Detective Tsukauchi scribbled away on his notepad, taking note of the answers I gave to his questions. I found myself twirling my lip piercing, my hand resisting the urge to grab the package of cigarettes hidden in a pouch of my hero costume. Logic then kicked in and I realized it probably wasn't a good idea to smoke in front of a cop. Regardless of how stressed I was, I did not want to deal with paying a fine.

"Were there any villains you saw that stuck out particularly?" Tsukauchi asked, then added. "Perhaps villains that have appeared on the news before?"

I shrugged. "Not really, the gas villain guy was intimidating as hell, and hand guy and birdman were murderous enough to make me feel sick. Although, I'm sure everyone else you've talked to so far has told you the same thing. The only thing worth mentioning, is that one villain I ran into seemed to be really young."

"Young?" Tsukauchi said, his frantic scribbling pausing.

"Yeah," I nodded. "She had the appearance of a child, maybe six or seven years old, eight at the oldest. At first I thought maybe she had wandered into the facility and got lost, but she attacked with malicious intent and knew one of the villains by name."

"Do you remember the name of the villain she knew?" Tsukauchi eagerly asked.

"She called him Mr. Kurogiri," I replied. "And not long after, a portal opened beneath her and she was gone."

"Anything else to add?" Tsukauchi prompted.

I tap my chin and thought for a moment, then cheerfully replying. "Nope, I think that's it, if you want more information on the girl you should ask Todoroki and Hagakure, they saw her too."

The detective tipped his hat, thanking me for my time before walking over to another student. I watched him leave, my hand once again twitching as it itched to grab the carton of cigarettes in my pocket. I decided to join up with the rest of my class, hoping that they had some kind of answer to what was going to happen next. I approached the group and softly tapped on Momo's shoulder. The girl flinched and turned around despite how softly I tapped her, but I expected something like that, everyone was on edge.

"Oh, Jiji," She sighed in relief. "Did you finish talking with Detective Tsukauchi?"

"Yeah, just finished," I replied, giving her what I hoped was a kind smile. "I was just wondering if you knew what was going to happen next? We can't just stand around here all day, and I really want to go home."

"I would much rather be at home as well," Momo chuckled, sounding exhausted. "I spoke with Present Mic not long ago, and it seems that he will take us back to UA on the bus and then our parents will pick us up for safety reasons."

"Makes sense," I winced, knowing my mother probably couldn't pick me up. "Thanks."

Momo smiled, then turning back to Mina to continue their conversation. I found myself sighing. My mother doesn't own a car, and she's either working or sleeping right now. I'm definitely late too, so hopefully Kuse got home fine on his own. The real problem is that it sounds like we won't be allowed to walk home, and that's exactly how I usually get home.

I spent several minutes stressing on my own, nervously twirling an earlobe piercing as I tried to think up a solution. I felt a tap on my shoulder and I jumped. My neck made an unpleasant "POP" as I turned my head, my eyes landing on Tenya.

"You okay Tora?" Tenya asked, his voice soft.

"No," I answered bluntly. "But I will be once I'm at home."

"Well I wanted to ask if you'd need a ride home," Tenya admitted, shyly scratching his cheek. "I know you usually walk home, so I didn't know if you had a ride."

"Yes please," I sighed in relief. "I don't want to be a pain, but I really don't have anyone who could drive me."

"It's no problem," Tenya smiled. "Just let me call my brother and make sure he's all right with it."

"Thanks," I grinned. "I'll make sure to tell your brother thanks as well."

Tenya pressed a few buttons on his phone before pressing it to his ear. After only two rings, someone picked up.

"Tenya! I saw the news, are you alright?! I got worried when you didn't pick up! Mom and dad called you a lot too, they're practically hysterical!" A concerned voice boomed, loud enough that I could hear it.

"Ah, I apologize!" Tenya replied. "I wasn't able to pick up my phone, but I'm fine now! Totally fine!"

"That's a relief..." He sighed.

"But I did call to ask you something," Tenya continued. "I wanted to know if you could give me and a friend a ride. Mom and dad are at work so I thought I'd ask you."

"That's fine!" He chirped. "I'm not too far from your school, I was just out shopping today, I'll swing by your school soon. Are you back yet?"

"Things are just getting wrapped up here," Tenya replied. "We'll meet you back at UA."

"Sounds good," His brother chuckled. "Call me when you get back to school and I'll head over."

"I will," Tenya promised. "Goodbye Tensei."

With that their call ended, and I found myself chuckling.

"He seems nice." I laughed.

"Yeah," Tenya smiled. "He's the best."

~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~

Now changed out of my hero costume and dressed in my uniform, Tenya and I waited in the cafeteria for his older brother to arrive, feeling somewhat safe within the school's premises. Thankfully, many of the staff were still around too. No one in their right mind would try something again at a time like this, no one with half a brain at least.

Tenya seemed nervous, his hands clasped in front of him. He wanted to say something, I know he did. Despite the fact that I tried my best to act like I usually did, I had a feeling he could tell that I was not feeling all that great. With a sigh, I rolled my shoulder, giving Tenya a slightly irritated look.

"You look like you're constipated," I huffed, crossing my arms. "Spit it out already."

"Are you alright?" He blurted out. "It's just, some of our classmates could've gotten seriously hurt, you saw the state Mr. Aizawa was in."

"I'm fine," I tried to reassure him, placing my finger on the bandage over my lip. "This little nick was my own fault, I just bit my lip accidentally." 

"So you don't have any other injuries?" Tenya asked, staring at me with concern.

