His dear old dad had another child, huh.
That's why her face festered his skin with bugs, what drew out the rampant desire to revert her bones to ash.

Chiyo Tsutomi was truly, blissfully unaware of who she was.
But more importantly, beyond ignorant of the sinful company she kept.

If Master wanted her taken alive because it would somehow destroy All Might, fine.

But that didn't mean he couldn't have fun while doing it.

He had already been waiting for her when she appeared.

Scuttling down the sidewalk like a pale-skinned crab, red hair acting as the flailing claws in the evening breeze. It was almost comical to think Chiyo had ever viewed Manami Seto as a threat; the woman was practically a carbon-copy of herself, just with a different color-coating.
When Manami had called, frantic and babbling about discoveries in Chiyo's apartment, he didn't even question how she'd obtained access into said apartment- or with who's help- until she returned home to find the willowy man leaning against her bookstore like a phantom, exhausted eyes keenly focused when she began to pour out the night's happenings.

The group of students from Class 1-A who started this witch hunt, led by Momo Yaoyorozu, hadn't surprised him.
The explanation of a lavender-haired boy who used a mental quirk to obtain this precious information, however, did- particularly the tidbit about wiping the neighbor's memory clean of everyone but himself, in case said sleaze decided to pursue justice against the tampering.

Shota Aizawa pondered the notion. It smelled terribly like honeyed milk and bit-back smiles. Chiyo filled spaces she no longer occupied, spoke in the minds of her students like a motherly conscience. How proud she would be.

Led by the notebook Bakugo had cleverly uncovered, it hadn't taken much work to find Seiichi Tanaka, the nice enough boyfriend who still managed the video store; the very one a dark-haired woman sat in the day he visited, head in her soft, folded arms.

Aizawa was surprised Hannei hadn't at least chosen a different store. Had she banked on the idea of Chiyo not sharing her past relationships with him? Perhaps the longer a memory's been established, the harder it is to destroy.

When he had found her, his chest nearly cracked open to give his heart full view, unbelieving and insurmountable relieved as she sat unharmed, hair and eyes and mouth all exactly how he remembered.

And then she looked up.

It made sense that she didn't recognize him- they knew she wouldn't.
Yet his ribs crumbled all the same, made too weak to shield both their hearts and all four lungs simultaneously.

Revealing the nature of their relationship would've pushed her past the breaking point. As much as it killed him not to touch her, feel the sensation of her against him, safe, he knew it was out of the question.

Following her after work would have proven too dangerous; if Hannei suspected anything, so much as caught a glance of him, Chiyo Tsutomi would never again resurface.

A gaunt face watched Aizawa pace without a word, gracious enough to give him the quiet space he needed. They both glanced at the lethargic clock quietly counting down the seconds.
Leave too early and her mother may still be around. Too late, and she might flee.
Manami would remain at the school. If she were revealed before Chiyo could recall the truth, still trapped in her mother's web, there was no telling what would happen.

And so Shota Aizawa was accompanied by Toshinori Yagi alone, walking in silence, both keeping a tense, vigilant eye out all the while.

A man with simple features walked backwards out of the store as they drew closer. A blush warmed his cheeks as he laughed, reluctantly parting ways with whoever remained inside. Seiichi Tanaka passed the duo without so much as a glance in their direction, still swept up in his own whirling hormones. A recurring wave of jealousy licked Aizawa's heart like poison.

"Welcome! Hell- Oh."
Chiyo appeared as well as she had yesterday, hair braided into that goofy crown around her head and body donning another summery dress, vibrant compared to her dark hair. There were signs of unrest under her eyes, though, and her left fingers kept strumming a tuneless melody against her thigh.

She froze at the sight of them, face shifting through three flights of emotion before settling in bewilderment. Slow, hesitant steps drew her closer to them.

Or rather- one of them.

"Toshi...nori?"
The syllables fell like Tetris blocks, twisting and turning until they fit together correctly. She cut the air with a sharp inhale upon his slow, careful nod.

"Chiyo, you remember me?" He kept his decibel low, already afraid his skeletal appearance would be too much for her if memory proved unstable. She took a few steps closer, tentative despite her growing intrigue.

