Chapitre 136: Chapter 136: Hand in Hand
Izuku really wished he could just, skip this part of his life right now. Just like a whole month of his life.
Things were already difficult seeing as he was dealing with the arrival of his secretary and her daughter, another new child, and all the special accommodations that came with that, dealing with the new branch of his organization and everything that came with that.
And now, he had to deal with the aftermath, of one of his children attacking another one. Oh and the discovery that apparently, Nise likely had D.I.D..
The first matter of course(aside from patching up Shina), was deciding her punishment.
Now, on the one hand, this was a very serious offense.
But on the other hand, the idea of giving a major punishment so soon after Shina just got here, made him wince. And in all honesty, he can't blame a child for acting out of fear, especially not when she just escaped a nightmare.
He more blamed himself for not taking precautions against this. He should have seen something like this coming.
So all and all, he ended up grounding Shina for half a month, which she considered rather generous.
Then of course there was the matter of dealing with the now even timider and confused Nise. Or at least, that's what Izuku wishes he could focus on.
In actuality, the thing Izuku actually had to take care of next, was the massive amount of damage that was caused during their battle.
To say that that was a difficult matter, would be an understatement. It wasn't easy to fix an area after it had all its friction removed, everything was everywhere except for where it should be. All the dirt would have to be dug out and put back, and grass patches would have to be removed and replaced. And of course, all the trees would have to be picked up, sold off, and replanted.
And the amount of paperwork that was required made up a stack almost as big as his head.
Gosh, I can't wait until Chole gets here. Izuku sighed, as he kept reading and signing papers.
Which reminded him, that he still needed to hire more employees. Currently, he only had two security guards, a volunteer helper, and one secretary. Not counting the people from the science division which he left to the head of that department, his most pressing concerns were hiring more security guards(after all if he had more guards during the attack things would have gone better for him), at least one cook, and a doctor/nurse.
And of course, all of this was made harder by the fact that he didn't know who was secretly an assassin sent by a powerful quirkist shadow organization.
Izuku could feel a headache coming on, and so he stopped his current train of thought. Spiraling won't help you. I need to focus on what I'm doing right now, and-
BRRRRRRRRRR!
"Ugh." Izuku groaned as he felt his phone vibrate in his pocket. "Please don't be Namae."
He took out his phone and looked at the caller I.D..
And somehow it was even worse than Namae.
It was Tsuma. Possibly one of the last people Izuku would want to talk to, especially now.
But he also couldn't afford to not answer, given how unstable her whole situation was. If he made a wrong move the woman may end up killing herself.
And so, he picked up. "Hello, Tsuma."
"Hello, Midoriya," Tsuma responded, sounding timid as usual whenever she spoke to him. "I'm sorry for interrupting, I know you're busy, but um…I wanted to see how you were doing after the…attack."
"Well, it's a bit strange for you to be calling about, considering how much time has passed since then." Izuku pointed out.
"Yeahhhhhh…I've been busy with work, and um…other stuff." Tsuma said awkwardly.
"You mean drinking?" Izuku asked, recalling how the woman reeked of alcohol.
"...Yes," Tsuma admitted shamefully. "I'll be completely honest, I've spent most of my time not working in a drunk-addled haze, wondering if I should call you."
Izuku facepalmed. "I'm guessing you were worried about Eri."
"Is she doing ok after the attack? Did any of her friends get hurt? Is she still smiling?" Tsuma dropped all pretenses and started asking questions rapidly fire.
"She's mostly fine," Izuku said, cutting her off before she could continue assaulting him with questions. "She was a bit rattled at first, but she's getting over it. You know she's been through worse, this was almost nothing to her, she's a strong girl."
"...Can you…can you show me some more pictures of her?" Tsuma asked, and he could hear the trepidation in her voice clear as day. She was expecting him to say no. "I know you don't owe me anything but…it would really put my mind at ease."
"Hmmm." Izuku thought it over. He could easily send her over some pictures to ease her mind…but he had another idea. "Alright, I'll send you some more pictures…under one condition."
"Name it," Tsuma said immediately, with no hesitation.
"I want you to send me a picture of you, with other people, having a good time, out in public," Izuku told her.
"...What?" Tsuma asked, sounding absolutely taken aback.
"I want you, to send me a picture, of yourself hanging out with other people, be they coworkers or friends or whatever, and having fun outside someplace," Izuku explained. "Be it a bar or karaoke, or a movie or whatever. Just get out of your house, and start living your life, please. For your sake, for my sake, and for Eri's sake. Because if she found out how you were living right now, she would burst into tears."
