The Emerald Prince

Chapter 149: Closure

Illustration parallels with Chapter 17 for a reason.
This one was a pleasure to write and one I knew I was writing from the first moment Izuku and Shigaraki met.

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It was the day before the Empresses' ball.
Hagakure had barrelled into his room at 7 in the morning, snatched him from the dazed clutches of Shinsou and Hiniyuki and brought him round to help the girls with their dresses.
Apparently preparation was more of a 48 hour thing for most of them, though Jirou and Uraraka looked just as tired and confused as he was.

He did his best, and like the angel she is, Yaoyorozu did fetch him a coffee, and he became substantially more helpful after it. Colour matching, shoe analysing, crease ironing and make up selecting.
At noon though, when Ashido brought up how different body types were complemented by different dress types, he quietly backed away toward the window, mouthing an apology to Jirou and jumping ship, literally.

He landed quietly on the lawn below, locking eyes with a year two business student. He winked at the brown haired girl before realising he was still wearing his pyjamas and hastily slipping back inside the building.

Willing himself invisible and soundless - which was a thing he could do now....which was insane - he made his way back to his room, and finding it empty, hastily changed and slipped out. He knew as long as he was in UA, he wasn't safe from the girls. And he was long overdue a visit to the Kayama household. He could teleport, but he was still quietly fending off panic attacks over how he could make the entire planet quirkless or even dead with the click of his fingers to actually use his abilities much.

He texted ahead, making sure Oboro and Nemuri didn't mind him coming for lunch and then took a bus out to the edge of the city. He decided to walk the rest of the way, a cool breeze teasing his hair out the plait Yaoyorozu had stress braided it into. He shoved his hands deep in the pockets of his black coat, and hunkered down a little so his scarf would cover his chin as well as his neck for the hour's stroll.

Nemuri was very wealthy. She'd taken the phrase 'Diamonds are a girl's best friend' according to Marylin Monroe's original message, and earned and invested as much money as she could while her looks could get her modelling and advertising deals. She'd done that alongside being a great hero, and the fruits of her labour were many; a point driven home by the gorgeous house, set into a hill looking over Mustafu that she, Oboro, Tenko and Kirita now lived in together.

Izuku was very curious about how well they were coping, all having been pretty isolated most of their lives, he hoped that suddenly all of them living in one house was working out okay.
A sturdy eight foot high iron gate barred him entry, but he hopped over it with ease because that was a thing he could do now...and walked up the drive toward the house.

"Oboro! Help me! There's fire again and I don't know why!" Came a shriek from one of the open windows that sounded a lot like Nemuri.
"I'm coming!" Came a faint panicked reply from Oboro. "Tenko! Izuku will be here any minute! Would you please stop flirting with the US government cyber security girl and get out of your pyjamas!"
"But she'd so good! She came so close to stopping me hacking area fifty one! The way she gets angry at me is so cute!"
"Stop it!" Came a cry from the opposite side of the kitchen that could only be Kirita, "how many times do I have to tell you! That's not flirting you idiot, that's her doing her job! You're breaking laws!"
"Really? But I'm not hurting anyone!" Yelled Tenko in what sounded to Izuku like mock confusion.
"GODDAMNIT!" Exclaimed Kirita, "you're such an idiot!"
"Kirita! Don't be rude to your brother! He was brain washed from a young age and he has a lot to work through!" Reprimanded Nemuri.
"I'm the younger sibling! And I was abandoned and brainwashed at a young age too! I'm not the one you're supposed to tell off! He is deliberately winding me up!"