The Emperor's Dragon

Kindergarten For Villains

"Hitoshi!" Izuku called happily.

The purple haired boy looked around before his eyes fixed on to his friend. "I still can't get used to you with brown hair!" he grumbled as he moved forward.

"I told you why," Izuku replied, still happy.

"I know and it sucks," Hitoshi replied as they began walking.

He'd arrived in Mie Prefecture over the short winter break. Izuku had been waiting for him on the day he arrived and it felt like the six months apart had never happened. Hitoshi was happy to see Izuku but he knew his friend was hurting. Izuku hadn't said much, except to say that his dad was healed as much as he could be but was still requiring medical attention all the time.

If Hitoshi was honest, he missed Izuku's dad. He hadn't met Hisashi that often but the man had always been honest with him and was always in good humour. It had been nice to talk to someone who knew what his quirk was but who, like Izuku, was genuinely unafraid of him.

His mum and dad tried but he could tell they remembered the past, when he'd accidentally used his quirk on them. He didn't know but when it first came in he hadn't realised what was happening. Having Izuku and his dad talk to him without even batting an eye had been a balm he hadn't even realised he'd needed.

And now Izuku was sad. He didn't show it all the time but it was underlying everything he did. Hitoshi had only seen him a few times since they'd moved but he'd been able to see that.

"I had Kurogiri and Tomura help me with some stats and I just don't get why people think Heroes are great," Izuku said softly.

Hitoshi looked over at his friend. That was an odd statement. "What type of stats?" He asked.

"Civilians injured or killed and property damage," Izuku replied immediately. "Some are better than others. Rescue heroes for example don't usually cause property damage, or at least no more than any other rescue team and sure they have people die but those people would have died anyway. But the combat heroes, some of them have terrible stats."

Hitoshi nodded as they continued walking. Heroes were broken into a few types. There were the limelight heroes and underground heroes but beyond that there were more delineations. There were rescue heroes, combat heroes and support heroes.

"Everyone knows that villains do damage. That they destroy property, injure or kill people and most of them aren't that bad. They get caught before they can get that bad, but there's no reporting on the damage heroes do."

"It can't be all heroes?" Hitoshi murmured.

"It's not," Izuku admitted. "It's mostly the combat heroes."

Hitoshi sighed. "Who make up the top 15 or so positions on the Hero rankings," he said.

"Top 27 actually," Izuku corrected.

"Isn't um..?" Hitoshi couldn't remember the Hero exactly.

"Number 16 Exodus?"

"Aren't they a support hero?" Hitoshi asked.

"Not technically," Izuku allowed. "Even so..."

They were getting close to their school now and there were more kids around them. Hitoshi got a few odd looks because he wasn't recognised but he was surprised that no one was saying hello to Izuku. His friend didn't seem bothered but Hitoshi knew how Izuku thrived on having friends.

"So who has the worst stats?" He asked.

"All Might."

"Seriously?"