Chapter 41

Right now, I was waiting for my parents to arrive at Nezu's office after changing my clothes; he tried to offer me some tea, but I wasn't in the mood for that, so the tea was left untouched between the two of us. 

My parents arrived shortly after that. Their expressions were full of worry as they both sat on the sofa. My mother was gripping her handbag so tightly that her knuckles turned white while her eyes kept alternating between Nezu and me. Her Quirk, which she rarely manifested in public, was currently rapidly fluctuating through multiple ‘fifty’ shades of gray, showing how nervous he was. 

Beside her sat my father, who, contrary to her, had his back straight and was currently fully focused on Nezu, his expression turning from worried to unreadable once he confirmed that I was all right; he was now waiting patiently for the principal to start speaking.

I, on the other hand, was a few feet away near the bookshelf, with Aizawa, who was currently leaning against the wall beside me, having stayed behind after accompanying my parents here.

"First, I want to thank you both for coming on such short notice, and since everyone's here now, it's time for me to explain why I've called you both here at this hour." Nezu said with a small clap before folding his hands or paws over his desk. His tone was light and pleasant, without any urgency, as if he wasn't about to speak about something important. 

"I want to speak with both of you regarding an incident that took place during Arata’s internship with Mirko." 

Hearing that there was an incident with me during my internship, my mother gasped and immediately focused on me. My father, though, barely glanced toward me before speaking.

 "Yes, we saw on the news that there was a disturbance before coming here. What is all this about?" He asked, his expression unchanged. If he was worried about me, he was clearly doing a good job not showing it.

"All we saw was some images of a burned alley with police barricades."

"You don't have to worry about that; the media always exaggerates this type of incident to gain more views. What actually happened was that Arata-kun here was doing his assigned patrol when a group of villains ambushed him. This led to him sustaining some injuries, though thankfully it wasn't anything serious."

After hearing that I was attacked, my mother, who was already stressed, started panicking; the grey color that was surrounding her instantly flared around her body as her head snapped toward me.

"Injuries? Seiji… what are you talking about?" She asked, ignoring the last part of Nezu's sentence.

"I'm fine, Mom, calm down," I said, trying to keep my voice as calm as possible to show her that I was alright and not frighten her further. However, seeing her current expression, it appears that I was failing.

"Arata-kun is right. You don't have anything to worry about. Our on-site response was immediate, and thanks to our healer, Arata-kun's injuries were fully treated on the spot. As you can see, he is completely fine."

Nezu continued without missing a beat, but by that time, my mother wasn't listening to his explanation anymore. She immediately stood up from the sofa and crossed the room so fast that, if I didn't know her quirk, I would have thought it gave her a speed boost. 

Once she was in front of me, she grabbed me by the shoulders with trembling hands and nearly took off my clothes while trying to make sure I was really okay.

Once she saw that there was no bruise, bandage, or scar on me, she finally relaxed a little, with her quirk slowly stopping flickering wildly before turning from grey into a pale blue. She took one more look at me before hugging me tightly.

‘ Sigh, for a moment I thought she was about to strip me naked in front of everyone. Well, I suppose I can take this as her fear slowly turning into relief.’ I thought silently while returning the hug.

"You... you really aren't hurt, right?”

"Nope, it was just some random villains trying to show off by attacking the UA sports festival champion. In the end, Mirko and Endeavor took care of them before they could even have the chance to do any real damage. See, I'm completely fine!" I said with a smile, while massively downplaying what actually happened.

After she heard me confirm again that I was alright, she finally stopped hugging and walked back towards the couch, but not before dragging me to sit down beside her while holding my hand tightly.

As for my father, he just nodded at me when I sat down, but besides that, he didn't try to check up on me or even ask questions. 

"I see. If you, Principal Nezu, and the U.A.'s staff assure us that our son is uninjured, then we can only accept this as being true.” My father said quietly as he leaned back against the sofa and looked at us.

As a lawyer, he knew how official reports were written and how to read between the lines of said report to see the truth. He also knew that generally, using healing quirks on someone left them weak or, at the very least, exhausted, depending on the severity of the injury. Seeing my clean clothes and my nonchalant attitude appeared to not have been much, but seeing how Aizawa's tired but watchful eyes were constantly focused on me, he clearly understood that something was wrong.

The more he thought about it, the easier he could see through the gap in Nezu’s story. From his perspective, me being completely fine after an attack that required both Endeavor and Mirko to intervene in but also burn an entire alleyway afterwards is more than suspicious.

He wanted to ask more questions but decided to hold back for the sake of his wife and son in case his worries were true. He also recognized what Nezu was offering in this situation: a wall that had the objective of protecting his son from police scrutiny and possibly public outrage. A wall that was more than likely built on the foundation of a deal that involved secrecy from all parties involved.

“Satoshi! What are you saying? How can you sit there and be this calm while knowing that they let our son get hurt?” My mother screamed while looking at her husband in disbelief over the fact that he was accepting all this so easily, when normally, he would be the first one to threaten people with lawsuits. 

