57

"Well then, you've had this meeting slot reserved for a little while now. So, how can Moonlit Industries help you, Mr. Chisaki?"

"What are your feelings on quirks, Mr. Midoriya?" Midoriya raised an eyebrow at the question, indulging the man with a small hum. Glancing up at the ceiling, he thought about this for a moment before responding neutrally.

"Torn. As I'm sure you're well aware, I don't have one. Years of mistreatment for that fact taints my view. Quirks as a whole can be good. For instance, the right quirk in a hospital can save a life that medical technology is incapable of at this time. That's a positive, if ever I can think of one. There are, of course, other examples. Quirks can be quite useful." Midoriya reached for his coffee and took a sip before continuing.

"That being said, they have upended our society quite a lot, don't you think? 2089 to 2094, that's five years we lost to the Third World War and four-hundred sixteen million lives lost with countless more ruined. Then 2174 to 2276, the Urban Wars turned the world upside down again. Our society has only recently stabilized enough to form a cohesive sense of governance again. One mistake, though, and we could slip right back into the Urbans. Hell, there are areas in which the Urbans may as well still be raging." Midoriya placed his coffee mug down on its coaster before returning his eyes to the man across from him.

"The knowledge that we've lost, the time to develop both technologically and culturally, is the biggest loss in my eyes. I can, however, acknowledge how useful quirks are as tools. So, from an impartial viewpoint, I have to say that they have the potential to bring humanity to new heights, but our ability to act responsibly when using them is lacking and our overreliance on them is setting us up for disaster. That is, of course, to paraphrase a lot of my thoughts. Does that make sense?"

Chisaki blinked slowly at the young man in front of him, partially amazed. Midoriya spoke with a maturity he had hoped for but hadn't expected from someone his age. "It does, but I have to say, your answer sounds rehearsed, almost political."

Midoriya laughed, genuinely amused at the blunt return. "I have been asked the question before, and because I am quirkless, I have to be careful with how I phrase things, Mr. Chisaki. Everything that I said was true to my own thoughts, though."

Chisaki tilted his head for a moment before dipping it, acknowledging the statement. "True enough. The public isn't very forgiving of the pure's existences. On a personal level, though?"

Midoriya felt his lips flatten, even as his brain registered the phrasing. Referencing the quirkless as pure. If that was the case, he'd have to handle this a little differently.

"I dislike them, Mr. Chisaki. I don't wish people ill simply for possessing quirks, but I've had some," Midoriya paused for a moment, "poor experiences involving quirk users. I have before entertained the thought of how much easier things would be without them. I've seen society function without them, and some part of me does miss that. But that is as much a pipe dream as any one an opium user would have. If it weren't quirks, then it would be something else. Our complexion, our religion, our gender."

Midoriya saw the sympathy in the other man's eyes and had to force his own not to narrow. He didn't want pity. "I see. That is a common sentiment from what I have found. What if I could offer a solution?"

Midoriya thought about what else Mr. Chisaki was known for and did narrow his eyes this time. "Is this a business meeting between Mr. Chisaki and myself as CEOs, or is this a matter between Overhaul and another member of the underworld?"

Chisaki grinned behind his mask, but it never quite reached his eyes, and it wasn't in his voice when he responded. "Can it not be both, Mr. Midoriya?"

Midoriya let his left hand rest in his lap while his right held his face aloft, elbow positioned casually on the desk, his fingers tapping an unsteady rhythm onto his cheek. "I suppose. Your Yakuza have been, let's use the word respectful, with your drug sales. No children, no targeting vulnerables, no crimes so far that could truly be considered against humanity. So, I suppose it can be both. If you are here regarding Trigger, though, then you aren't going to find what you are looking for."

Chisaki shook his head. "No, the Trigger sales are simply a means to an end. What if I could offer you a solution to the quirked disease?"

"I'd tell you that dozens of disgraced scientists would tell me the same thing, and that none of them would be able to come up with a solution."

After all, governments around the world had been working on such a thing since quirks had first appeared, and none of them had seen any semblance of a true solution. The closest so-called answer was the specialized restriction measures in places like Tarturus. There were prototypes, of course, that targeted the quirk factor, but they had to be hooked directly into a person and were too large and immobile to function for police use.

"Of course the diseased wouldn't want to cure themselves. That is what I am here for today, Mr. Midoriya. Trigger sales are a means to fund our research. We have successfully synthesized a drug to remove quirks." Midoriya felt a twinge in the back of his head and sat up a little straighter.

"You are telling me right now that you have successfully created a method to permanently remove quirks?"

"No." Midoriya closed his eyes briefly, his breathing slow and purposeful. "But we have succeeded in doing so temporarily." Midoriya's chest shuddered, eyes snapping open wide to look at Chisaki. Even that was a serious breakthrough. "Quirks are a disease that needs to be eradicated quickly, before all of the pure humans are gone. Even I am blessed," Chisaki sneered the word, "with this disease. It began as an attempt to cure myself, but I realized quickly that so much more could be done with it. We could save humanity."

