Capítulo 14: Chapter 14
Izuku stepped out of the restroom, leaving the Herrscher to vanish from his view. Yet he still felt her, an indescribable weight that hovered over him for the past few days as her presence lingered since he had processed she was bonded to him. Strangely it wasn't just her presence that had weighed him, but also her words.
Those cruel, cruel worlds she had spoken to him. Not the ones that detailed and outlined her hatred, or her desire for destruction. It was not any of the insults she made about him being weak. He was long since accustomed to such abuse. However, the recent words she had spoken had left their mark on him.
"He hurt you. You let him. He's not your friend." Her words echoed as Izuku stepped forward. "You did nothing. You just stood there and took it. You're not weak because you lack a quirk, you're weak because you lack a spine."
It was not true, Izuku tried to rationalize. Once upon a time, he and Bakugo had been friends. They had been friends since they were little before they had even gotten their quirks. They were once inseparable.
But could that really be said now?
After Bakugo got his quirk and Izuku didn't, things changed. Bakugo started to excel, excel at everything. He was more popular, he was smarter, he was stronger, and he was braver. He was the coolest. He was everything Izuku wanted to be. It was like many people said, he was a prime candidate for being a hero.
The Herrscher seemed to think otherwise. She dismissed the idea that Bakugo was a hero and ignored every bit of proof he was. Every detail given, she would find a fault and easily dismiss it away.
"What would she know anyway?" Izuku would have liked to argue. The Herrscher was a villain, a parasite that had latched onto his body. She didn't care for him, all she cared about was destroying humanity. She only wanted to kill people. How could she know what it took to make a hero?
Besides, it's not like she was any different from what she said about Bakugo. She used her power to hurt others for no reason. She threatened Izuku just the same. She abused her power to hurt those around her for no reason other than just because she could, and it was only because of Izuku's reluctance that she could never go further.
Maybe it was all just her lies. Maybe it was all just a trick. She wanted him to listen to her, to give her a foothold. Then she'd just wrench it from and destroy his person. Izuku wasn't going to believe. He wasn't going to believe her lies.
He renewed his resolve and walked downstairs. That's right. He wasn't going to let those lies get to him. He knew the truth. He trusted the truth. She's a liar and he couldn't believe the words that came from her lips.
"Ouch." Izuku winced as he felt a jolt through his body. He held the side of the staircase to steady himself. His body still hurt. He was sore from his training and then Bakugo's… he caught himself. Bakugo venting his frustration had left him in even more pain. Still, Izuku continued as he went down the stairs.
And then he saw them…
Besides his mom, Mrs. Mitsuki, and Kachaan, was a detective and All Might in his shrunken form. Izuku's heart almost dropped as panic set in. Why was All Might here? Why now? Did he know?
"What the hell is the problem now?" The Herrscher snapped as she suddenly manifested beside him. Izuku almost jumped at her voice. Almost, the Herrscher had held him steady if only for a few seconds to avoid drawing attention. "Well." She asked half annoyed.
"Um…"
It was all Izuku could mutter before her eyes followed where he was watching. Her eyes seemed to light up upon seeing All Might. "Well, it looks like this night is not a total waste." She chuckled. She could do with a good fight and All Might as far she knew was the best one in this world.
"Ah, Izuku," Inko called out. "Come, this is Detective Naomasa and Mr. Yagi." She introduced the newcomers. Realizing he had no other options, Izuku walked down the steps. The pain from before seemed like a minor inconvenience compared to the sheer dread he felt now.
"Hello Young Midoriya." All Might…no Mr. Yagi greeted as he stretched out his hand. Izuku cautiously took it and shook it. His green eyes kept locked on the blazing blue of the symbol of peace. Izuku took a seat next to his mom. The Herrscher as if daring to mock him had floated and seated herself right beside All Might with an almost cheshire-like grin on her face.
"Now that both of you are here. We can finally get started." Detective Naomasa cleared his throat. "I'm sure you both have questions so let's start with what this is about."
"We are investigating the Herrscher," Yagi explained. "I know that you are all no strangers to her and I am deeply sorry if this conversation may get a little uncomfortable."
"Have you found that witch?" Mitsuki growled as she stood up. The polite tone she had used with them prior had disappeared almost immediately, leaving an angry woman not to dissimilar to her own child. No one could really blame her, it was an expected response for a mother to have to mention her son's attacker.
"I'm afraid we haven't." Mr. Yagi lifted his hands in defense. "We're working on it, trust me, that's why we are here."