"Nope," I sighed. "Maybe some mental scars, but what's new? I'm more worried about you, how are your legs feeling after running all the way to UA from the USJ?"

"Honestly," He groaned, his hands gripping his thighs. "My legs feel like jelly."

I chuckled, relieved that Tenya seemed to be a lot calmer than before. The two of us fell into a comfortable silence for a moment before Tenya's phone began blaring music, making both of us flinch. 

"Hello?" Tenya answered the phone, bringing it to his ear.

"Hey Tenya," A cheerful voice replied. "I'm parked out front."

"Ah," Tenya smiled. "We'll be right there."

The call quickly ended and the two of us headed for the front gate. I hummed the melody of a song I liked to try and calm my nerves a bit. Tenya talked about his brother a lot, and I know that his family means the world to him, so what do I do if I leave a bad impression on his brother? What if he tells Tenya to stop hanging out with me? I wouldn't blame him though, I'm probably not the greatest person out there to be friends with.

"Whoa," I found myself whistling as Tenya approached a very nice black car with tinted windows. "Is that your brother's car?"

"Yes," Tenya nodded. "He actually didn't want one for a while since he can get around well using his quirk, but using your quirk in public off-duty is illegal, so he ended up getting a car anyway."

I chuckled.

The passenger window for the car began rolling down, revealing the smiling face of a young man with dark blue hair, his facial structure quite similar to Tenya's. The man grinned at us, waving to usher us over.

"Hurry up and hop in!" He chirped.

Tenya glanced at me before grabbing my hand and leading me toward the car. I ignored how sweaty my palms felt.  Tenya opened the door for me and I slid into the backseat, Tenya rode shotgun, quickly saying hello to his brother and thanking him on my behalf.

"Thanks for also agreeing to drop Tora off Tensei," Tenya said, buckling his seatbelt up. "She didn't have a ride."

"I really don't mind," Tensei chuckled, reaching over to ruffle his little brother's hair. "Besides, I've never gotten to meet any of your friends before."

"Oh, I'm Tora Tsujihara by the way," I said, introducing myself. "But you can call me Tora, or Jiji."

"Jiji?" Tensei chuckled. "You're too young to have a nickname like gramps."

I shrugged. "I just got sick of people calling me Tsujihara all the time."

"Then Jiji it is," He decided, starting the car engine and shifting it into drive. "So then Jiji, how'd you meet Tenya? Sorry if this sounds blunt, but you don't seem like the kind of person I could see Tenya hanging out with."

"Let's just say that he keeps me in check." I answered.

Tensei chuckled. "I see, so then Jiji, mind punching in your address.?"

I leaned forward over the center console, punching the digits of the apartment block I lived in into his car's GPS. I glanced at Tensei for a second and I swear I saw his expression flicker.

~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~

By the time we arrived, I could see how uncomfortable Tensei seemed, his shoulders stiff and his eyes wide. I didn't blame him though, we were in a shady part of town and he was driving a really nice car. He was a hero after all, so of course, he had a nice car, but it definitely stood out.

"I forgot to ask earlier," I began, making eye contact with Tensei through the rear-view mirror. "But I was wondering if you had a couple of extra minutes."

"Sure, but how come?" Tensei asked.

"Is this about Kuse?" Tenya guessed, knowing that my little brother was a huge hero lover.

"Yeah, I was wondering if you could talk to my little brother for a minute or two," I replied. "He's a huge fan of heroes, so I'm sure he'd love to meet Ingenium." 

Tensei smiled, turning off his car and pulling the keys out of the ignition. We all exited the car and I made my way for the fire escape, prepared to tell Tensei to start climbing too, but before I could even grab the first ladder rung I was tackled, almost falling flat on my ass.

"Tora!" Kuse sobbed, probably getting snot all over my blazer. "I was s-so scared! I-I saw the n-news and-!"

He broke down and stopped mid-sentence, leaving me to try and calm him down. I stroked his curly blue hair in an attempt to calm him down, allowing him to hug me.

"Hey, I'm fine, barely even a scratch," I reassured him, holding him tightly. "But I brought someone who might cheer you up."

Kuse peeked around me. "Tenya and...?"

Tensei smiled, walking over to us and crouching down to Kuse's level. "Hey there! Your name's Kuse, right? I'm the hero Ingenium! Maybe you've heard of me, I'm Tenya's older brother!"

Kuse's large blue eyes widened and he slowly stopped hugging me, his arms relaxing to his sides as he took a step towards him.

"That's awesome!" Kuse exclaimed, his eyes practically sparkling. "Oh crap- I don't have my notebook... I was going to ask for an autograph."

I sighed, walking over to place my hand on top of his head. "How about you ask him next time? Tenya and I are good friends, so you'll end up seeing Ingenium again."

"Yeah," Tensei nodded. "Next time I'll even wear my hero costume, doesn't that seem cool? I'll even let you try on my helmet."

Kuse nodded rapidly. "Okay! See you later Tenya, bye Ingenium!"

The two Iida brothers headed back towards Tensei's car and we watched them drive off. My shoulders sagged and I sighed.

Today had truly been a long day.

A/N

I hadn't meant to make this chapter this long, but it would've been awkward to split it up in the middle, so I decided to just make it one long chapter! Anyway, I'm looking around for something that I can use as a reference for Kuse, so if I manage to find one I'll put it in the next chapter! Also, I have a YouTube channel that I post videos on now and then, so check it out, it's Weeaboo Central and it has Amajiki as the profile pic. Check it out!

(Edited 2022.08.04)