He's the Hero

Pulling the Trigger

Izumi walked side by side with Shoto back to the classroom. Both of them a little rumpled and both hugely embarrassed about what transpired between them.

“I'm going to beat the tar out of Mavis for this.”

“I'll never be able to look your dad in the eye again…” Shoto said with a dark cloud looming over him. “This wasn't how I wanted our first sexual encounter to be like.”

“I'm sorry… I should have never agreed to that testing.” Izumi hung her head.  “but at least the hormones wore off before it got too far.” she brushed her fingers through her hair trying to make it look somewhat natural. “Mr. Aizawa is not gonna be happy that we're late.”

“I wouldn't worry about that. If he really presses the issue we could just tell him we were looking for your dad. It's not a complete lie as that was my intention.” He glanced down at her when she went silent. “Can I ask you something?”

“Hmmm?" Her attention turned to him. "Sure, what is it?”

“How come you looked like you were going to cry while talking about letting out your dark desires? Is there something else going on I should know about? Or is this more about you being afraid of your own quirk?”  He asked her upfront and Izumi tensed up stopping her forward movement.

“I don't think I can answer that.” She admitted. 

“Why not?” He turned to face her and scowled at the panicked expression on her face.

“Because... I don't like the answer.” 

“I don't like a lot of things...chores, homework, jogging…but I do them anyway because sometimes it's essential.” He reached out touching her cheek watching the panicked expression intensify. “I thought we cleared the air last night but if there's more to it I want you to trust me with the truth.” 

“The truth huh?” She held her stomach. How could she tell him? How could she tell anyone what was really going on? “The truth is...” 

“What are you two standing around for?” Aizawa spoke from down the hall and had their heads jerking up. “Class has already started, get in and sit down.” 

“We'll talk later.” Shoto told her and ran a hand through her hair. “If you're still uncomfortable with telling me then it can wait...but I wish you would trust me.” He walked into the classroom and Izumi held her chest feeling her heart ache. Now that she knew love, so precious and sweet… could she really risk it by telling him the truth behind her sadness and fear.

“The truth is…” she spoke softly to herself and looked down at her hands. “I don't think I can be a hero anymore.”

~Lunch Time~

Izumi had lunch on the roof. She wanted to avoid another encounter with Monoma, but also she didn't feel like socializing. The talk with Shoto had put the fear of God in her...and made her wonder what the hell she was gonna do about the ultimatum All for One had given her.

“No… don't do this to yourself Izumi.” She spoke aloud. “Don't let his mind games trick you. You're not a villain...you just want to protect what you love.” 

There had to be a way to work around this. There had to be a way to control the power, to make it her own without having to rely on All for One. Once she mastered that, once she had the power under her full control she would use it to destroy him… 

...but could she do it alone?

Probably not. She would need some kind of allies… but if All for One was telling the truth, and she had a sick feeling in her gut the man wasn’t bluffing, then he had a way to kill her father.