"You are...we're friends," Chiyo said slowly. Toshinori nodded again, smiling despite his attempted neutrality. "You're in the notebook, too."

"You went through it, then?"
Nearly a week had passed since her wide, light eyes drank in his face as they were now. A crawling pink answered his question.

Aizawa had debated ripping those pages out- every single one concerning him until she could at the very least remember her job, the students who were growing restless without news of her. Manami Seto had vehemently denied his request, insisting Chiyo would never forgive him or her, still believing he would somehow be the key to her awakening.

But by the way she slid her eyes away from him, refocused on Toshinori, it was clear there was only one individual her mind knew.

"I wouldn't have believed it if I hadn't written it myself," Chiyo admitted, more to Aizawa than Toshinori. "And I don't actually remember any of these events- the people. But…"

"But?" Toshinori gently prodded. Submersion counted her breaths.
"But I know something is wrong with me. I think I've known for a while now."
"What do you want to do?"

"My mom can't go to jail," Chiyo was adamant before reality splintered fractures into her conscience. "But I can't keep living like this, either. If I leave, she'll find me. She will always find me."

"Not if we secure her- somewhere safe," Toshinori quickly added when a fiery gaze shot his direction. "Chiyo, your mother is ill. There are many facilities that could-"

His words cut out as the woman's attention dissolved. Chiyo's face had gone rigid, confusion morphing her features.

"There's- Someone's coming,"
Her explanation made little sense until Aizawa noticed a purple flicker through the video store's front door.
Shit.

"Chiyo!"

He protected her against the shattering glass, swiveling to also take the brunt of their fall. If the situation hadn't turned dire he might've basked in the feeling of her in his arms, the pattering heartbeat shared by her quirk.
But the situation had turned dire, and not just because the League had shown up.

Her brain was locked inside impenetrable clouds, save for one singular friend.
One truth, amidst all the lies.
And that truth had just burned itself to ash.

No.

Chiyo Tsutomi gaped at the five-hundred pound mass of muscles, quadrupled in size and barely recognizable save those bright, piercing eyes. The only eyes she had remembered.

No.

The eyes of someone else.

"All Might," She breathed out the name like a mantra; to curse or praise, Aizawa wasn't sure.

"Well well well, if it isn't the writing aid and the world's biggest dope,"

The screech of a Nomu, wiry thin instead of the bulky black monstrosity of last time, rang out after Tomura Shigaraki's greeting. A meaty brain back-dropped its lidless eyes, pupils spinning to survey the room. Chiyo tensed against the arms protecting her when the creature at last found its target. A silvery head followed the pet's gaze, read the fear and disgust etched into the curve of her features. Shigaraki chuckled before turning back to the golden beacon standing between them. "You really just don't know when you're unwanted, huh?"

"Eraser Head," All Might glanced back; first at him, then to the wide-eyed woman still pressed against his chest. "Get her out of here."

"You're-" Chiyo staggered to her own feet, forcefully shoved her protector away. Wide, wilding continued to stare at Toshinori Yagi, body trembling worse than it had yesterday. "You- all this time, you've been-"

"Eraser!"
All Might's booming voice enticed the Nomu; if flew forward, desecrating the organization of the store with its awkward movements. The aisles collapsed like dominoes around them, loud and quickly filling the room with dust. All Might sent the creature cratering back towards its master.

"Chiyo, we have to-" Aizawa spoke to a shadow.
A plume of gossamer rounded the corner and escaped through a second exit, leaving the destruction behind. In the midst of chaos her crown had been toppled, hair a bramble of thorn-like pins and ruin.

"Great," Shigaraki sighed around the hand on his face. "Now we have an additional side quest."

Toshinori Yagi was All Might.
All this time; my one, true confidant.

How had I not known?

I'd grown up mocking Lois Lane for being so completely blind, only to turn out just as naive, just as stupid.

They had never even been in the same room before. How had I not put it together?

The back alley gave way to blinding sunlight. I tripped among the litter of careless civilians and alley cats, gasping when the concrete bit into my hands. My elbows shook so violently my teeth rattled.

