144Within the confines of Mina's home, six little girls dressed in pajamas sat in a circle around their friend's bed, having a serious discussion with as much gravity as a bunch of five-year-olds could manage to bring to a subject.
Which to an outsider's perspective probably wasn't much but nevertheless, it was a serious issue they were faced with as they discussed their seventh, absent friend.
"This feels weird without Izuku." Mina complained as she hugged her little Alien plushy to her tiny chest, pouting as she looked around. "It's not a proper group sleepover if he isn't here!"
"I wholeheartedly agree." Momo nodded, ever the elegant and proper girl despite her age. "It just doesn't feel as though we're complete without him."
"Ribbit. Yeah. With he was here. But we couldn't talk about how to deal with that jerk Bakugou if he was here." Tsuyu pointed out, getting Ochaco to nod rapidly beside her, the brunette always seeming to gain far too much energy at sleepovers.
"Mhm! You know how sea-crate-ive he gets when we talk about that bully!" She said with a small, angry (yet adorable) pout of her own.
"Secretive." Momo quickly corrected, before the raven haired child then cleared her throat and got everyone's attention. "I think the sensible way to continue would be to go to our parents."
"Oh good idea! My mom always knows what to do whenever I bring her maths thingies!" Hagakure said, clapping her hands. "I love watching her write, she's so smart!"
"Mhm! And my dad is super strong, he can lift anything! He could lift those bullies right into space, definitely!" Ochaco joined in with Hagakure as the two girls gushed about how cool their parents were, the others speaking up similar sentiments a few moments later about their own progenitors.
"Yes, we all have wonderful parents. Still, I'm sure some of them might not know what to do, but if we all go to all our parents, and talk to them, we can find a way to deal with this!" Momo said, looking around them all with a smile. "Are we all agreed?"
"Yeah!"
"Mhm!
"Definitely!"
"Great, then I believe it's about time we should consider sleeping." Momo gave them all her best kind, protective smile that made them all feel safe when they saw it.
"Aww… but I've still got so much energy!" Ochaco whines as the others giggled, Mina hugging her brunette friend.
"Bet ya you'll fall asleep before anyone else, Ocha." The pink skinned girl giggled, ignoring her friend sticking her tongue out at her. "I think I have the sleeping bags in my closet."
"Aww…" Kyoka whined quietly to herself, getting all eyes to turn to her. She went red and didn't meet their eyes.
"Something the matter, Kyo?" Hagakure asked, making the purple haired girl look up nervously.
"I uh… k-kinda wanted to do the h-hug pile again." The girl admitted shyly, making Mina smile brightly.
"Oh! Me too! That was fun!" She cheered, before suddenly being pulled into a hug by both Ochaco and Hagakure.
"Yay! Then let's go already!" Hagakure called, Tsuyu ribbiting nearby happily as she joined, Momo coming around the back and Kyoka moving to near the middle of the pile.
Ochaco was the first to fall asleep just as Mina predicted, followed by the pink skinned girl, then Momo, followed by Kyoka and Hagakure. Tsuyu was the last to fall asleep, burying herself into Ochaco's side.
She let out a small but happy ribbit at seeing they'd still left a spot open for Izuku despite him not being there.
As expected, not all the parents were quite as equipped as the others to handle the sudden rush of their daughters begging them to help their friend.
The Urarakas were surprised and unable to think much of what they could do, beyond offering Izuku a safe place to stay if he ever needed it which didn't particularly help as much as they'd like.
The Jirous equally were pretty uncertain on how to proceed, though they did take this fairly seriously, hating the idea that one of their daughter's friends that had been bringing their little angel so much joy was being hurt, starting a social media campaign of their own. They could take pride in raising money for anti-bullying ventures and quirkless awareness charities yet none of it hit the root cause like they wanted.
It was with the Asui's things started to become more serious. While Beru was mostly out of commission, looking after her newborn bundle of joy Samidare and not being able to provide much assistance beyond moral support. Ganma Asui had been quick to the phone, making a few calls to his office, a law firm that he owned.
