Chapter 7: Chapter 7: Revelation

"I'm home," Hisashi said opening the door, "Brought Shika with me too,"

"Ah, Shikamaru. I haven't seen you in a long time," Inko greeted with a smile.

Shikamaru smiled back, "Yeah, it has been a long time,"

"Izuku, this is my friend, Shikamaru," Hisashi introduced.

"Hi!" Izuku said warmly.

Shikamaru said nothing and gave Izuku a calculating look before smiling, "You have grown quite a lot since I last saw you,"

"Huh?" Izuku tilted his head in confusion.

"Mah, you were just a kid back then so I don't expect you to remember,"

"You haven't visited ever since Hisashi left," Inko scolded.

Shikamaru laughed, "I was busy,"

"Busy or lazy?" Inko pointed out causing Shikamaru to chuckle, "Well have a seat, I'll get some snacks." Shikamaru obliged and followed Izuku to the living room while Hisashi went after Inko.

"I didn't want to say this in front of your parents because it would be too troublesome but do you really think you are fooling anyone with that fake smile?" Shikamaru asked.

Izuku's face slightly fell, "Wh-what do you mean?"

"Kid please, I have seen enough criminals and victims to know when someone is faking it,"

Izuku drooped slightly, "You won't tell my parents, will you?"

"It would be good if they knew,"

Izuku drooped even further. He didn't want his father to know that he was still faking his emotions. Hisashi had been trying so hard to make things up to Izuku, "But... it is too troublesome. You will feel more horrible and Hisashi will talk my ear off so just tell me why you are faking your emotions," Shikamaru said.

Izuku bit his lip. On one hand, he didn't feel like telling his secrets to someone he just met, even though Shikamaru was his father's friend. However, on the other hand, Shikamaru would probably let Hisashi know that he was faking it which would cause more trouble. Outright telling Shikamaru seemed to be the best choice, "If I told my parents that I'm not happy it would just make them sadder. I'm already useless. I don't want to be more useless by making someone worry,"

Shikamaru nodded and rested his neck on the sofa. He closed his eyes, "And why do you think you are useless?"

"Everyone always said that," Izuku said in a small tone, "Kacchan, the teachers, all the students, everyone,"

"And I'm telling you that you aren't useless. Your parents, your dad's police contacts, me, all of would agree that you aren't useless. By your logic, you should take our word instead. So why do you believe you are still useless?"

"Because I'm quirkless too!"

"So?"

That took Izuku off guard, "What do you mean?"

"So what? Only Pro heroes can use their quirks or those with special permission like some police officers. For others, I included, quirks are just a dormant feature that's never really used. People with subtle quirks like Inko-san can use it regularly without problem but you don't see your dad spewing fire everywhere," Shikamaru pointed out.

Izuku looked to set argue but shut up. Shikamaru did have a point, "So there's no problem being quirkless?"

"Nope, plus you are intelligent so you will do fine. Look at me!"

"You're quirkless too!?"

"No, my quirk just doesn't help me in daily life," Shikamaru deadpanned.

Izuku fell at that, "But what is your quirk?"

"Shadow possession. I can connect to other people's shadows and control their actions,"

Izuku's eyes sparkled, "Whoa that's so cool! With a quirk like that, you could have become a hero easily!"

"Perhaps,"

"So why didn't you?" Izuku asked after a pause.

"Too troublesome. You have to walk a lot on patrols, do huge amounts of paperwork and have to endure people constantly interrupting you for an autograph or something. Too troublesome,"

Izuku gawked, "Mom wasn't kidding when she called you lazy," Shikamaru shrugged uncaringly in response, "Ne, how old are you?"

"28,"

Izuku seemed to think for a while, "If you are so lazy, why did you become a lawyer?"

"My parents made me pick something to do. The law university was closest to my house so I applied there,"

Izuku sweatdropped. Shikamaru was too lazy, "You said you saw me when I was a kid, so that would have been 10 years ago when you were 18. How did you know my father then?"

Shikamaru smiled and opened his eyes, "You ask really good questions. I can see why Hisashi-san sees so much potential in you," Izuku blushed at the remark. "I graduated early from law school. My IQ is over 200 so I got through it easily. I thought I'd just relax after graduating but around that time the Yakuza were still powerful. Hisashi-san had caught all of them red-handed but no one was willing to prosecute them because the Yakuza would hurt their families. Eventually, the police came to my university and asked for the best lawyer they had. The jerks singled me out and I agreed,"

"It wasn't too troublesome?" Izuku smirked.