"Mitsuki. Please calm down." Inko assured her as he held Mitsuki's arm and lowered her back to her seat. Suffice it to say it worked shockingly well; Inko had managed to easily curb her friend's anger.
"As Mr. Yagi was saying." Detective Naomasa continued. "We've been looking at all possible leads we could find."
"And have you found anything?" Inko asked.
"The current theory we have is that she's targeting those connected to Aldera Junior High." The Detective added. He let the room gasp in shock for a few seconds before he continued. "Now it's nothing concrete yet, so far it's just a sheer coincidence but we can't rule it out just yet." The Detective glanced at Yagi. The other man seemed to look a little nervous, at least that's what Izuku thought.
"Currently while she has two attacks, there have been pieces that have linked her to the school on at least three separate counts," Yagi explained. "The first is the destruction of the school in question, the second is when she attacked Young Bakugo…and the third was in the most recent attack with Young Midoriya." He noted.
"Wait…what?" Inko gasped as she turned to her son. "You were attacked by the Herrscher." She repeated as held onto her son.
"No Mom." Izuku tried to reassure. "It wasn't like that. I was just around the villain attack when it happened. I got away and found my way home." Izuku tried to calm her. "I didn't want you to worry. Nothing bad had happened to me."
"Mr. Midoriya." The Detective interrupted. "I must inform you beforehand that my quirk is a polygraph quirk." He warned. "It allows me to deduce whether a person is telling the truth or not. I know you don't want your mother to worry but right now we expect you to be very honest with us." The Detective informed.
"Oh…okay." Izuku gulped. Oh, this was bad, there was no way he was going to be able to get out of this one. His mom would definitely find out for sure what had happened to him. She'd learn all about the Herrscher and then. Izuku didn't want to think about it. If the secret got out, the Herrscher would hurt them, and Izuku couldn't do anything about it. His gaze narrowly shifted to the Herrscher who was just looking at him and smiling.
Then he saw it.
The blonde hair beside the Herrscher. Izuku's eyes glanced to All Might and a warmth feeling started to bubble in his chest, hope. Wait a minute, All Might was still here, he realized. He had fought the Herrscher before.
Glancing at the Detective the gears in Izuku's head started to turn. Normally, a confession like this might sound crazy, but the Detective could verify he was telling the truth. If he could warn them quickly enough then…All Might could stop the Herrscher. Izuku took a deep breath.
"I'd hold that tongue if I were you." The Herrscher warned with a smug smirk. "Do you really think it's that easy to betray me?" She questioned. "Or do you not realize how dire the situation really is for you?"
"I…" Izuku was caught like a deer in headlights and those headlights were piercing amber eyes that had locked onto his soul.
"Don't worry, I'm not mad." The Herrscher assured. "I've expected it for some time now, but I must warn you, this will not end how you expect it." She explained.
"If you lie to them, then they figure you are lying, think you are connected to me, arrest you, and force you to reveal what you know. You'll either be imprisoned for aiding me along with your mother or you'll be locked up all alone in a cell and left to rot with only me as your sole companion."
"Alternatively, you can tell the truth either now or in that scenario and risk this next outcome." The Herrscher chided. "You tell the truth, I take over and in the brief moments of shock that everyone might have, I kill everyone here." The Herrscher noted.
"So far I've avoided killing because I was being pragmatic, Izuku. I've left your mother alive as she's a decent tool to manipulate you with, I've let Bakugo live because I wanted to make him suffer for you," The Herrscher listed off. "As for All Might, he's simpler than you think. He has one foot in the grave, a very exploitable weak spot to hit and my power is the perfect counter to him."
"If you sell me out…I don't really have to care what happens next, they are all fair game and I can do it very quickly, very easily." The Herrscher whispered.
"So tell me…what are you going to do?"
"I can stop you." Izuku tried to defend.
"No, you can't." The Herrscher mocked. "All I need is to overpower you for one, only one second, and that's it for at least one person. A single lance, straight through the heart, it's all it will take."
"So I ask again, what are you going to do?"
Izuku didn't answer her. He wasn't sure what to do. He didn't know what to do. He clenched his fist, no, there has to be some way for him to get out of this.
"So now that we've cleared that up, which one of you would like to go first?" The Detective questioned.
"Deku." Bakugo volunteered. "You go first. Make it quick." He scowled.
"What? Why me?" Izuku argued.
"Simple…everyone already knows about me. Maybe they'll find something new from you." Bakugo brushed aside.
Izuku wanted to argue but he couldn't. He didn't have a rebuttal. "Alright." Izuku sighed in defeat.