Midoriya weighed what to say next in his head. "I wouldn't have expected to hear a leader of the remaining Yakuza repeating Humarises rhetoric." A glint of something flicked across Chisaki's gaze before it was gone.

"We have," it was Chisaki's turn to pause mid-sentence, "similar views. That's all. They want the quirked dead. That is their cure."

Midoriya mused quietly. He supposed that what he was saying could be true. "And what will you do with this cure once you have it? What are you requesting from us?"

Chisaki's eyes gleamed. "We will remove quirks from the world, Mr. Midoriya. We shall cure this awful disease. No more abuse. No more hatred for something you are born with or without. We simply want your support. We just don't have the equipment we need to make this final breakthrough."

Idealistic, surely, but his response had only answered part of what Midoriya really needed to know. "How, Mr. Chisaki? How will you go about curing everyone? Subterfuge? Force? What is your plan to cure the world?" Chisaki gave Midoriya an explanation as to how such planning was necessary only after the final breakthrough was made. It sounded awful even to his own ears.

Midoriya sighed but put his hands up. "Look, Mr. Chisaki, even if I wanted all quirks to be gone, what I am hearing is potential at most. Such a thing could be incredibly useful, and using the right methods, that potential could easily become a reality. But right now, it's just that. Potential. We cannot officially sponsor the creation of an anti-quirk serum developed by the Yakuza of all people."

Chisaki dipped his head. He hadn't expected it to be an easy sell. It would require convincing. "That being said, if you can show me two things, I'm certain we can do something for you unofficially."

Chisaki's head snapped up. He hadn't expected even that much yet. "What would you need?"

"First, I need you to prove that what you've said regarding the temporary removal of quirks is accurate. I don't expect it to work across the board yet. My expectations are that it's working on emitters, yes?"

Chisaki shook his head slowly. "It also prevents mutation quirks from using their mutations." Midoriya narrowed his eyes in thought as his lips firmed. Interfering with the quirk factor itself, perhaps.

"The second thing that I need you to bring me is a plan moving forward, something that I would expect from any of my own researchers when they put together a proposal. Actions, materials, needs, etcetera."

"We can get that to you. So this means that you are going to support our endeavor?"

"If the plan you bring me is reasonable and you can prove your current results, we will discuss funding. The value of your research, if true, already speaks for itself."

Chisaki tilted his head to the side, unreadable neutrality in his eyes, then nodded. "I believe that can be arranged." Chisaki reached inside his pocket for a moment, bringing out a slim case. Dipping his fingers inside, he removed and placed something akin to a tranquilizer dart in front of Midoriya.

Both men stood, silently acknowledging the item left behind on the desk, before stepping out of the room. Only small talk was left as their business came to its conclusion. Midoriya kept a professional smile on his face as Chisaki left the building. The front door closed and sealed before that smile dropped into a fierce scowl.

"Fucking Yakuza." Midoriya reached up to tap on the embedded communicator to alert Phoenix. "Get me Shadow, please, Phoenix." Midoriya waited for the calm voice of their primary intelligence system to connect him to their ever-busy and clandestine A.I.

Yes? What do you require, Father? The smooth male voice flowed across the communicator.

"The man who just left Moonlit Industries, put a tail on him. Use the microdrones to bug the Yakuza base and dig through the records of every hero in his area. He isn't telling us something, and I'm not working with someone like him without knowing what it is."

Mother will have to create a few more of the drones. You know how much she hates making them.

"I'll get her something for her headache. Just retask the drones, please." Midoriya turned after receiving the acknowledgment and moved back to his office. He rolled the needle-tipped dart/bullet thing in between his fingers. Reaching over for his office phone, Midoriya called up to Biotechnical.

"Ishii here." Midoriya continued to stare at the dart and couldn't shake the uncomfortable feeling crawling up his spine.

"Mai, I've got a chemical dart down here that I need you to run an analysis on. I need to know its composition." Another confirmation before Midoriya placed the phone back onto its receiver. Something didn't add up here, and Midoriya didn't like it.

…

"Welcome back to class, everyone." Midoriya stood at the front of the classroom, letting his gaze roam over the students. Several of them looked excited to get back to training. Others, instead, looked apprehensive. Several hadn't even shown up yet. Half of those were with their families, the other half holed up in their dorm rooms. All in all, well within Midoriya's expectations after the USJ.

"Now, we have several things to discuss before we go outside. First, regarding the USJ," the class visibly tensed, "no charges shall be brought against any of the students that had to take extreme actions during the events there. This was mentioned in the email that the school sent out, but I'm reiterating it here. All actions were found to be justified."

Midoriya watched as that got varying reactions. Mina was looking around, obviously feeling guilty. Toga looked gleeful, concerning, Kaminari appeared distinctly sick. Tsunotori seemed ambivalent, equally concerning, and Tokoyami looked angry. The rest of the class was a mixture of Kaminari's nausea and Mina's guilt. Midoriya frowned before placing his notes down on the front podium.

