Chapter 18: Knee Deep.
With the bodies in our arms having been given to Nezu to be taken back to UA for analysis and burial, we once more were back in the car, still with no radio and a somber pattering of rain being the only sound.
I was simply in the backseat with Nezu just twirling a coin in my hand, one that I had found on the compartment of the door. My fingers moved deftly as the rotations became faster and faster, self sustaining as the energy of the spinning grew.
It got me thinking. About Spin, or more specifically the Zepelli Spin, Golden Spin, whatever it really is called. Spin is a gateway for super-dimensional energy breaching attacks, manipulation of natural forces to an extreme extent and more specifically Stand awakenings. I'm not sure how it works though.
I tried to wish for a [Divine Protection] that would help me manifest the Spin in this world but all I got given was the [Divine Protection of Gyration]. I have no idea what it does. I assume it is simply Hephaestus trying to anger me for my inability to use it, but this isn't even a Steel Ball. If I want to truly enter the realm of Rotational Energy then I'll need to get one of those.
"I have some business i need to attend to. Do I have permission to move freely in this internship week?"
"Reinhard, what business could you possibly need to attend to that outweighs the importance of keeping you secure?"
"A young girl being tortured and experimented on by a Quirk that disassembles people by the molecule, a possible conspiracy in the Japanese prison systems, I'm pretty sure the Meta Liberation Army are still around, there's a high chance that Stain and the League are making contact as we speak, and I'm also quite concerned about whether I trust you to actually keep me secure in the first place."
"Given that you have no proof for any of your claims beyond what I can only assume is 'my quirk told me so' I will take them with a grain of salt and assume that this is your childish rebellion, or some phase."
"Are we really gonna go through this same song and dance again, Nezu? You'd trust Nighteye in a heartbeat but my information is busted because it came from my Quirk? Won't help me save a young girl all because you don't trust me, even though I have far more reason not to trust you?"
"Okay then. Where's the girl?"
"I... She's with Yakuza, of that I know. I'm not sure where exactly... my Quirk doesn't give precise locations."
"So you want us to plan an entire raid operation on a Yakuza group, against such a powerful Quirk that could produce a net loss of heroes, in a base that you don't even know the location of for a girl you have no way of being sure is still even alive."
"Nezu, go easy on the boy. He just dealt with a traumatic event. Besides, he's trying to think like a hero."
"No, Toshinori. I've spent long enough dealing with this trite conversation. Reinhard, you're already on thin ice enough for the death of Yuko Genpaki, so I wouldn't push it if I were you. Accept that you simply aren't a hero yet, and that you can't just assume to know how the system works."
"How come I have to follow procedure when All Might can go wherever he wants, do whatever he wants, whenever he wants? I can help people, people that need it, but you won't let me no matter what I do."
"All Might has the strength to fix his mistakes, if he ever even causes one. All you do is make them, but so far you haven't fixed a single one, Reinhard. You've got good intentions but those roads are often paved with blood."
"Name one mistake I made that I haven't fixed and I'll drop this argument here and now!"
"Yuga Aoyama."
My blood runs cold, frozen solid nearly, though my face gives nothing away due to [Emotional Composure] taking effect immediately. That act still haunts me to this day, and I can't escape it seems.
"Did you think I wouldn't notice? A murder, near my school no less? You must have thought me a fool. I investigated the body, run checks on the family myself and found that there was a relation to All For One. My best guess is that he was a spy.
You had good intentions, Reinhard, but you don't get to simply murder a young man because of wanting to follow those intentions. You don't even show any emotion right now. Is that another of your [Divine Protections]? A disgusting power if it is. To completely isolate your emotional capabilities at will, yet even now you think I can trust you running around with no supervision?"
"Christ, Nezu, what the hell's gotten into you? I thought we agreed we wouldn't give away that we knew until we proved the kid was on our side? Wasn't that the whole point of bringing Cathleen into this?"
"There's a reason for everything I do, All Might. If Reinhard thinks he can do whatever he wants because he believes it to be the right thing then we'd have a crisis on our hands. I hope you understand that, Reinhard. I hold no ill will for you, my actions are that of Justice."
"Thats it then, isn't it? Keep me chained here, hold Aoyama's death above me like a guillotine, treat me like your own fucking guard dog. Send me out to kill anyone you don't like or who threatens your 'justice'. Either that or I'll be lulled into a false sense of safety after a while and disposed of before long."
"I'm appalled your opinion of me is so low. I wouldn't gamble losing such a valuable asset as yourself for this country, however you need to properly learn how these things work first and foremost. I had hoped we were moving towards an agreement, that we could form an understanding between us. It seems I was wrong."
"Did you really think I'd be happy sitting here in this car, being treated like a liability, going to classes like a fucking child when there are people out there I KNOW are suffering, people I can help? What part of that did you think I would agree with?"
"Careful now, Reinhard. That almost sounds like you want to leave the school. It'd be a shame if you were to be found guilty for a murder just after being kicked out of Hero School, I imagine a large number of people would be asking for you in shackles."