“Himiko… I'm sorry, but you have to trust me; I know what I'm doing.” My father said while looking intensely at my mother. Seeing how calm he was about this situation, she wanted to protest even more, but in the end she reluctantly decided to agree with him.

“I'm sorry, Principal Nezu. It seems that my wife is a little overwhelmed by the situation. I hope you can understand us.” My father bowed slightly, apologizing, but his gaze held no trace of such thought.

"You have nothing to be sorry about. It was we who failed to protect your son; I can only thank you for your understanding." Nezu coughed slightly before closing the file on his desk while ignoring the way my father was looking at him.

“Since you said so, I won't be polite then. One last thing before we leave, I want to know; can Arata come home with us, and what will happen with the internship?”

My father asked, drawing both my mother's and my attention, since I had totally forgotten that there was still one day left before my internship could be officially over.

“The internship week can officially be considered over; we are releasing Arata-kun back into your care for the weekend, so he can properly rest at home before returning to school on Monday. Personally I would have liked to extend his rest period but I'm in the incapacity of doing so. I hope you can forgive me."

“No, that’s already more than enough. Thank you, Principal." My father said, bowing once again before standing up, looking at my mother and me. 

"Himiko, Arata. Let's go home."

….

The drive home was quiet; no one said a word. I sat in the back with my mother, who continued to hold my hand as if afraid I would disappear if she let go. 

When we arrived home, my father pulled the car into the driveway and urged my mother to go inside first. Once she left, he walked towards the back garden while asking me to follow him. Once inside, he started unbuttoning his jacket and rolling his sleeves, while keeping his gaze fixed on the house instead of turning towards me. 

"You know, your mother probably believes all this was a simple incident, and I'm sure It's in her best interest that she remain convinced of that," he said, his voice low enough so that it wouldn't carry through the back door.

I stayed silent, listening to him speak without trying to add anything.

"I know people like Nezu, Seiji. They know how to make things go their way, and I'm sure he asked you to stay quiet about what really happened in that alley.” My dad said and before I could say anything to try explaining myself, he raised his hand to signal me to stop and let him finish.

“You don't have to explain anything to me unless you want to. I can already guess some of today's events that happened just by seeing how your teacher didn't take his eyes off you even once during the whole meeting."

He said before finally turning his head towards me. Our eyes met, but I turned aside, unable to hold his gaze. 

"I'll just ask once, and I want you to know it's fine if you decide not to answer me. Tell me, Seiji; did you kill someone?"

Hearing his question, I froze for a moment, but it seemed that pause was more than enough of an answer for him. However, instead of pressing for more, he didn't say anything and just waited for me to answer. 

I stood there for a moment, wondering just how much I should tell him before deciding that I should come as close as possible to the truth. Once I was ready, I took a deep breath to steady myself before speaking,

"You are right, Dad. It wasn't a simple ambush. They even used specialized gear to counter my quirk; I came close to dying, and yes, I've killed most of them." I said, just as quietly. 

Contrary to my expectations, my father didn't flinch or even raise his voice. His jaw tightened slightly, as his body grew tense for a second before letting go of the tension. He didn't ask for more details regarding that matter.

"Close to dying… hmm." My father repeated as he looked at me, ignoring the rest of my sentence.

"So what now? Are you going to stop going to UA?" My father asked.

"No, I can't. Trying to leave UA or backing out now is only going to worsen my situation. And at the end of the day, I still want to be a hero."

My father let out a quiet breath before slowly nodding. 

"I thought as much. You've always had a clear head when speaking about what you want, Seiji. Even when you were just three years old, you always looked at the world like you already knew what you were about to do next."

He reached out, placing his hand on my shoulder, pressing down lightly as if he was afraid he would hurt me. 

"I trust your judgment, Seiji, and I'm sure you only did what you did because it was the only solution. As for being a hero, as long as it remains the path you choose, your mother and I will continue to support you. However, I have to warn you: don't underestimate men like Nezu or Endeavor. They aren't helping you just out of kindness. They're most likely doing it because they want to keep you where they can see you." He said while looking at me straight in the eyes.

"I know, Dad," I responded, and this time, I didn't avoid his gaze.

Seeing my determination, he nodded once before releasing my shoulder. 

"That's good then. Just keep your head down for the time being and don't make your mother worry even more than she already is."

He turned toward the door and walked inside. I stayed outside for a moment, and through the kitchen window, I could see my father walking towards my mother and gently speaking to her while holding her hands. I don't know what exactly he said to her, but it seems to have eased the lingering tension in her body if the pink color that I was seeing was an accurate indicator.

Standing alone in the now quiet garden, I also looked up at the sky while wandering to myself. 

‘ Just like I've said, they're good people, aren't they! I really don't deserve them, do I? Having a family that trusted me so much without even asking that I expose all my secrets is a rare gift. All I have to do now is make sure any threat is kept far away from their doorstep.’