"Look, this is something that each of you will cover with Hound Dog." Midoriya took note of the surprise in the room. "Yes, Hound Dog. Both classes 1-A and 1-B are to have at least one mandatory meeting with the school psychologist. This shouldn't come as a surprise with what happened, and while it isn't mandatory once you have your license, it should be required any time a hero is forced to use lethal force."

Reactions varied from distrust to uneasy acceptance at the thought of seeing a psychologist. Midoriya sighed. He could relate to the feeling, even if it was because he knew they wouldn't be able to do anything for him.

"Look, the USJ was a fucking shitshow, and I'll acknowledge that. None of you should have been put in that kind of situation already. But the fact of the matter is that you were. Sometimes, the job of hero will mean that you have to kill, to protect someone, to save yourself, to end a threat that you wouldn't be able to restrain. We all carry that guilt differently. We all process it differently. But, sometimes, without a choice, you will have to take action. I encourage all of you to speak with Hound Dog about this when you go to see him. If you can't reconcile that after you have had the time to process, then please leave the hero course. This isn't the career path for you."

The class, except for two, looked uniformly sick. Midoriya decided to move on from that subject. "Now, onto the two main points." The door opened suddenly enough to have the entire class looking over. There, stood in the doorway, was a man that was more bandage than person. Leaning on a cane of his own, he started to hobble into the room when Midoriya stuck a finger out.

"No, we are not doing this. Recovery Girl accepted your transfer back to U.A. only because you were stable and out of respect for your hatred of hospitals, but you sure as hell aren't teaching in your condition. Get back to the medical ward now or, so help me, Aizawa, I will drug you and carry you back."

The class stared in shock at the mummified form now identified as their teacher. They had known his injuries were bad, but it was another thing to see the man. The mummy grumbled something, red eyes glaring out between the bandages. The class couldn't understand what was going on, but it seemed that Midoriya understood him just fine when he pulled a syringe from his school blazer and pointed it at the man.

"I told you, Aizawa. Recovery Girl and I barely managed to piece your orbitals and organs back together when you came here. You shouldn't have your eyes open at all. Now turn around or I'll fucking do it." The man seemed to accede as he turned and grumbled his way out of the room. Midoriya sighed, rubbing his eyes as he replaced the syringe in his jacket.

"You really shouldn't curse like that, Midoriya." The glare he sent Iida's way was enough to freeze hell. After a moment, though, Midoriya sighed and closed his eyes.

"You are correct, of course. It's a nasty little habit you pick up in the military, though. Now, onto the meat of today's news, against the faculty's advisement, the Sports Festival will still be continuing as planned."

The class erupted in something between shock and excitement. Murmuring echoed around the room, and Midoriya let it go on for a few seconds before putting his hand up. "Yes, yes, very exciting." Yaoyorozu raised her hand.

"Are we sure that it's a good idea to hold the Sports Festival so soon after an event like this? It's the perfect opportunity for villains to try and infiltrate the school."

Midoriya shook his head in disgust. "No, and if it were up to me, we wouldn't be having the Sports Festival. But it's one of Japan's biggest events. It is to us now what the Olympics used to be. Modern-day gladiators as far as I'm concerned."

Shinso stuck his hand up next, and when Midoriya called on him, he raised a point that Midoriya had thought of himself. "Do those of us that plan to go underground have to participate?"

Midoriya nodded. "Unfortunately, it is mandatory for all of the hero course students to participate. You will only be doing this once a year, and it is the main method by which you'll be scouted. So it's important. That being said, I have brought this exact point up with Nedzu, and I have managed to get a few concessions. In light of what has happened, we'll be picking hero names today. That is what you'll be announced by, rather than your real names. You'll also be allowed, if you plan on going underground, hoods and/or masks to obscure your facial features."

"That's not exactly ideal." Shinso didn't look pleased by the news, and Midoriya could feel that himself.

"Not in the slightest, but it's the best I've got." Midoriya flipped the page on his notes and started again after taking a second to read them.

"As for training, some of you are likely concerned that we've not worked with your quirks yet and we've only taught you the basics. That is going to change. We have a month until the Sports Festival, and during that time, we are going to work on your quirks up until a week before the festival, then we're going to run group drills for that last week."

Uraraka had visibly tensed during his summary. "Like the drills we started with?"

Midoriya nodded vaguely. "Not quite like that. You guys still need to be taught how to properly assess indoor environments, but there will be group scenarios like that. Let me make it clear, though, that it these will not be the same as All Might's scenarios, understood? I want to train you, not risk your lives." Midoriya received an affirmation from the class as the door slid open again. Midoriya was reaching for the syringe when he noticed Midnight and sighed, stepping away from the podium. "Midnight will be helping to choose your hero names as the expert in that area. Choose carefully."

Midnight pouted and poked Midoriya. "You ruined my entrance." Midoriya swatted the hand.

"You don't need an entrance. Now, let's get to it so we can get back to training."

Notes:

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