♧◇♡♤
All Might, and Tsukauchi who had been silently listening while driving were in similar lines of thought. Tsukauchi was entirely on Nezu's side after hearing that Reinhard killed a boy, though he was connected to All For One. Murder shouldn't be excused when it came to regular people.
All Might himself would have understood if this was some high level confidante of All For One, but it was simply a young man who was most likely threatened into servitude. In any other circumstance, he would have sympathised with Reinhard, but this time he was clearly in the wrong. Extremely so.
"You want to hold his death over my head, keep dangling a reminder of it everywhere I go as if I don't already feel guilty for it? As if I don't have trouble looking in the mirror, knowing that I'll never be as good as my predecessor because of one irrational fear, because I woke up fucking immortal, a god in all rights, and made a mistake while high on that power. You think I just go about my life, uncaring for what I did? You're wrong. You're completely fucking wrong, and if you think I'm some kind of maniac who thinks himself righteous then you couldn't be further from the truth.
I get that what I did was despicable. I understand that, I suffer for it every day. Just stop treating me like some rabid animal or some incompetent child. You people fucked up letting that man survive, and now I'm having to pick up the pieces of your mistakes, so shut the fuck up about me being the problem. Sooner or later I'll end up sick and tired of these hurdles and start solving the issue myself, circumstances be dammed."
I'm not given a response. Though I know I've slipped up because Nezu seems to be mouthing the word 'predecessor' to himself.
♧◇♡♤
When we get back to UA, All Might takes me aside and brings me to his office, where he asks me what we should do for the rest of the internship.
"I thought you didn't plan to have me do anything? That it was going to be a one time thing?"
"Listen, kid, I may not agree with how you went about it, and it may be a damnable thing, but you're clearly guilty for it, and that shows that you know it was bad enough to judge yourself over it. What you said there, about people needing help when no-one else would... it resonated with me. Half of the reason I became the Symbol of Peace is because people were afraid to become heroes under All For One's regime, and the other half was to make sure there'd always be a hero to help, no matter what.
It wasn't unusual to see a newly debuted hero come up dead a few weeks after they got off the scene. The bastard kept Hero schools running just so he could murder a few graduates they had and relish in their pain. Keep them on their toes, remind them they aren't as strong as they think. He did the same with my master. I felt responsible for all the suffering they went though, because deep down I knew he was trying to lure me out to get One For All.
What I'm trying to say is that I know what its like to do what you think is right, even when everyone else knows it isn't. This time, though, you'll do better than me. I know it. Now, the problem here is that I barely have 2 hours in my Hero form a day, and I'm certain that number went down from our fight with Gigantomachia."
"Thats a problem. The internship is already under you, though. Is there any way we could work around that? Have you walk around in Skinny Might form whenever I go out, act as a secretary or something? Or maybe even just defer me to someone else?"
"Defer you, huh? Hehe, I think I know just who would jump at the opportunity to have you. It won't be a week with the number one hero, but it'll be close enough." He hands me a piece of paper with a charred corner, and simply waves me off. Its an address, one that I'm familiar with thanks to my studies here.
He's sending me to fucking Endeavour.
♧◇♡♤
When I walk through the door to the 20 story building of untold fucking opulence, seriously how much money does this guy have, anyways as I was saying when I walk through the door I have to wait a few minutes for the receptionist to finish talking with a man of brusque stature with an extremely high pitch voice before she rings me over.
"Hello, my name is Reinhard van Astrea, and I was referred here by All Might for my internship due to him having to handle personal business."
"Oh! Well, thats certainly a pleasant surprise. I'll call someone through to escort you to Mr Todoroki's office. Please wait on one of the chairs and we'll be with you soon."
The chairs are about as you'd expect, though oddly enough they're green rather than red. Maybe Endeavour is having an identity crisis. I hope he won't mind if I borrow some of their steel, though. [Divine Protection of Alchemy] activates and forms the steel on my right side to a perfectly spherical, grooved green ball.
The core concept of the [Spin] is movement that creates momentum enough and in the precise manner to produce energy, rotational energy and in some cases golden rotational energy. There is also the infinite rotation, but I'm not too sure I'll ever get my hands on that given I don't have a horse.
Though, I think I'm getting the hang of something here, because the moment I flick my wrist with [Gyration] active, I see sparks of orange lightning flickering around both the ball and my palm. I'll need a lot more practice to even make it do half of the things Gyro can, though already the knowledge of its uses are in my brain thanks to [War God] granting me mastery of all weapons. I can throw the Steel Ball just fine, but I can't manifest the energy properly.
"Ahem."
I look up from the spinning ball on my palm and see a woman with a sleek white coat, though not nearly as visually pleasing as mine, with flaming hair. I mean seriously how does someone even brush that?
"Hey there, newbie. Heard you were in for some training time with the bossman. All Might sent you, yada yada. I don't care. Right now? I wanna see that confidence plummet when he beats you into the ground. I mean, what kind of hotshot do you think you are to just walk in here and ask for Endeavour?"
"Obviously a very important one given that you're here to escort me to him."
