Chapitre 30: Nezu’s Office
Ayako escorted Kai through the school, chatting with him about classes. As they walked, Kai's steps slowly became steady. It seemed that he was right about his recovery. Once he was able to walk without wobbling, she left his side. This meeting wasn't really her business.
And she wanted to see if she could still catch some of Class 1-A. They'd had a rough day, and the answers she had given them weren't the most comforting. Maybe she could do a bit of damage control.
Kai made it to Nezu's office without a problem. Unfortunately, the door was locked. Unwilling to wait, Kai tapped a finger to the door and summoned a changeling through it. After a moment of debate, he reached out to the changeling's chest, which opened up a small cavity. Inside was a leather roll, which contained a lockpicking set. He could have let the changeling do the work using its shapeshifting to get into the lock, but that wasn't as fun.
Besides, he might get rusty at this rate. And rusty he was, taking about four times his record to pick the lock.
The office on the other side of the door was simply decorated. Seeing two couches facing each other, Kai decided to lie down there and wait for both the principal and for the neurotoxin to finish wearing off. There was a weird, bitter taste in his mouth that just wasn't going away. He found the tea supplies and started some water boiling before lying down.
He was just considering a nap when Nezu returned.
"Took you long enough. You know, you are shorter in person."
"You didn't have to pick the lock." Nezu said, making a cup of tea. "If you had just knocked, I would have gotten a notification on my phone, and would have been here earlier. Instead, you sent a different alert when the door opened."
"Is that so?" Kai asked, lifting his head off the arm of the couch. "Well, I guess you would have some security here. Did Yagi-san tell you what happened?"
"Recovery Girl, actually. She was helping him and Midoriya, and most of it came out."
Kai put his head back down. "So, was she able to help him, or will I have to cure him?"
"I think she was able to help him, but you will still need to help undo the mess you have created," Nezu said, sitting on the couch opposite Kai. "You really did a number on him. Despite your intentions, I cannot condone your actions."
"I wasn't going to ask for forgiveness anyways." Kai turned upright. "I just couldn't sit back and allow something I felt was wrong."
"There, at least, I think we can agree." Nezu took a long sip of tea. "You really do have a strong sense of justice. Though you gave me so much information about yourself, I did worry that you were trying to hide more."
"Having the teachers as a contingency plan is useless if they aren't prepared. I couldn't lie or understate things at all. Still, I guess I didn't list all of my history and all that. Please tell me I have an Interpol file labelled, 'Anubis,'" he asked eagerly.
"Ah, well, I think I shall have to disappoint you there. You are simply 'The Executioner.' Officially speaking as a Pro Hero, you are a terrible and macabre person." Nezu took a sip of tea. "Unofficially, those thugs deserved it, and you managed to save many people from a fate worse than death. Though, I have to wonder what your mother was thinking, pushing you into such a life at such a young age."
Kai was silent for a moment. "She was thinking that I needed to be a survivor. That was more important than having a childhood. Besides, before the first time, she explained everything that we were about to do and made sure it was my choice. She presented it to me, but in the end, I think there can be no blame on her for what I have done."
"… Except for accelerating your mental growth so that you could make the decision to kill at the age of four," Nezu said sadly.
"I guess. But it cost her mind, then her life." Kai got up to make himself a cup of tea. "Have you already asked Yagi-san to come?"
"Naturally. I sent him a text as soon as I saw you break in. I don't suppose that you could refer to your teacher with the correct honorifics, at least?"
"No."
"Care to say more about it?"
"No."
"Very well."
And so, the two turned their focus to their cups of tea. Which was how All Might found them a while later. In fact, he had arrived just a few minutes after the two finished talking, but he was nervous about the possibility that Nezu might even side with Kai. His heart wouldn't be able to take it. But, eventually, he built up the courage to enter the room.
As soon as he opened the door and entered, Kai stood up. After a moment staring him in the eye, he bowed. Deep enough for an apology, but no more than necessary, not like he had apologized to his classmates before.
"I exaggerated your past to widen old wounds. I used the fact that you are a good person to wound you. It was the only way that I could win a fight with you. I am sorry that that is what I did, but I still believe you needed the lecture."
All Might was stunned for a moment. With the rage that Kai had shown before, and his… savageness in in how he dealt with the situation in class before, he wouldn't have expected an apology. Not without being forced.
When the moment was over, All Might returned the bow of apology. However, his bow was as deep as he could manage.
"No… Young Kaisei, as much as it hurts, you weren't wrong. Although, I have no idea how you knew so much about me."
Kai walked over to the tea set and started making All Might a cup.
"It took a couple of months of research. My mom set it as an exercise. When I presented it to her, do you want to know what she said? She said that I shouldn't trust a hero whose faults were hidden. That's why she raised me to use the old stories as my heroes. Captain America, Spiderman, Batman, Naruto, Goku, Iroh… I could see what made them great, including the flaws. You… tried to pretend you never had any. I guess it's your obsession with being the Symbol of Peace."
"What is wrong with being the Symbol of Peace? I have made a great difference in this world." All Might took the cup and sat down next to Nezu.
"First off, I have a lot of reason to disbelieve the idea that your existence has dropped the worldwide crime rate any amount, much less what the media says. If you haven't gathered so, I have had a lot of experience going around the world and cleaning up messes that people would rather pretend don't exist. They still do exist, and organized crime is still alive and well. They are just even more careful than before. I'd like to think that I've terrorized them off of human trafficking, but I'm sure I'd find another ring if I looked.
"Second, just answer this question for me," Kai said, holding up a single finger. "Did people dream of being heroes before you came along?"
Kai sat down and took a sip of tea. "Even with all that I have seen of the darkness of humanity, that we saw around the world, my mom never forgot to teach me that humans are inherently good. If that weren't the case, we as a species wouldn't have developed laws and had people to enforce them. The world would have simply been lawless.
"But that isn't the case. Those who want to go against basic decency tend to have a hard time about it. History is a mess of prejudices and hatred, but it has generally tended toward greater acceptance and peace. At the very least, people always came to see the faults in their society and tried to change them. We didn't need a Symbol of Peace. Nice idea, but not wholly necessary.
"Do you realize the position you have put the world in by making that place for yourself? There isn't anyone ready to completely fill your place, and people have become dependent on that symbol. And who do you think they will try to put there? That r*pey bastard that my mom made me promise to slap at the first opportunity! Just because he is hero number two. Why didn't you find Midoriya to be your successor before?"
Kai took another long sip of tea, savoring the looks on the faces across from him. It was good being right.
L’AVIS DES CRÉATEURS 
Tvrkm
Tvrkm Really, with his condition, he waited a bit too long to find a successor for One For All.
Maybe I'm a little too hopeful, but I really do think that the average person is decent. At least, I would rather hope that the tiresome ones that cause international strife, or even just harass fast food workers, are only the smallest sliver of humanity that are only possessing a small sliver of humanity. They are just the source of outstanding stories for the news and politically sinister.
And stories for people to laugh at and make fun of them with reddit.