"It was far more troublesome to live under the Yakuza. Plus the police offered me a lot of money. With that much, I could retire happily with nothing to do but stare at the clouds," Shikamaru said dreamily.

"But you didn't retire,"

"No, your dad was impressed and tried to make me take more cases. I refused, so he went over my head and asked my parents who forced me. Troublesome,"

"You really respect your parents huh?"

Shikamaru nodded, "Now, I'm going to sleep," he laid back.

"Sure thing Nii-san,"

Shikamaru spluttered, "What?"

"Well you are too young to be an uncle but not my age either, so I will call you Nii-san!"

Shikamaru wanted to argue but just grunted and closed his eyes, "Troublesome kid,"

________________________________________________________________________________________________

Meanwhile, at the hero commission, things were chaotic. The appearance of Hisashi had sent shockwaves through the organization. Other criminals thought Hisashi was just another police officer, not even worthy to be a pebble in their path. But the commission knew exactly who Hisashi was. When he was in Japan, the commission had been under strict police surveillance and even a toe out of line was severely punished. However, they had gotten rid of him by flying out Wazashi who they knew he was after. Once Hisashi had left, the commission was slowly let off the hook. The other police officials didn't think the hero commission would be capable of doing anything wrong because of their reputation and give them free rein.

But now, Hisashi was back much earlier than expected. Sure 10 years was a long time, but they had used 50% of their budget to try and keep Wazashi safe so that Hisashi wouldn't come back. However, they had underestimated Hisashi and he was back. They tried to send a hitman after Wazashi so that Hisashi couldn't get any information on him, but the hitman had been caught. They didn't send anyone else after that. Hisashi was going to get the information, and they knew there was nothing they could do about it. All they could do was prepare.

This is why, Abarai was on the phone, to cut contacts, "Got more test subjects for me Abarai?"

"No, I do not... All For One,"

"Hmm, you sound exasperated," All For One said, his smirk could be heard in his voice.

"I'm calling to say that the commission is stopping any trade with you. You can still contact us but only with the board members. No use of the lower employees."

Abarai winced hearing a snarl on the other side, "Is this because of the Aldera case? Garaki orchestrated it by having the teachers crush the students' confidences so that it's easier to kidnap them. But we have already erased all the evidence on our side,"

"It's not because of the case. It's because of the investigating officer, Midoriya Hisashi," Abarai spat, "He has equal power to that of the police commissioner and is the one who caught Wazashi. He has enough authority and common sense to turn the police into a monstrous force. Not to mention, he probably figured out about us from Wazashi. I told you to kill him!"

All For One snorted, "He's locked up in Tartarus on the very lowest ground. To kill him you would need to launch a full-scale attack. I don't want to reveal myself so early,"

"Whatever. Just like you have cut yourself off from Aldera, we are cutting you off too. If Hisashi comes to know of our relation, we are finished!"

"You don't have to be so afraid of a small police officer. Where am I supposed to get test subjects now that Aldera is gone and you are cutting off?" All For One demanded.

"I don't know,"

"Maybe I should let the police know of what you did. That way it gives me cover to do what I need,"

"If you do that, we are going to let them know you are still alive as well. The only way we get through this is sticking together,"

All For One snorted, "Ironic that you say that when you are cutting off my test subject supply,"

"You can still get them elsewhere, just not from us," Abarai replied, "You better hope that Wazashi doesn't spill the fact that he gave the test reports on Nedzu to Garaki,"

"Hmph, even if he does what will the police do? They are a bunch of cowards,"

"Don't say I never warned you about Midoriya Hisashi,"

All For One scowled and hung up. The police didn't scare him but he had to admit Abarai had a point. If Wazashi spilled what he knew, All Might would be after him again with that accursed rat. Wazashi worked for the hero commission and passed on his notes of Nedzu's experimentation to Garaki who was using them to make the Nomu. That rat was too smart and would be able to make the connection in an instant.

Normally, he would try to kill this Hisashi even though he thought that he was harmless. But at the moment, the Aldera case had him in a jiffy. The disappearance of the lead investigator would draw eyes to him, so would killing off Wazashi. All For One screamed in rage and broke his table. All he could do for now was sit tight and hope for the best. He was losing control and he didn't like it.