"Oh, so you got mouth too, huh kid? Alright then, show me how important you are, shit for brains. I'll educate you on how things work around here real quick."
Before she can follow up on her threat and drag me over to the training arena, Endeavour walks in to the reception with Todoroki in tow and the atmosphere plummets. Its almost like everyone here is afraid of this guy. I still don't finish spinning my Steel Ball, though. I need as much practice with this as possible, and I can maintain the rotation temporarily with my offhand.
Endeavour walks over and stands in front of me, folding his arms over his chest as he looks me up and down, noticing the new sword on my back. He looks over to Todoroki as if questioning how his son ever lost to me before pausing, then nodding slightly.
"I can work with this. Reinhard, if All Might wasn't capable of teaching you anything then you will find I am more than capable. I will have your respect from now until the end of the week, though. No disobedience, you obey the command you are given. Now, come. Shoto was just about to begin his training, and I need a baseline for what you are capable of."
"That's fine with me, though you will quickly understand that my combat rating hard to deduce. Do you know my Quirk?"
"No. Its just classified information all around. I imagine there's a good reason for that."
"I'll tell you about it in a less open location. Once I get permission as well."
♧◇♡♤
"Hey, All Might, would it be fine for Endeavour to learn about my Quirk?"
"Eh? Oh, sure kid. I doubt he could do anything bad with it anyway, I mean he's the number 2 Hero for crying out loud."
Huh. That was easier than expected. I hang up the phone and glance over at Todoroki who i absolutely know has had to deal with his father pestering him for this information. I'm glad Nezu made everyone sign an NDA under threat of martial law because if there is one thing I regret, its disclosing information about my powers so early. Fucking mistake. I put away the phone and sigh, motioning for Todoroki to close the blinds and windows of the office on the 20th floor.
"Now, this information will not leave your mouth to anyone else under threat of martial law by the Japanese government. My Quirk, [Divine Blessings] grants me any power I desire as long as I require it or truly desire for it."
To his credit, Endeavour does not throw a fit or lash out in anger. Instead, he stills for a moment in thought, looking down at the table. After a brief second, he gains this sorrowful glint in his eyes, as he looks upon his son, truly realising for the first time that there really was no hope, no longer trying to deny that everything he did to his family was worthless all along.
"I see."
He says nothing further. He just walks over to his door and exits, leaving myself and Todoroki alone in the room together, leaving me to start once more practicing my Spin as he stares on.
"Thank you, Reinhard. I don't know if you're aware of it, but he needed this. I'm not sure if this is the incentive he needed to fix our family, I'm not even sure if I want him to. I know you didn't mean for this to happen, but thank you."
I get the basic sparknotes of his speech, and I'm glad as well, but I honestly had no idea that was going to happen. My Steel Ball rotations are slowly growing faster. I can hear something, a voice that is whispering in the back of my mind, though I can't make out the words. It isn't the same as Hephaestus though. Its warmer, much less life threatening. Maybe its just paranoia manifesting in a more familiar way. Shame I can't get [Divine Protections] that mitigate mental illness.
"You're welcome? I didn't realise my existence would have such an impact on him."
Todoroki doesn't give me an answer, simply staring for a moment then looking away to stand around and wait for Endeavour's return. The silence is a lot better than awkwardly trying to make small talk with him, thats for sure. Thankfully, we don't have to wait long because the man of the hour returns to us only a few minutes later, this time with a piece of paper in his hand.
He strides over to me and places the paper right in front of me, and slams a pen down right next to it. To my surprise, it isn't a marriage contract, but simply a written form of permission that I am allowed to use my 'Quirk' whenever I deem fit during the internship, with some credit being given to Endeavour as exchange. I sign faster than anyone in the room can blink, because this is exactly what I need.
"Good. You already seem to be much more keen than I expected. I like that. Hard work is always greater than natural talent, and you seem to have the latter in spades. I hope you're prepared, because I plan to work you down to the bone."
Finally, a decent chance to actually go out and save some lives. I decide that perhaps carrying lethal weaponry isn't the best idea and shove everything I can barring Reid into a [Gate of Babylon] and walk behind Endeavour, towards the training rooms where he plans to get an understanding of our abilities. Or, mine, because I'm quite sure he knows Shoto's more than anyone else.
Bring it on, I say. Ain't gonna let myself be deadweight, thats for sure, and I figure this'll be decent training against flame users. Though I already have an 80% resistance to those so I guess it'll be small help.
Eh fuck it, better than being stuck in UA with Nezu. I'm sure he's already spent several hours theorising why I mentioned a predecessor, hopefully he comes up blank.
Knowing my luck I'll be questioned once again and I'd rather not explain that their entire world is fiction and I am technically an alien because that's a fast pass to a mental institution, presumably where they'd test on me in a lab and turn me into a fucking guinea pig for their twisted experiments.
Man, why couldn't I have woken up in fucking Food Wars or something. Woulda made this shit a whole lot easier to manage.
Weekly Power Status
-- Power
Ranking 
-- Power
stone