Things only continued to pick up from there, as Mr. Hagakure himself was also a lawyer in the public sector, one of the most highly rated ones for that matter who took great offense to the idea of his daughter's friend being discriminated against for quirk discrimination, especially when it was someone as sweet as Izuku.
Even Miu Ashido, Mina's mother, was pissed off at the revelation her daughter brought before her. The only time Mina remembered her mother looking so scary was in the video tapes of her fighting for UFC championships. She watched her put on her police uniform she wore for her job, and storm off.
When Mina asked where she was going was, she'd gotten a simple answer:
"To talk with the station about arrest warrants and discrimination laws."
As if a potential public denouncing of the school from the relatively popular Jirous, an angry former UFC championship police detective and threat of legal action from two mutant lawyers who hated quirk discrimination wasn't enough, finally Momo approached her own parents.
The Yaoyorouzus, who had held many of the group's events, especially when it had all seven of them together, who probably had seen Izuku the most out of all the parents, barring his own mother. The pure shock, followed by anger on Mr. Yaoyorouzu's face would be sure to scare anyone as he had walked to the phone, typing in a number and waiting with bated breath for someone to pick up.
Momo didn't hear much, but she could infer he was talking to the other parents, setting something up. Then finally he turned his attention to his daughter.
"What's the name of Midoriya's school, sweetie?"
"Aldera Elementary, father. Why?" Momo asked, curious.
"Because I need to know the name to buy it out."
As if the others weren't bad enough, they'd made enemies of one of the richest and most influential families in Japan.
It was a week after the sleepover Momo found herself in her room, with Izuku curled up in her side. Over the course of the year they had known each other, she had discovered a shared love of reading with her friend.
He had a slightly lower reading level than her, struggling with a few words but overall he was still able to keep up with her more advanced books. The two were mid-way through an action adventure novel, "Alex Rider: Stormbreaker" by a pre-quirk author and they were loving every moment of it.
They were also loving every moment just spent together, Momo's arm wrapped around Izuku's neck as he buried himself into her side, eyes scanning the page with her as she read out loud as it was her turn to. Izuku had a massive smile on his face, loving how into it his friend got and being enraptured in the spy thriller as he imagined it all from the safety of Momo's arms.
It was only a few more minutes before they finished the chapter, Izuku giggling as he nuzzled into her a little before pushing himself up. "You're so cool Momo!"
"H-Huh?" The girl spluttered in surprise at the sudden declaration, the boy smiling at her widely.
"Yeah! You can read so much and read such complicated words! Plus you've got a super strong cool quirk and make us feel safe and you're always looking out for us-" Momo felt her face go pure red at the very sudden barrage of compliments. "-You're amazing Momo!"
"…T-Thank you! It means a lot to me!" She said, smiling wide at him after a moment and pulling him into a hug. "I think you're pretty amazing as well Izuku."
"You do?" Izuku asked, sounding genuinely confused.
"Mhm. You're really smart yourself and you're super creative. I may be able to figure quirks out, but you have such unique and amazing ideas for them I'd never think of! Plus you're really resilient and always impressing me and the rest of the girls, you're even getting pretty fast! You're amazing yourself Izuku!"
He blinked in surprise, before smiling widely, the sun itself feeling as though it was smiling on her as he suddenly held her tighter. "Thank you! Thank you so much!"
"It's just the truth," she giggled, rubbing his back slightly. Before they could continue with any more of the compliments however…
"Momo! Midoriya! Your friends are here!" The sound of Mrs. Yaoyorouzu shouting up the stairs got their attention and they pulled apart, smiling at each other before they set off, Izuku leading the way quickly.
Momo giggled as she had to quicken her pace to keep up, smiling as she watched Izuku laughing to himself and hurrying along. She couldn't help but smile as she began to observe him more closely, comparing this Izuku to the one they'd all met almost a year ago now.
