The Emerald Prince

Chapter 42: Repercussions

^ It's a redraw from the anime
(artsy excuse: learning the art style, reality: laziness (did you see how gorgeous the illustrations at the start of this book were?!? It's like school exercise books and handwriting all over again!)).

———

Tsuragame Kenji, the head of police, followed Manual through the Hosu hero office, to one of the out buildings, up two flights of stairs and to a pretty dull door behind which were two teens the very opposite of dull.

He sighed tiredly, composing his features before pushing the door open. It was five in the morning and these kids had been up all night, he needed to be brief and to the point.

Scanning the small dorm room, he saw the pair were lying on their beds - one with what looked like a book in some European language, the other seemed to be reading a text book of all things. They both were clearly exhausted though.

The trainees tensed before looking up, tell tale sign that they were still on edge... unsurprising really. He knew he didn't have the confidence and skill to face Stain let alone beat him, and these teens had no psychological training to help recover from what they went through.

The greenette - Izuku without a doubt - got off his bed, and bowed lightly to him and Manual, his companion - certainly Ingenium's younger brother - hastily following suit. "Sir?"
The teen's cautious eyes showed no flicker of shock at his appearance.

Manual introduced him carefully. "This is Hosu's chief of Police, Tsuragamae Keiji."
He saw the grimaces cross the pairs' faces, though the greenette schooled his expression impressively swiftly.
"You are the UA students who took down the hero killer, correct?" He asked calmly.
"...yes." Replied the greenette softly, though his tone had an edge of defiance to it.

"It seems that the hero killer we arrested had minimal injuries. How did you take him down, woof?"

Izuku kept calm, though Tsuragamae caught a flicker of a smile at his verbal tick. "I hit him in the solar plexus to knock him out, and then bound him. I wanted to minimise injuries, even though," he glanced quickly at Manual, "we had consent to use our quirks on patrols if necessary... we were already unsupervised due to Manual working hard to support his fellow heroes, I felt it was best not to add to the list of red marks against our names."

He watched the greenette closely. "You took him down, with minimal quirk use? I witnessed your skill at the sports festival, so I suppose I can accept that you fought him without Iida's engine quirk to assist you. However, as you mentioned, regardless of the successful outcome, on paper your actions were...illegal, woof."

"What actions do law enforcement intend to take?"
The greenette eyed him appraisingly.
His politeness, respect for police and intelligence made Tsuragamae inclined to like the kid. Though the extent to which his actions were premeditated made it clear that his reputation as unpredictable and formidable was very much deserved, no wonder the major pro agencies wouldn't touch him with a ten foot pole.

"None."
At that, both teens looked surprised. Surprise was not something he thought Aizawa Izuku experienced often, it was slightly satisfying, to have caused that.

"Well, you have two choices since this was not a public take down. First, you can get the full credit, and with it the admiration and punishment you both deserve. Or, you can allow Manual to take credit, and have no admiration or punishment, woof."

He watched with curiosity as the greenette seemed to have a lightbulb moment after his first sentence. His eyes shone with realisation, and - did he smirk slightly before schooling his expression to match Iida's?
Tsuragamae had no idea what he'd said to earn such a scary reaction, but he had a sinister premonition in his gut. Aizawa Izuku, as a trainee and as a pro... was going to create a great deal of paperwork for him and his comrades.

Up until this point, the conversation had been very much led by the green haired teen. Now, he watched, as Izuku glanced across at his companion.
"Tenya?"
"I fully agree." Said Iida, clearly still surprised they'd gotten away with this.
Izuku smiled slightly, though why, Tsuragamae was unsure. "Then thank you sir."
"From both of us." Added Iida.
"No. Thank you, as one of the few people who knows the truth of this matter, thank you, Aizawa Izuku and Iida Tenya, for your great service to society."
He bowed low to both, and left.

He heard Manual speak up, "you have today off, so get some rest and take it easy. You'll continue your work experience tomorrow."

———

Iida lay back on his bed once the adults had departed.
"Thank you, Izuku."
He laughed a little, it seemed out of character but he was too tired and too overwhelmed to maintain composure.
"Guess we should rest. Finally it's over."

When Izuku hadn't answered, Iida turned on his right side to look at the greenette.
Izuku was on his bed, in a foetal position, legs to his chest. His eyes were furrowed, and his expression suddenly reminded Iida of how he'd looked just before his break down post USJ - fighting to control himself, which in turn made him realise, this must have been just as terrifying for Izuku if not more so.

"Izuku."

Izuku glanced over and Iida raised his arm, remembering his brother doing the same thing for him, though probably not half as awkwardly.
"You uh, look like you could do with a hug. That was quite the day, and I forgot you aren't as strong as you appear."

Izuku gazed at him uncertainly, but nodded slightly, and Iida watched as his mask peeled away once again. The greenette began shaking more violently, crawling onto Iida's bed, and curling into his chest.

"His eyes...Tenya they were so fierce, so angry...so- so murderous, I see them every time I blink! The blood... everywhere... Every one of his attacks aimed... aimed to kill! ...If you'd been on your own... if I'd ... if I'd messed up just once!..." He words came between forced breaths, Iida guessed he was trying to control a panic attack, but having never had one before, he had no idea how to help.

He rested his chin on Izuku's head and wrapped his arm protectively around the greenette's body. He knew Izuku was talking of Stain not Shigaraki, he'd seen that look too.

"You're safe now, and you saved my life. It's okay." He said, uncharacteristically gently. Just trying to imitate the tone Todoroki had used at USJ... he was pretty out of his depth with this.

It seemed to do the trick though, as Izuku nestled into his chest in a way that made Iida's heart rate rise. He tried to calm himself, though thankfully the greenette seemed too tired to notice anything.

Maybe he'd ask Tensei what this feeling was. Maybe he was having a fever. If he was, he certainly shouldn't hold Izuku like this... but clearly Izuku needed this... and for some reason he didn't want to let him go either.

"Yeah..." Izuku mumbled softly, and his breathing slowly evened out, though his grip on Iida's shirt remained vice-like.

Iida smiled slightly, but with Izuku's warmth against his, having stayed up many hours past his bed time, and the stress of the last few days, he soon followed suit.

———

Tsuragamae eyed Manual, as he stepped away from the door. They'd decided to listen in, to responsibly check how the teens were is what they'd said, but frankly they were both curious.
Thanks to his dog head, Tsuragamae could hear their voices easily through the thin walls... though Manual had to do the rather unheroic act of pressing his ear to the door.

"So he is human after all." Stated Tsuragamae.
Manual chuckled. "He had me fooled."
"What an amazing hero he will be, woof." Sighed the police chief. And he didn't say it half heartedly, the future looked a great deal more interesting with Izuku in it.
"Indeed."

They both moved away from the door to leave the pair in peace. Besides, they needed sleep themselves. Crime didn't exactly take lie ins.