"Mrs. Bakugo, Mrs. Midoriya may we please go in another room?" Naomasa asked the two moms. Inko glanced at her son. She was hesitant but eventually, she conceded. Izuku didn't say no and she didn't want to jeopardize her son's testimony. She had a feeling he'd try and lie if she was watching, he always tried to lie to avoid worrying her or hurting her.
"You may." Inko relented.
Seeing Inko give permission, Mitsuki leads the Detective and Izuku to Masaru's private study. Once there she closes the door and heads back to join Yagi, Inko, and Katsuki.
"So how do we do this exactly?" Izuku questioned. "I mean, how does your quirk work factor into this, if you don't mind me asking?"
"Well, it's simple." True Man told him. "I will ask you a question, if it is true my quirk will tell me it is, if it isn't then I will know you are not telling the truth."
"That's a really good quirk for a detective," Izuku admitted.
"If I had a nickel for every time I heard that." The Detective chuckled. "Alright then," his face hardened. "Let's start going through the questions."
"Question 1: When was the first time you ever saw the Herrscher?"
"Oh, that's an easy one. I saw her the day after she attacked Bakugo. She was on the news broadcast." Izuku answered as he recalled that…horrible day. He had thought it was a nightmare but it wasn't. It was real, very real.
"And have you seen her since?" The Detective followed up.
"Well…she's been on the news a lot," Izuku noted.
"I meant in person. We have an eyewitness who claims they saw you at the last villain attack scene. Did you see the Herrscher in person there?" The Detective questioned.
"Well…I saw she was on the roof." Izuku noted.
"Anywhere else before the roof?"
"Um…well." The Detective looked up at Izuku, his eyes were very serious. Izuku had to choose his next words very carefully. Especially with the two pairs of eyes looking at him. "Yes." Izuku admitted. "I did see her."
"Where?"
"She was in the cafe. No one saw her at the time because nobody could. I didn't even know she was there, not until…"
"Not until what?" The Detective asked curiously.
"The roof had collapsed and I was buried under the rubble," Izuku admitted. "That's when I found out she was there."
"She was buried under the rubble with you?" The Detective questioned in surprise. "But the rubble wasn't disturbed? All Might had arrived and cleared it out himself."
"That's because…" Izuku paused for a moment. There were other ways of describing what the Herrscher did. Right? She moved the rubble off. She teleported him away. She… "She saved me," Izuku answered.
To say the Detective was surprised was an understatement. He tried to hide it, but it was clear that wasn't the answer was expecting to hear. Although it also wasn't the answer Izuku wanted to give, it did have better follow-up.
"Is there a reason she saved you?" Naomasa asked suspiciously.
"When I talked to her, she said she was debating, whether to wait for me to fall unconscious or die first," Izuku answered. "However when she couldn't tell what was going to happen, she just opened a portal and warped us to another location," Izuku explained.
"I see," Naomasa noted.
"So, are there any other questions?" Izuku wondered.
"Do you have any idea why she'd target Aldera Junior High?" The Detective questioned.
"I'm not sure I can answer that without sounding biased," Izuku admitted.
"How so?"
"I uh…I don't have many pleasant memories with the school." Izuku confessed. "It's always been a miserable experience, the teachers were hard on me, and it always got a little rough with my classmates," Izuku told him. "If the Herrscher had unpleasant memories like mine, I can see her destroying the school."
"I see. You think she wants revenge."
"Who could say?" Izuku admitted. "For all the coverage we've gotten. I doubt any of us really 'know' the Herrscher, me included. She's… an enigmatic being. She's less of a person and feels more like an alien in a sense or some sort of spirit or ghost. I'm not sure I'd even understand what she thinks."
"Can't say I'm surprised." The Detective agreed. No one had actually figured out the Herrscher at the moment and that was the problem. How do you counter something you don't know?
"So the next question I have deals with Katsuki Bakugo. Do you have any idea why she might target him?" The Detective asked.
"Um…" This one had stumped Izuku. The Herrscher's explanation was that she hated him because Izuku hated him. That couldn't be true right? Would it make him an accomplice if he did answer that his rage was the reason? No, he should relax. Speak the truth.
"Bakugo's a good person," Izuku answered. "He's got the makings of a good hero when he gets older. I'm sure the Herrscher targeted him because of that." This time the detective paused. He looked down at what he had been writing the response from. "Is there a problem sir?" Izuku questioned.
"Izuku may I ask you another question, before I answer?"
"Um sure,"
"Izuku, is Bakugo your friend?" Naomasa asked.
"Yes," Izuku answered. "We've been friends since childhood."
"I see."
"So…what does your quirk say?" Izuku questioned.