He had changed, in subtle ways and one not so subtle way. The not so subtle one being his hair, which he seemed to have being growing out. She'd only noticed it recently but already messy, unruly hair was beginning to gain length, having managed to go from being roughly cheek length to down to above his shoulders, now medium length instead of short.
It made him fit in quite nicely with the rest of the girl's hair styles, Tsuyu and Momo being the only outliers with their long hair. She also had to admit the longer hair looked really nice on her friend, adding to his inherent cuteness quite well.
There were also more subtle variations in this Izuku however compared to the one she first met, such as the slowly fading stutter, the slowly developing confidence to speak his mind and even the way he carried himself.
Yet again, this was something she was certain the she and the girls influenced, as his once shy, timid, almost scared steps, had now changed to more excited, curious bounds and sways, confidence shining in how he now carried himself. Yet also, every little bob, every little sway, it was like he was trying to imitate his friends, and it led to his way of carrying himself being almost feminine.
She supposed she shouldn't be that surprised, he spent almost all his positive time hanging out with girls, it was bound to happen. With all the confidence in every step, it was hardly like she was complaining and she couldn't help but giggle to herself as she remembered what they'd told him after their first sleepover.
"One of the girls" was perfectly accurate.
"Momo! Zuku!" Mina called out happily at seeing their friends, the group of children meeting up in the centre, hugs and in a certain invisible girl's case, some kisses on the cheek, being exchanged.
"Alright kids. Have fun with whatever you want to do." Mr. Yaoyorouzu spoke up, drawing their attention as the parents all walked towards him. Izuku looked slightly confused, not used to seeing them all together but the girls all knew what this was about, making them frown very briefly before Kyoka grabbed Izuku's wrist.
"Come on! Let's go explore!" She said, pulling him along, the other girls rushing to catch up with her as she pulled the green haired boy along.
"Be safe. We'll all be in the study if you need us!" Mrs. Yaoyorouzu called out as the kids all took off down a random hallway, Mina going off on some sudden tirade about the idea of hidden treasure in the mansion the rest of the kids bar Momo instantly took to, searching around.
While they were distracted, the parents all disappeared inside the study, closing the door behind them. Everyone else sat down, Mr. Yaoyorouzu being the last to come around, addressing them all.
"Well, I'm sure most of you are aware of what this is about, barring Inko here."
"Yes, I'm… quite confused. You told me this was to do with Izuku but you never elaborated more than that." Inko nodded, looking to him confused. "It was quite concerning."
"Yes well, you see… all our daughters approached each of us." The man began before Kyotoku Jirou, Kyoka's father, took over next.
"Our little Jirou told us something so not rocking about your kid's school."
Miu frowned with an angry glare at the floor. "Inko… your kids being bullied, and not just in the usual kid way. I'm guessing by your shocked look you don't know but… the kids had burns."
"…No…" Inko muttered, horror settling on her features as she put a hand to her mouth.
"I'm afraid that's what Ochaco told us as well." The blonde man that was Ochaco's father informed the woman.
"It's truly horrible, ribbit." Ganma said, shaking his head with a sigh. "It would also appear, if our daughters are correct, your son's school is helping the bullies instead of him."
"Which is incredibly, incredibly illegal." Hagakure finished up, letting the shocked shouts of the unaware parents die down before continuing. "Ganma and I spent a phone call going over this just to be sure, though we were already certain even before then, the lack of interference by the school is highly illegal and could be grounds for at best for them a hefty lawsuit, at worst… a total review and rehiring of the school staff. And while not to quite as severe a degree, the actions taken against Izuku by his bullies are also grounds for serious punishment if it continues, for the parents as well as the kid."
Inko gulped, looking up. "So… thank you for telling me this but… what do I do? I don't have the money to-"
"Let me stop you there." Mr. Yaoyorouzu spoke up with a chuckle despite the situation. "I know it's been a while for you Inko since you had Izuku but we are your friends and quite a few of us quite like your son as well. I certainly do. We're hardly going to let something this serious keep going on, especially against our daughter's friend."
