despite the scars

Chapter 33 - Anhedonia

"I have a plan, you all deserve to know."

Aizawa sighed, his problem child had brought too many questions for him to ask, but he always ended up asking anyway. "Why do you have energy above your head?" Izuku looked up towards it, almost forgetting that it was floating above him. He shrugged his shoulders, mumbling something along the lines of "bomb". Aizawa knew that Momo had a streak of accidentally making dangerous weapons, so he simply sighed in resignation.

"I need my family to hear, I will not repeat my mistakes." Aizawa could hear the finality in Izuku's voice, knowing that he would probably tone down his plans in the presence of Eri, but tell her enough that she would feel fine with him going out and enacting on them.

Izuku sat down on one of the chairs across from Nezu, Eri settling on his shoulders. Izuku doubted the place was comfortable, but he admired Eri's ability to seem comfortable along his shoulders, no matter how bony they felt to him.

Izuku took out a small notebook from where he stored it in his back pocket, grabbing a pen a few seconds after. He had thoroughly exhausted his voice throughout the day, so he resorted to his old methods. Izuku started writing on the notebook, scratching the well thought out words as fast and as neatly as he could at once, fueled by the need to share his plan.

I need to put the hero out of commission, if I wanted to frame him I would need to act as the victim, but the public does not pay any heed to injured civilians who are victims of heroes. Damage from heroes goes unnoticed. I need to knock him off of his pedestal to ensure that any damage that he tries to inflict onto me, may be deflected onto him. I am open to other options, but this is the only one that I find no holes in. If I play as a villain, then I will be given a chance to defeat him, and remove him from the position of number one hero. It is either that, or you let me graduate as a hero, not one that is associated with me, so that I can build up a reputation and will be seen in a better light. I know that it is completely necessary for me to do something, I will not let this man ruin my life any longer. The public will not accept any actions from me as repentance, it must be done to All Might, and by an unassociated being.

Aizawa took the paper, reading it over before handing it to Nezu. A frown grew on his face every moment that he thought about the plan, though he waited until Nezu read it to make a comment. Nezu finished reading the paper before a smile grew over his mouse-like features. "A very creative plan! I will support you in your endeavors, but I do have a few questions." Izuku nodded, looking over the paper once again as it was passed towards him.

Aizawa glared at the principal, he had been hoping that the creature would tell his son no, but of course he had to be the one to put down the idea. He refused to let Izuku run head first into danger without help.

"No." Aizawa sent a glare at Nezu, then fixed it on Izuku, trying to convey that he wouldn't give in.

Izuku looked at him, almost pleading with his eyes, wishing that Aizawa would allow him to do this one reckless thing. "I can handle myself. I will be safe."

"No! Izuku, I don't think you understand what I'm trying to say. You are proposing that you fight the symbol of peace, the number one hero in all of Japan. That man is dangerous, and you are my son, I can't let you fight him alone like this."

Izuku looked down, contemplating how he was supposed to convince his dad to let him go. Nezu giggled at the pair, glad that he could be the one to burst both of their bubbles. "I have a solution! I do believe that if I provide sufficient supervision to Izuku's escapades, then he will stay safe and Izuku will still be able to continue doing whatever he feels necessary. Aizawa, I suggest you may even go out with him! It would be quite a good bonding moment, I do believe!" Nezu leant back in his seat, thinking about how the "bonding moment" might go

Aizawa moved forward in his seat, leaning his forehead into his open hands and resting his elbows on Nezu's desk. He didn't give a single care if it was considered rude or not, he was getting a headache, and it was the rat's fault anyway. Aizawa sighed, this was too much information at once. "Let me get this straight. You want us to pose as villains, build up a reputation, and defeat All Might? How long do you think this would take?"

Izuku shrugged, as if the time frame was completely irrelevant.

"And how do you plan to pose as a villain?"

A grin came over Izuku's face, this was his favorite part of the plan. "Keep the civilians out, burn the big buildings." Aizawa sighed again, knowing that Izuku was suggesting burning down the buildings of the harmful businesses that resided in the area. It also concerned him that his son was so keen on arson being the answer.

"You do know that the smoke wouldn't be very good for the environment, right?"

Izuku's smile deflated slightly before he huffed lightly and slouched back into his seat. Nezu spoke up after that, trying to fill the silence with more ideas. "How about bribing your 'victims' to lie about being attacked instead of saved. Just ask them to say that you were a villain group, I'm sure quite a few will agree." Aizawa nodded at that, liking how simple and safe it was compared to arson.

Izuku's hands suddenly slammed onto the desk in front of him, his eyes sparkled, and Aizawa could only take it as him being very excited about a new idea. Izuku lifted his dominant hand off the table and swirled it around before a sufficient amount of heat energy was swirling above it. He murmured the words "fake quirk, heat manipulation." before turning the energy into flames, making them into elaborate, fire-like pictures that played out a scene that Izuku saw in a movie.

Nezu nodded, smiling, though no one could really tell. Eri was enthralled by the flames, leaning forward to touch them lightly. The adults in the room panicked slightly, the instinctual urge to avoid fire took over the part of their minds that knew Izuku wouldn't bring a dangerous weapon of those sorts to Eri.

Eri's hand reached the flames and Aizawa lurched forward to try and stop her. His hand stopped short when he saw her playing with it as one would try and play with smoke. Her hand made circles in an attempt to make the flames funnel around it, which Izuku realized a few seconds later and made the energy do.

Aizawa sighed while Nezu started giggling once again. "That would be a wonderful fake quirk, Izuku! You would be able to simulate a fire in places that you want without the damage of an actual fire! I will count this as your semester grade! I bid you good luck! Aizawa, I do suppose that you would need a fake quirk too." Nezu put his hand on his chin, acting thoughtful if only for dramatic effect. "How about acting quirkless!"

Izuku giggled at the disgruntled look that Aizawa gave the principal, Eri joined in shortly after. Aizawa glared at his children, "And why should I do that?" Nezu joined in with Izuku and Eri giggling. "Quirkless representation! I'm sure that Izuku can agree that the quirkless need a figure that they can look up to as an inspiration, a higher power! Also, your quirk isn't very versatile in regards to pretending to be other quirks."

Aizawa grumbled in resignation, turning his back towards Nezu and walking out of his office. Izuku followed after Aizawa immediately after he left, Eri still giggling on his shoulder. Aizawa planned on solidifying the attacks later on with Izuku, but for now he needed a nap.

Aizawa walked straight to his classroom to lay down. He fell slowly asleep wondering how he got dragged into such a disaster.