"It says you are lying," Naomasa noted.
"That's…that's not true." Izuku defended. "Bakugo's my friend, I believe that."
"That's interesting," Naomasa noted. "Alright, you've convinced me. I believe Bakugo's your friend." He reassured Izuku. "I'll disregard the previous answers on the matter. Is that okay?"
"Oh…okay sir," Izuku answered.
"You've answered everything I've gotten so far." The Detective noted.
"Was it helpful?" Izuku wondered.
"Hard to say, but we hope it is. The Herrscher has caused a lot of problems for us."
"Don't I know it," Izuku muttered.
The Detective dismissed Izuku. The young boy felt relief that he had just narrowly managed to get by the Detective's lie detection quirk. Upon leaving the room there was a light feeling in his body. It was strange. the Herrscher's hostility had vanished. She was still there, but he didn't feel her anger as much now. She wasn't even visible now.
"Herrscher?" Izuku tried to call out. He could feel something, a light response from her. She was still present but it seemed like she was not in the mood to speak. Izuku didn't know how to feel about that. On one hand, it didn't seem like she was considering killing everyone but the silence still unsettled him. He had tried to be as vague as possible and played very loosely with the way he described things.
His secret wasn't revealed but he also wasn't lying. At least he sincerely hoped he didn't get caught. Still...
When he rejoined the others, he found All Might chatting with his and Bakugo's mom. Seems like the pro hero really had a way with words. Surprisingly it was All Might who had noticed him. "Ah, Young Midoriya, you're back." He addressed. "Is everything okay?"
"Yeah, it was fine," Izuku answered. "Kachaan."
"I'm going, Deku." Bakugo spat. Izuku didn't respond, instead waiting for Bakugo to leave and reach out of earshot.
"Mrs. Midoirya is it okay if I step out and talk to your son now? I have my questions that might need answering." Yagi told Inko.
"Um…okay." Inko agreed.
From how apprehensive she was before to how she was acting now, Izuku was stunned to say the least. He guessed All Might really do have a way with words.
Once again he followed All Might, this time outside the Bakugo residence.
"So…" Izuku wondered. "How can I help you…sir?"
"Well, credit where it's due. You kept your word." All Might smiled. "As for help? I'd like to ask you a question. Do you remember what I said to you on the roof?" He asked.
"Yeah…I remember." Izuku answered. "I couldn't be a hero without a quirk." Izuku sighed. "You don't have to remind me."
"I didn't come to remind you. I came to apologize." All Might told him. "I told you, you couldn't be a hero without a quirk. I was wrong."
"I'm sorry…what," Izuku said in disbelief.
"I said I was wrong." All Might admitted. "You see, at the second villain attack, I met a young kid, and they told me, a young boy who matched your description saved them from being buried under the rubble." He explained. "I presume that boy was you."
"Yeah…that was me," Izuku admitted.
"Well, that boy thinks you are a hero." All Might inform. "And I'm inclined to agree with him."
"What? But you said?"
"I know what I said." All Might told him. "I said you can't be a hero without a quirk and I still stand by that, but I should have worded it better. You can't be a PRO-hero without a quirk." All Might explained."However a hero is not just someone who has some fancy power or cool ability or even some amazing gadget, when it comes down it, a hero is someone who saves lives and Izuku…I believe….
You can still be a hero." All Might smiled at him.
Izuku hadn't even realized when his eyes started to water, nor did he notice when he started to cry.
"Easy there." All Might told him as he placed a hand on Izuku's shoulder. "I know it's probably been hard for you, but I see this spark, it's amazing. I believe you have potential." All Might continued. "And I'm also personally recommending you to U.A."
"What?" Izuku gasped. "Is this for real?"
"U.A. isn't just a school for pro heroes, there are many who go and enter into other fields. If you want a good education then it's the right place to go…and if you…work hard, maybe…just maybe you can take a chance at the hero program." All Might told him.
"I don't know what to say."
"You don't have to say anything right now. You can think about it for the time being." All Might pulled out a card from his pocket and handed it to Izuku. "It's a big decision and you should probably talk it over with your mom."
"Thank you, All Might."
"Don't thank me yet. Just prove me right." All Might told him. "That said if you still feel you need training you can always call me or send me a message and I can see what I can do. I know it may not look like it now, but once upon a time I was in a similar spot to you Izuku and someone took a chance on me." All Might informed.
"I'll…I'll keep it in mind," Izuku said in disbelief. "Thank you. I won't let you down."
"I know you won't." All Might told him. "Now let's head back inside before we worry those two."
"Uh, yeah sure," Izuku answered.
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