The Emperor's Dragon

The Mall

"You wanted to see me?" Izuku said, slipping into the chair opposite Tomura.

The young man was sitting in the food court, with a lukewarm plate of takoyaki in front of him. He'd eaten a random two but that was it. Izuku had pulled the plate into the centre of the small table to take one. They were mediocre as well as lukewarm.

"Why didn't they pay attention?" Tomura demanded. He slammed one hand down on the little table. The only reason it didn't disintegrate was the napkin under his finger.

"Who?" Izuku asked as he eyed the takoyaki. It seemed wasteful to leave them but-

"The sheeple! The media! Anyone!" the young man clarified. Tomura's hood was pulled up, probably to make him feel better since he didn't have a hand with him.

"I don't-" Izuku paused, remembering what Tomura had told him previously. "You were in Hosu?"

The news had gone on about it for what seemed like weeks but was only a few days. The Hero Killer Stain had been apprehended and something else had been disturbing the peace but had mostly been contained. The media had only rambled on because some UA students had work placements there. The implication had been that at least one of them had been involved in Stain's capture.

"Why didn't anyone pay attention?" Tomura demanded again.

Izuku gave him a look. It was coming together for him now. Tomura had told him he wanted recognition and had then gone to interfere with the Hero Killer. "Did you get him captured?"

"Pft!" Tomura dismissed that suggestion. "The moron got himself captured," he stated.

"And the media only mentioned the Nomu in passing?" Izuku prompted.

"Yes! Why?"

Again Izuku gave the young man a look. "He's actually done stuff," he suggested.

Tomura half growled at that but Izuku held firm. "He's only taken out a few second rate heroes," he pointed out.

"And faced off against Endeavor," Izuku added. And actually not done too badly either, when you read between the lines of the news. In the aftermath vids, Endeavor seemed okay but he wasn't pristine. Stain had fought back.

Tomura didn't seem happy with that comment which meant he acknowledged the truth.

"Did Stain kill anyone in Hosu?" Izuku asked.

"A couple but he got interrupted before he could kill Native."

Izuku remembered the hero. "Pity," he muttered. He wondered if Native's would be work experience hero would have survived. Apparently the Iida boy had accepted Native's Work Experience offer. The only reason he wasn't in Hosu was that Eraserhead had vetoed the selection and insisted that Tenya go somewhere else.

At that, Tomura snorted. "I don't get it! I attacked UA, why didn't that get attention?"

"That was suppressed," Izuku reminded him but he was still thinking about Stain.

"It's not fair!"

He almost laughed when Tomura said that and while he managed to suppress it, he couldn't help the smile that crossed his features. Tomura knew the world wasn't fair. "I think it's also that Stain had a message," he told the young man.

"What do you mean?"

"Stain had a message. He made a statement that heroes were only in it for the pay, or fame or some other self-serving reason. He was deluded of course with his belief in the one true hero but people could relate to what he was saying," Izuku explained, shrugging as he took another takoyaki.