"Yes, I'd gladly take the case for you for free." Ganma nodded. "Quirk and Quirkless discrimination may not be the exact same thing but I still abhor both, and have a policy about cases such as those. Even if it were some random people I never met before, I would still take it for free."
"And I could pull a few favours to end up defending the school with a… not so amazing defence if need be." Mr. Hagakure admitted. "I don't mind taking a loss to ensure this is properly dealt with. It wouldn't be the first time I have done it."
"Is that ethical?" Miu asked, with a tilt of her head.
"An investigation led me to the undeniable conclusion my client was guilty of crimes to make even the most seasoned people feel sick to the core, yet they had the perfect escape. I had a perfect defence to get them a not guilty verdict. I put my morals first and I will happily do it again."
"….Fair enough. Anyways, I can have a warrant like-" Miu snapped her fingers, "-that, to go and confront the principal of the school to give him a piece of our minds and a chance to change. If he doesn't, failure to comply could get him an early arrest warrant."
Inko looked around all the parents, shocked they were all so willing to help her and her son… and then the tears started. She'd apologize for flooding the Yaoyorouzu mansion later when she was less emotional.
When she did calm down, she did look around and Miu gave her a smile. "So, it's your choice Inko. How do you want to handle this?"
"I… I'm scared to find out but I want to hope that there is some misunderstanding, that the school has good people." Inko said with a frown, looking down. "I… want to confront them first to get answers. If… if they're really that bad, then I want to deal with them properly."
She hoped, she really hoped they wouldn't be that bad.
Unfortunately, her hopes were in vain.
In another room, somehow, to events lost to even the kids involved memories, Kyoka and Izuku had ended up tied up together on the floor, being guarded by Asui who had located a pirate's outfit who along with Momo was fending off Ochaco and Mina from the 'treasure'
When they inevitably accidentally broke something swinging their fake swords about, they all collectively agreed Mina was at fault.
The pink skinned girl just pouted, but ended up getting hugs as recompense.
One more week later and it was finally time for Inko, Miu, Ganma, Mr. Hagakure and Mr. Yaoyorouzu to gather.
To onlookers, with how they were dressed and how they carried themselves, one would think they were just a group of friends getting together for a day out.
However, when they entered the school, that vibe around them quickly changed as they made their way towards the principal's office, and it became apparent they were a group on a mission.
They soon arrived, all sharing looks before nodding and looking to Inko, who took a calming breath, preparing herself for this before she knocked on the door with urgency.
"Come in?" A voice called out and Inko opened the door, walking in to find the principal, a brown haired short man with red eyes, sat at his desk, reading a file. His eyes seemed to briefly flash with contempt if she wasn't seeing things as she walked in. "Ah, miss Midoriya. I wasn't aware we had an appointment to meet."
"We don't. This is something that couldn't wait to be dealt with after I found out." Inko said simply, getting a raised brow from the man.
"And whatever could that be?"
"…My son is being horrendously bullied while at this school and based on how long it's been going on, you were aware of it but did nothing."
"…Miss Midoriya that is a completely baseless allegation." The man tutted, shaking his head. "I assure you your son, should any injury have come to him, he didn't sustain it within these walls."
"Really, you're certain of that?"
"Absolutely." The principal lied through his teeth with a smile.
"So you'd even be willing to say it under oath?"
"Yes I- Wait what?" He asked, confusion suddenly lining his features. Then Miu walked in, dressed in her usual work outfit she wore as a detective, her badge being held out prominently so the man would know who she was. His face fell slightly.
Then Ganma and Hagakure walked in next, making his eyes go wide. Inko noticed he began to look a little more bothered, starting to sweat as he seemed to recognize the lawyers.
Then the killing blow came in, Mr. Yaoyorouzu walking in and causing the principal to jump to his feet in surprise before bowing. "Ah! Mister Yaoyo-"
"Save it." The man cut off harshly. "Just answer Inko's question."
"…Oath?" The brunette asked with a hint of dread in his voice. Miu spoke up with far too amused a smirk.
