The Emperor's Dragon

The Real Decision Makers

Yagi looked confused for a moment, before his expression shifted into something rueful. That meant he did have something more to say.

"Here?" Mirai asked carefully, casting his eyes around the room.

They were in one of the secure meeting rooms of the Hero Public Safety Commission.

Nezu nodded. "Sozo never allows anyone to record his meetings," the Principal explained. "And he won't have the equipment turned back on here until he deals with his next meeting so it's safe."

At that Mirai felt a ghost of a smile pass over his features as he nodded. That made sense. Sozo was a reasonable leader, a very astute politician and a man of some vision but he had been appointed to maintain the status quo. He did not deal with unusual events well, and he'd want records of meetings. But at the same time, that political nature would mean he'd want the ability to deny he'd said exactly that. He wanted the ability to say he'd hinted towards something but had meant something else. It was the usual political control.

Toshinori recognised the fact as well and sighed. "What do you want to know?" he asked, with a touch of resignation in his tone.

Nezu fixed two beady eyes on the Number One Hero. "Can you fight Tomura Shigaraki?" he asked pointedly.

He might have asked with a knife from the way Toshinori shrank into himself. Mirai watched as his friend took several deep breaths before answering. "I hope so," he said finally. "It's a shock to know he is Nana's grandchild and-" He sighed heavily, shaking his head and when he looked up again, they saw the hard eyes of the Number One Hero. "With All For One having trained him, I imagine I will not see him as Nana's grandchild for long."

The statement was particularly ominous coming from All Might but Nezu simply nodded. "Keep the memory of what he could have been," the Principal said, "and we will bring down what he is."

Mirai nodded. "What of All For One's actual son?" he asked. It was a relief, in one way, to know the villain hadn't actually spawned twice, as he had believed but it didn't negate the issue.

At the question, Yagi sighed again. Nezu seemed to understand but the Principal turned to him instead. "Have you seen him?"

"I have, but-" Mirai took a deep breath as he thought. He was aware his vision had changed but he had not yet had time to come to terms with that. It had only been a few hours. He allowed himself to smile again. Of course things were different! But the important thing was that Toshinori was alive, so... he could deal with the differences. "The event where I saw the lad won't happen."

Nezu looked at him for a few moments before the rat nodded. He seemed to understand but thankfully didn't make it an issue.

"What was he like?" Yagi asked. "What did he look like?" he clarified his question.

Mirai thought back to his vision. "He's built like his father, but has his mother's height," he related the details. "Green hair and eyes with freckles. I saw him in the uniform of a middle school senior," he added, to truly confirm that his vision had changed. It felt weird to him to say it aloud because they all knew that All For One's son would be in High School this year.

"So you know anyone like that?" Nezu asked Toshinori.

Sir Nighteye frowned. What did the Principal mean? If Toshinori suspected he knew where All For One's son was, surely he'd have mentioned something!

He was vindicated when Yagi shook his head.

"Are you sure?" Nezu pressed, sounding all the world like he knew something.

Toshinori was silent for a few moments before he blew out a breath. "It's a stupid word association," he muttered.

"What do you mean?"