He could practically hear her cringing, and he hoped that would be enough to motivate her.
"Now if you excuse me, I have work to do. Send me the picture I want, and I'll send you the picture you want." Izuku told her. "I hope to hear from you soon."
And with that, he hung up.
Izuku sighed. And yet another problem he'd have to watch over.
KNOCK KNOCK!
"Daddy? Can I come in?" Kioku asked from the other side of his office door.
"...Of course honey," Izuku said after taking a second to regain his composure. He didn't want to end up venting his frustrations on his young daughter.
Kioku came in and looked at him with hopeful eyes. "Daddy, can you teach me more about how you work?"
At first, Izuku wanted to refuse. He had so much on his plate already, but then he took a look down at his work. This would be a good opportunity to teach her about how to fix up the forest, and I did agree to teach her…
"Alright, come here," Izuku said, motioning to his lap.
Kioku eagerly ran up to him, and Izuku picked her up and set her on his legs.
"Now I don't have much time, so I need you to pay close attention," Izuku instructed her firmly but gently. "Now here's how you deal with these-"
XXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXX
The rest of the morning Izuku spent teaching Kioku while doing paperwork. Due to having to explain the process very thoroughly to his six-year-old daughter, things went quite a bit slower.
It didn't help that as time went on, it became harder and harder for Kioku to pay attention. As despite her determination to learn, she was still a child, and paperwork was still completely and utterly dull.
By hour five, Izuku could see the life leave his daughter's eyes as she stared blankly at the paperwork.
"Well, I think that's it for our lesson," Izuku said, getting her attention.
"Huh!? Oh um…yeah." Kioku felt a little bad about dropping out of the lesson right now, after all, she could still learn more things about how to help her family…but on the other hand, she was concerned that she might actually die of boredom if this continued.
SLAM!
Suddenly the door burst open, and Sori came strutting in with a plate of food. "Yo boss, I got your food! Ya missed lunch!"
Izuku sighed. "Sori, please knock next time. You're setting a bad example for the kids."
"Sorry, here you go boss," Sori said, serving Izuku his food. "Man that scardey cat girl sure is good at cooking for her age. That fish was delish!"
"What about me? Where's my food?" Kioku asked, feeling a bit peckish.
"Oh hey squirt, didn't see ya there," Sori said, taking notice of the small girl. "Yeah, you got some downstairs for ya. The scaredy cat girl put some aside for ya."
"Well in that case, please go ahead and eat. I'm sure Fuku's worried about you not eating." Izuku told his youngest daughter.
"Thank you, daddy." Kioku said as Izuku helped her off his lap, and she ran out of the room to start eating.
"Ugh." Izuku leaned back and let out an exasperated groan. "I really need to find a teacher for these guys as well."
"Yikes, being you always looks so exhausting, boss," Sori noted, taking a good look at Izuku. "How can you get so tired from just sitting down and signing papers."
"It's more mentally exhausting than anything," Izuku said, before looking at his watch. "Well, I guess this would be a good time to take a break. Please go back to the security room."
"Got it, boss, oh and by the way, Lady K told me to tell her if you started overworking yourself. And said that if you do, she's gonna come in here and make you take a break." Sori warned him casually.
"Yeah, that sounds like her alright." Izuku chuckled.
"Uh-huh. Lady K sure loves you a lot. I'm jealous sir." Sori half-joked, as she strolled out of the room.
Izuku smiled. "As tiring as this job is…it has its perks."
XXXXXXXXXXXX
"Ahhhhh," Izuku said after finishing his meal.
It was about thirty minutes later, and Izuku had retired to his room and decided to watch some hero fights on the news.
RING RING!
Izuku sighed, as he started to hate the sound of his phone ringing.
Although thankfully it was Chole calling, hopefully, with good news.
"Chole, I hope everything is alright on your end." Izuku greeted.
"So far yes," Chole said, her voice sounding a bit tense. "We're at the airport now. Cassy is staring down anything that looks at us wrong, and I have to keep her from doing something that'll get her canceled on social media…again. Sometimes I swear it feels like I'm the older sister."
"I understand the frustration," Izuku said, with a slight laugh. "And it's good to hear you're safe. Any sign the government tailing you, or doing anything suspect?"
"None so far, hopefully, the realized getting into a fight with their own number 1 hero, isn't worth it," Chole said. "But we can never be too sure."
"Should you be saying stuff like that in front of Alice?" Izuku asked, concerned for the younger girl.