"Yes, oath. See, right now in my pocket is a warrant to search for evidence should I need it." Miu began explaining, pacing around. "We don't have an arrest warrant yet but if we find anything incriminating that can quickly change. The basis of said search is related to quirk and quirkless discrimination, so if we find any sign that its happening, this school could be in serious trouble, especially if it comes to light you were aware of it happening and did nothing to prevent it. So, with a reminder there have been multiple eyewitnesses of Midoriya's kid having burns and bruises far beyond that of simple kids roughhousing, do you still want to claim nothing has happened to him?"
"…Of c-course nothing's happened, w-we're a perfectly well respected school with a reputation to u-uphold, we'd never allow a child to be bullied under any circumstances, nor allow for something as bad as discrimination."
"Well that's good to hear, after all, allowing it could be potentially up to ten years in jail. Ribbit." Ganma threw out suddenly, crossing his arms as he adopted a tone as if he was merely talking about the weather. "Of course, lying about it could lead to a far worse sentence, depending on the severity of the discrimination but I'm sure we don't have to worry about that, right principal?"
"R-Right!"
"…Still, it can't hurt to check, after all if you've got nothing to hide then there's no issue with Miu using that search warrant to be sure, it is her job after all." Mr. Hagakure spoke up, leaning against the desk. "I'm sure your sweating, your heart rate is rising, your eyes are dilating, I'm sure it's all just coincidence that you're exhibiting all the signs of a nervous liar. Miu?"
"On it."
Ten painful, suspenseful, worrying minutes passed as they watched the woman conduct her search, looking around the room for her evidence. It was near the end where things took a turn, when she found a set of tapes that had security footage on them.
Conveniently, since the massive boom in the amount of support jobs there were in japan happened, the police had become more and more equipped with special useful tools to help analyse things such as these tapes without needing to look for a way to use them.
Miu put in the tapes and the rest of the parents slowly watched as intense focus eventually turned to horror and shock, followed by snarling anger as the principal began sweating more and more.
Eventually, she didn't even bother with the rest of the tapes, instead rounding on the principal and storming up to him. "You!"
"Miu?!"
"You bastard. You sick fucking asshole. These are the kind of people you employ?! I thought the idea of them just neglecting him was bad but they were fucking involved?!"
Several eyes went wide in horror at that, Inko felt she might be sick.
"L-Look I-"
"SHUT UP! You fired a woman for speaking up against one of the worst offenders. How sick in the goddamn head do you have to be to do that?! We were going to give you a chance to make a change but no… no, you don't deserve that."
Miu angrily stormed up to Inko next, calming down slightly and taking her wrist. "Come on, we're going to go get Izuku, he needs to understand what about all this was wrong. Yaoyorouzu, you tell the newly jobless asshole what's going to happen."
"With pleasure." The wealthy man nodded, before clapping his hands together and glaring at the brunette. "As Miu has told you, you're going to be finding yourself dealing with a lot of arrest warrants soon. No doubt, with Inko being the first to bring this issue up, her acting lawyer, in this case Ganma here, will then be coming after you all relentlessly which if you've heard of his cases, I'm sure already scares you enough."
"But then there's me." Mister Hagakure spoke up. "I have a favour I can call in, and If I do, your school will then be being defended by me and I can assure you, I have no plans to give you a winning defence. You will all get the punishment you deserve for the undue distress you've caused young Midoriya."
"And to top it all off, as soon as this begins, I will buy out this school. I've already got offers sitting on the fence." Yaoyorouzu smirked slightly as the principal before him paled. "Every single inadequate member of staff will be dealt with one way or another and actually good teachers who won't hurt their students will be brought in. None of us plan to go easy on you…"
"However, if you cooperate, we will at least avoid calling in Hagakure's favour. Ribbit." Ganma finally spoke again. "If you reign in your students, ensure everyone stops attacking Izuku, ensure Katsuki Bakugou especially is properly disciplined and not allowed to keep on doing what he has been to Izuku, along with the rest of these bullies, we will at least let you have an actual defence attorney so you may have a chance."
