A Tarnished Hero

Chapter 24: Preparations

"So, you want me to help you with preparations for the Sports Festival?" Izuku sipped on his cup of tea, the beverage graciously provided by the principal himself, even though they were currently inside his house. "Just gonna ask you, why? You have your employees, as well as a bunch of other people helping with the planning. Why enlist me?"

"Simple, you have a thought process quite different from today's average man." Nezu sipped on his cup of tea as well, his perfectly practiced technique making sure that none of it spilled onto his pristine clothes. "A rarity in this day and age, if I do say so myself."

"... Is my input really that important?" Izuku hummed as he placed the cup of tea back on the table, glass clinking against glass.

"You may value your words less because you haven't seen the total extent of the HPSC's influence on Japanese Hero society." Nezu placed his cup of tea on the desk as well, a somber aura emanating from his being. "Your time in that... other world, as you have said so yourself, may have caused you to forget some aspects of our society that you viewed with rose-tinted glasses up to the time of your death."

Looking back on his childhood days, he winced. Yeah, he did view heroes as the big thing, a dream to strive for, but with how he was treated, he saw some of the darker things society had to offer. But even up to the end, he refused to let go of his rose-tinted glasses. It was only when he arrived in the Lands Between that he had let go of his hopes and dreams, only to be replaced with a new one thanks to Melina.

It also made for some perspective shifts that he didn't know he needed.

"Alright, fine. You want me to help? You got my help." Izuku sighed while standing up from his chair. "So, where do we go from here?"

"Why, just back to my office. I've already called upon the others when I decided to come meet you." Nezu grinned smugly. Izuku blinked at the words, Nezu's quirk fascinating him even more. The more he kept on interacting with the rat, the more he saw into that madness that clung deep within his psyche.

To be fair, who wasn't mad these days? Just a few hours earlier when browsing through the web, he saw something in an article about the gender wage gap. Why are they asking for the same wage if they refuse to do the same work? Head-scratching, is what it is.

"'Kay then. No need to be wasting daylight." Now that he thought about it, Nezu didn't let the smile on his snout leave his face. Was he expecting this result? With that quirk of his, of course he was.

"No need to rush, Midoriya. Your punctuality and enthusiasm is appreciated, but you must learn to sometimes take the scenic route in your life." Nezu chuckled for a short while. "After all, all work and no play leads to a very unhappy life."

Izuku thought back to the Lands Between again. When was the last time he ever had time to himself to just unwind? Never... Everyday was just the same routine of waking up, exploring, finding something interesting, fighting, sometimes dying, and when everything was all said and done, find a place to set up camp and sleep.

It was only when he came back to Japan that he managed to find time to himself, and to be honest, he missed just lounging around with nothing to do other than contemplate. It sometimes brought him back to dark times, but most of the time, just the tranquility and peace that came over him was refreshing.

Plus, Melina was here, and he also had access to the Roundtable Hold down in the basement. Also, fun fact, Nobody other than he and Melina could the site of Grace in his basement. Understandable, really, as only the Tarnished can see them, and even then, some, if not most of them, lost the Sight.

A sad turn of events, for sure.

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"So, how will this work?" Izuku asked, already seated amongst the entirety of the staff.