"Oh Alice is with Cassy, they're using the bathroom while I make this call," Chole explained. "And don't worry I have a panic button on me, if anyone tries anything while they're gone, Cassy will literally burst out of the bathroom and deal with it."
"And you're 100% sure that the Star and Stripes you gave Alice to, was the real one, and not a shapeshifter sent by the government?" Izuku asked.
"...Fuck!" Chole cursed, as she realized that was a possibility. "I gotta go, I'll text you before I get on the plane if everything goes well. Bye."
And with that, she immediately hung up, leaving Izuku with a pit in his stomach. Please be ok.
Izuku sighed, as he forced himself to move on from that situation. At the moment he couldn't do anything for them, so he'd have to just focus on all the things he could do right now.
Well, I finished all the paperwork that needed to be done by today, so I guess I can take care of that Nise situation. Izuku thought to himself.
XXXXXXXXXXXXXX
Nise had been locked up in her new room, which now had a door similar to Fuku's and could only be opened if she allowed it. Making her feel a bit safer than before.
Still the poor was, justifiably, terrified of being attacked again, and refused to let anyone but Fu and Sansan enter her room. Seeing as those two had protected her.
Izuku hoped that she would still think of him as a friend as well, as approached her door.
BANG BANG BANG!
Izuku knocked on the hard metal door and winced a bit as he realized how loud and scary that might sound to someone like Nise in her current condition. Maybe I should add a doorbell.
"Hi, Nise…it's me Izuku." Izuku said in the safest tone he could muster. "I'm sorry about what happened yesterday. If you don't want to let me in that's-"
Suddenly, the door opened, and Izuku was grabbed by Nise's vectors.
Before Izuku could even realize what was going on, he was forced into Nise's room and felt Nise attach to his chest.
"Woah!?" Izuku was barely able to stay standing, as Nise clung to him.
Nice dug her head into his chest, and Izuku could hear sniffling, as well as feel tears soak into his shirt.
Once Izuku managed to get his balance, he closed the door behind him and wrapped an arm around Nise.
"Hey, hey it's ok," Izuku whispered to her, as he used his other arm to rub circles into her back. "I'm so sorry all that happened to you after I promised you'd be safe. It won't happen again. I swear."
"...They all hate me." Nise sobbed, her voice muffled by Izuku's chest. "Everyone but Fu and the acid girl."
"That's not true," Izuku assured her. "Yes, some of the others don't like you as much. But, even they wouldn't dream of attacking you like that. Shina was just…she had a special reason for doing what she did. It was still wrong, but she was just very scared. No one here is bad, but they can do dumb things sometimes. But I've talked to everyone, and I've made sure, no one will attack you like that ever again."
They spent the next few minutes in a calming embrace, as Izuku did everything he could to try and help ease the poor girl.
Eventually, her crying subsided, but she still clung to Izuku like her life depended on it.
"What do I do?" Nise asked through her sniffling.
"You don't HAVE to do anything," Izuku assured her. "All you have to do is show them that you don't mean any harm, and they'll trust you. It just takes time. Until then, you don't have to do anything that makes you feel scared or uncomfortable."
Nise didn't say a word back, only taking in Izuku's words, and using him for comfort.
"I know things seem bad, but I promise you, that they will get better," Izuku swore to her. "You just have to be patient."
"...Can you…stay with me for a while," Nise asked sheepishly.
Izuku sighed internally. He was going to have extra work to do tomorrow. "Of course. I"ll stay as long as you want."
XXXXXXXXXXXXXXX
Izuku slightly regretted saying that.
Because as it turns out, for as long as she wanted, was basically the whole day.
It's not that Izuku didn't want to spend time with her, he actually quite enjoyed himself. Introducing and watching shows with her, playing some games, he even started guiding her on how to control her emotions.
He just dreaded how much work he'd have to make up for tomorrow.
But on the bright side, he did have time to get a headstart on it, as Nise had fallen asleep soon after dinner.
Izuku tucked Nise into bed, putting the blanket over her, and making sure she was comfortable.
Alright, now I can try and catch up on some of my work. Izuku thought.
DING!
Or maybe not. Izuku facepalmed, and hoped that this wasn't yet another thing to be put on his plate.
Thankfully, it was a text from Chole, with good news.
It read "Thank you so much for bringing the shape-shifting thing. They tried that twice. Thankfully Cass took care of them. I'm on the plane now. Should be here by tomorrow. I'll be ready to work."
Izuku smiled. Well, looks like tomorrow won't be so work-heavy after all.
État de l’alimentation hebdomadaire
-- Classement
Power Stone 
-- Power
stone