"Make no mistake though, if you even think of ignoring this all, or even trying to make his situation worse while you still can…" Mr. Hagakure spoke up slowly as he stood up. Mr. Yaoyorouzu finished off with a levelled glare.
"You will find out what it's like when we stop playing around." He said with a dark tone of voice, before the three men turned, leaving a shaking, terrified principal behind to deal with the consequences of his actions.
One month later
Kyoka hummed a tune to herself as she hurried along the nicer streets of Musutafu, her parents letting her wander freely as long as she texted them every fifteen or so minutes, school having been let out.
She'd decided, as they turned out to live close enough to each other that she could, she'd run to Izuku's school and try to catch him on the way out. It would be nice to hang out, or even just walk him home if he was in a rush, it was just nice getting to see Izuku. It always made her happy when she saw his smile.
Especially as it seemed to be getting brighter and brighter over the last month. The first week it had dulled a bit but then suddenly, he was happier than she could ever remember him being and the girls loved it, they all did. Seeing Izuku happy was what they wanted and it was happening.
It was with that thought Kyoka couldn't help but smile as she continued on, eventually making it to Aldera. Her smile dropped when she heard the familiar sounds of explosions and she ran into the schoolyard, spotting Bakugou advancing on Izuku…
But this was different. Izuku, while he still seemed scared and nervous, was genuinely standing defiantly even with no one to defend, ready to fight for himself.
Kyoka was already preparing to jump to his side to help but before she even needed to…
"KATSUKI BAKUOU! ENOUGH!" A female voice shouted and she looked up to see a haggard looking woman running towards them with a tag announcing her as a new employee ran towards them. "We've been through this a hundred times already! It doesn't matter that you have a strong quirk, you can't attack people you think have weaker ones or those who don't have any."
"Why fucking not!? He's just a useless fucking Deku-"
"Bakugou! Anymore swearing like that and you'll be staying for another hour in detention today! He's just as important and useful as anyone else and that nickname is incredibly demeaning. Someone who wants to be a hero should know better. Get into the detention room, now!"
"FUCK YOU!" Bakugou shouted, before turning and running off, right past Kyoka who he scowled at but didn't stop for. She rolled her eyes at him but smiled again, happy to see he was actually being dealt with. He didn't get away with hurting her Izuku.
She didn't even register the fact she just called Izuku hers.
Izuku's face lit up the second he saw her, running towards her with a massive smile. "Kyoka!"
"Hey Izu." She smirked softly, holding her hands out for a hug. He happily came in for it, wrapping his hands around her tight. She was grateful he always respected her original desire not to hug a boy too much, but she wished a little bit now he'd realize they were long past that. Still she just smiled as she held him equally tight. "How was school?"
"It was great! I'm learning so much and my new teachers are super nice! Plus Bakugou and his friends can't pick on me anymore!" he explained, making her let out a small cheer as she pulled away, grabbing his hand. "What are you doing here by the way?"
"I wanted to see my friend!" She explains as if it was the most obvious thing ever. "So I came here to see if you wanted to play! Or just to walk home together."
"Oh! The forest nearby has a really nice nature path! We could walk along that and play!" Izuku said with a bright smile, pulling her along as she chuckled, her smile widening as she took him in.
He still had a few bruises and burns but they were beginning to fade, no longer being constantly added to, he was healing and getting better and it made her so happy to see.
They'd done it, they'd manage to help improve his situation. And with the lessening injuries seemed to be even more growing confidence.
It made everything about this feel like a triumph as Izuku stopped and Kyoka looked ahead to see the path he was talking about, looking beautiful as it went into the forest.
"Ready?" Izuku asked, getting a smile and nod from Kyoka.
They both took their first step together, neither aware in that moment that they were starting a new tradition between best friends, one that would last for years, a tradition for them alone on a path that was their own.
And that path, though they didn't know it, would be endlessly important to Izuku's future.
…
….
But still, before they could get there, they had another seven years together with their friends and each other to get through.
