What It Means To Be A Hero. (MHA x OC) COMPLETED

Chapter 22: Stain Aftermath

Kageyama woke up in Hosu city hospital, he looked around to see that Izuku, Shoto and Iida were already up, everyone was bandaged over their body, with Iida hurt the most in his left arm. The doctor told them that Iida could get it fixed by Recovery Girl at UA, but if he didn't , he won't be able to use his arm as usual anymore. Iida refused the offer as he said he'd keep the injury as a reminder of what happened when he let his emotions get the best of him. Kageyama noticed that he had a sling over his left arm as well. Izuku was glad everyone was not hurt much, while Shoto seemed to have an existential crisis. He asked the three boys if he was somewhat cursed, as everytime he touched someone, they'd get their hands crushed or injured. He went on to address to himself as the 'Hand Crusher', which did it for Kageyama, as he, along with Iida and Izuku started laughing at the boy's way of addressing himself.
Soon, an old man, merely 3 meters, wearing a cream dress and a yellow cape, along with a black eye mask, entered and stared at Izuku, he was followed by Manual and then a certain Ninja, who was staring Kazuma like there was no tomorrow.
The three gulped at the sight of their angry instructors.
Kazuma went on to apologize to Edgeshot as the Pro put a hand between the two, stopping Kazuma before he could even mutter a single word.
"Save your apologies for later, for now, there's someone who wants to meet you four."
A huge figure then entered the room, when the other three were, surprised to see a dog on two feet, Kazuma recognised him almost immediately as the Chief of Hosu Police department, Kenji Tsuragamae.
He quickly got up on his feet before the old man introduced the figure as the chief, which on hearing, the other three boys quickly got up on their feet.
"You could have just stay seated, woof."
When Izuku looked taken back by the "Woof" at the end of the sentence, Kazuma questioned the chief as to why he was here.
"You four are the students from UA who brought down the hero killer, right?"
This made the four look at the chief, who went on to tell them that Stain was now captured, but he had several burns, and multiple broken bones, and was now being treated under guard.
He then went on to tell them that use of quirks openly was restricted unless the individual was under guardian of a hero, or was a hero themselves. He then went on to tell them that even if they were against the hero killer, use of quirks to result in such injuries without any instructions from the respective guardians was a clear violation of rules, due to which, the four students, along with Manual, Gran Torino and Edgeshot would receive punishment. Kazuma raised his head to look at Edgeshot, who was neither glaring, nor not even looking at Kazuma, when he suddenly looked at Kazuma staring at him, the boy winced and looked down in an instant.
The chief's words seemed to not sit well with Shoto as he went on to argue that if they hadn't done anything, Native, or Iida, or probably all of them would be dead by now. He then went on to question the chief that whether they wanted them to do nothing and let the people die in front of them when they themselves were aspiring to become heroes.
Izuku tried to calm Shoto down, but he was cut down by the chief responding to the bi-colored teen that if he was stating that if in the end, everything turned out okay, it was okay to bend the rules. Shoto shot back with saying that it was a hero's job to save people, but once again, the chief respond by saying that this was why they weren't fully fledged heroes yet. The chief then went on to wonder aloud that what was the boy being taught by Endeavour and UA, this did it for Shoto as he started walking towards the chief in anger, only to be stopped by Kazuma as he put a hand in front of him and glared at Shoto to calm down.
Gran Torino asked the boy to hear the chief out completely first.
The chief told them then that this was the original decision of the police department, and the punishments would only be executed if the news was made public. He then told the four that if it was made public, they would be applauded and praised, but they won't escape the punishment. He then told the boys that there was a small loophole, as the news could be told that it was Endeavour who took down the hero killer, taking the burn scars in regards. But this would make the boys unable to get any praise for their actions. He ended by asking them which of the two options they preferred. He then went to tell them that personally, he thought that the second option was the right choice as he didn't want to case harm to the reputation of promising future heroes of the society, while giving them a thumbs up.
Manual then told them that either way, the pros would have to take responsibility for their negligence in their supervising duties.
"Psst, hey kid. If you don't mind, can we go to have some sushi once this all is over? All that fight has made me hungry"
This earned Edgeshot a glare from the chief.
"Ahem, I mean, although I'm disappointed in you that you didn't follow my orders, I'm glad to see you're okay."
Then, the chief went on to say that due to the rules, they won't be getting the praise they deserve, he'd like to thank them as someone who protects the people and the law, before bowing in front of them.
Shoto looked away from the chief and said that they should start with that the next time.
The rest of the days went as normal, patrolling, fighting, sparring, icecream, patrolling, and then sleeping. Kazuma kept getting better and better at controlling shadows, he could now shoot tendrils from his body, as well as the ground or the walls, although the tendrils were a bit weaker when they appeared from the walls or ground, they had a pretty nice grip power. Added to that, he had learned to make the tendrils either hard and rigid enough to break through concrete, or he could make them so soft that even a soap bubble would sit on them instead of bursting at contact. He felt a lot stronger and agile than he used to before. Another thing that he noticed was that whenever he formed the gauntlets or boots, they were way darker than they usually looked, usually, they'd look, well, shadowy, but now, they were pitch black, and they were stronger, a lot stronger than before.
---
The final day of the internship came, Kageyama packed his costume and clothes as he now stood in front of the dojo, looking at the beauty, he remembered when he first came here and was so formal with everyone, Kazuma couldn't help but let out a giggle as he remembered those times, even though the internship was only for a week, it felt... so much more than that, the laughs, the pranks on Kamui and the others, of which Edgeshot was often a part of, eating icecream with Edgeshot, which was an at least twice in a day thing for the Ninja and him. He took one last glance of the agency before taking a long breath and turning away.
"So, you finally going, kiddo?" Kazuma turned around to see Edgeshot leaning against a wall.
Kazuma nodded as he turned to walk, but suddenly ran towards the pro hero and gave him a tight hug, which took the pro by surprise for a second, but then, his hands slowly came down as he hugged the boy back.
"Good luck for the future, I'll be watching.
Dark Order"
Edgeshot smiled behind his mask, so it wasn't visible, but Kazuma knew that the man was smiling behind that mask.
He turned around and suddenly swung his leg at the Pro, boot enforced, but the Pro took early notice of this as he dodged the kick and went to punch the boy in the face, but stopped inches away from hitting him, Kazuma had closed his eyes, ready to take the punch, but when nothing hit him, he slowly opened his left eye to see a first inches away from him, he looked at Edgeshot, who then patted the boy's cheek twice.
"You're still many years away from catching me off-guard, but nice try, I'll look forward to seeing you on the front lines someday."
Kazuma smiled at the man and turned around and started walking.
Once out of sight, Edgeshot ran his hand through his cheek to see some dust on it, probably from the hit by the boy, yes the boy had landed a hit, but Edgeshot didn't show it as he didn't want the kid to get full of himself.
"This kid..." Edgeshot mumbled smirking as he saw the boy get smaller and smaller as he was out of sight now. Kamui popped behind Edgeshot and stared at him before letting a smug smile appear on his face.
"Look who just got a favourite student." Kamui said, teasing his senior.
"A thing such as a favourite simply doesn't exist for me, I treat all students equally."
"Oh? Then why are you wearing the t-shirts you two bought a few days ago? Knowing you, T-shirts don't exactly go well with you."
"My other apparel was sent for cleaning, so I wore what caught the eye. Now let's head back inside, the others are probably waiting for us."
"Sure it was, senpai." Kamui smiled as he started running after Edgeshot who had used his quirk to get in the dojo quickly.