken blue eyes filled with a mixture of pride, exhaustion, and sorrow, and happiness.
"I should let you rest, All Might." Izuku said softly. "I'll... I'll head home for now. And I'll come right back tomorrow morning to check on you."
He turned to head toward the doorway, and saw his mother.
Inko had been waiting for him for more than an hour, motionless by the door, letting her son and the hero some space.
As Izuku stopped beside her, Inko parted her lips.
"...No." she said.
It was barely louder than a breath, but it stopped Izuku. He turned back around, confused. "Mom? What do you mean?"
Inko didn't look at her son, keeping her gaze fixed instead on the hero lying on the bed.
All Might had been her son's most favourite since childhood; however, the same idol who had given her son a dream was now dragging him straight into the mouth of hell.
"You aren't coming back here tomorrow, Izuku." Inko finally said.
"Mom, he's still in bad shape, I have to–"
"This is goodbye." Inko cut him off, her eyes shining with tears she refused to wipe away.
She stepped past him, planting herself directly between her boy and the hospital bed. "You said what you wanted to say. Now we're leaving, and that's the end of it."
She took a shaky breath, her chin trembling.
"No more hero school, Izuku."
….
The U.A. staff is room fully occupied.
Inside, the usual animated chatter that preceded staff briefings was dead.
Aizawa, Present Mic, Vlad King, Midnight, Snipe, and Cementoss quietly stared at the folders laid out before each of them.
At the head of the long table, Principal Nezu began.
"I think we've delayed this as long as we can. You all remember this, right? This is the security plan we submitted three months ago, right after Dabi joined the staff."
Snipe leaned back and pulled his hat low. "The dorm plan."
"Dabi brought this to the board during his first two weeks here." Vlad King grunted, his knuckles pressing hard against the table. "And if my memory serves me correctly, the board laughed him out of the room."
"We deemed he was being paranoid." Nezu said with a small nod. "Everyone argued that locking the kids behind school walls would cause panic and upset the public. The day-scholar model has served Japan for over forty years, after all."
"....I don't think it will work anymore." Midnight said, resting her head on her hand. "Even though League is no more, I feel this last year's students have been through way too much than any of the senior year students."
Nezu nodded, steepling his paws. "Which means our most unpredictable teacher was right all along. The old day-school model is dead. If we want these kids to have a safe space to grow, we have to keep them inside U.A–
"So, I propose the idea of building the student dorms."
Cementoss flipped through the blueprints. "The plans are already solid. Underground bunkers, backup power, escape tunnels straight to the main building. Once the grounds are cleared, I can raise the dorms in two days. Building them isn't the problem."
He looked up at Nezu. "The problem is the parents."
The room went completely silent.
"He's right." Mic said, throwing his hands down. "Nobody trusts us right now. The press conference barely held things together, and that was before people knew All Might was officially retired, so parents are... terrified."
"The two kid's kidnap might have shaken them too much, and pursuing them would be a difficult task, let alone asking them to stay in dorms."
"That's our job." Aizawa's raspy voice cut through the room. "We have to make it happen, even if it means through personal visits."
"That's a tough sell, Shouta." Midnight pointed out gently. "To them, we're just the teachers who failed to protect their kids at the camp. Some of them will slam the door in our faces."
"Indeed." Nezu said. He turned to the whiteboard behind him and pointed at two empty seats. "Which is why you won't be the main ones going."
The first was Toshinori Yagi, and the next seat was Dabi.
"Toshinori and Dabi?" Vlad King asked, his eyes going wide. "You're sending them?"
"All Might is still the man every parent grew up trusting." Nezu explained. "And Dabi... Dabi is the one who fought the huge battle, and saved their kids. Together, parents will be more willing to agree."
"I don't know about that." Present Mic blurted out. "All Might, sure. But Dabi? The guy skips meetings, ignores paperwork, and treats the school rules like waste! Does he really have the patience to politely ask parents for permission?"
"He will go." Aizawa said.
The absolute confidence in his voice made everyone turn to look at him.
"You sound awfully sure." Mic muttered. "Did he suddenly learn some manners?"
"No." Aizawa said, a faint smirk twitching beneath his stubble. "He doesn't care about manners. However, he is not to spend months on students to shape just to watch them drop out and work somewhere else. And more than that..."
Aizawa looked over at Nezu.
"...he knew this day was coming. He wanted those kids on campus from day one so he could watch over them. If he has to drag their parents into line to lock the gates, he will do it. In fact, he's probably sitting in his car right now, waiting for the call just so he can tell us he was right."
Nezu let out a delighted chuckle and clapped his paws together.
"Wonderful." Nezu said–
"Then we should put him on the call. Cementoss will get the foundations ready. Tomorrow morning, U.A. shuts its gates to the outside world, and our teachers go bring our kids home."
.
….
[To be continued…]
★─────⇌•★•⇋─────★
Author Note:
Visit Patreon to instantly access +1 chapter for free, available for Free Members as well. For additional content please do support me and gain access to +12 more chapters.
-->[email protected]/WrightBrothers