His stupid sunflower hair, the same baby blues I'd cooed over as an idiotic teenager.

Toshinori.

There was blood on my arm. I panicked before attesting to the uncompromised flow of all my veins; these stains weren't mine. Aizawa's, my mind deduced in a frantic rush. Shota Aizawa.

Out of the thirty pages I'd written out, eleven belonged to him alone.
A road map of our connected journey, highways and rivers crossing at every turn.

My knees groaned as I stood, choosing a path down a sidewalk leading to nowhere.

He knew. He'd known all along.
They had all known.

Thick red liquid dripped from their ledgers, darker than the blood drying on my skin.

"Chiyo!"

My body crashed into another's. I let out a shout, panic choking the air halfway up my throat. My stomach gave a violent turn, threatening expulsion. A warm embrace constricted my movements before pulling away, hands assessing my dumbstruck face with a fervent sense of worry.

"M-Mom?"
"Chiyo, we have to leave, now." Her face was stone but fear, pure and unadulterated, shone brighter than a meteor through her liquid eyes. Mom grabbed my wrist so ferociously I felt the thin vessels burst, blood quick to clot the area and prevent worse damage.

"Mom-"
"Chiyo, there's no time-"
"Get away from her."

Glass had exploded like shrapnel into his forearm; the one he had wrapped around my face, saving me from the violence. Blood ran down to his wrist, dripped from the tips of his fingers, explaining the red smears on my own body. His hair defied gravity itself and floated around him like a thicket of dark trees.

The island. The grey eyes.

But his eyes weren't grey- they were a frightening, glowing red, burning a hole us.
Through my mother.

"Chiyo, we have to go," Mom whispered. The fingers tightened on my wrist; already I could see the yellow of a bruise forming. I watched, soundless.

They had all played me for a fool.

"Another player has joined!"

That thing, with the teeth and membranous head, must be preoccupying All Might- Toshinori- allowing the red-shoed boy to escape and gleefully join our conflict. "And if it isn't the brain-washing Mother! What a day this is turning out to be."

Two pages had been dedicated to the USJ attack and this face; the same flaking, teeth-gnashing face from my drowned nightmares, with the familiar lilting, sing-song voice that called out my demise before pushing my head under.

I read the notebook; I knew what to expect. And yet my stomach riled all the same, demanding to be purged. Mom caught my shoulders at the sudden jerk before I flung her touch away, putting distance between us as my breakfast burned its way back up my throat.

"Aren't you tired of all these liars, Tsutomi?"
Shigaraki drawled nearer. A shadow moved between us and he scoffed.
"Your mother lies. These heroes lie. Do you know who hasn't lied to you, Chiyo Tsutomi?"

"Shut your mouth, scum," Aizawa snarled. With only one target the goggles seemed pointless, masking his gaze as he charged Shigaraki.

He didn't- couldn't- feel the other presence suspended just meters above us.

Another creature fell from the sky, cleverly chose Eraser Head's blind side and tore at his injured arm, diverting his attention from Shigaraki.

"Chiyo," Mom narrowed in, striking the opportunity of distraction. I took another three steps back.

"Don't come near me," It was becoming hard to see straight, dazed by the infinite number of thoughts, memories and facts, racing through my brain and electrifying my nerves. Manami Seto isn't the villain. Your quirk isn't a curse. The tremors are fabricated side effects of a psychopathic mother's endless love. "You did this. You caused all of this."

She was breaking, eyes watery like the tide she'd held me under my entire life. "Chiyo, please."

The sudden gust of wind stuttered everyone's movements. A giant mass had crash-landed to earth before disappearing once more. The creature Eraser Head fought lost consciousness as All Might smashed him into next week.

"Chiyo, come with us."
His voice was deeper, more commanding, but Toshinori still peeped through.
I've been such a fool.

What else had they lied about?

"Go with them and be a sheep," Shigaraki stood protected behind the stirring Nomu, head turned in my direction. "Live in their catered little cage and be fed from their hands-"

"Chiyo. I know you're confused. But please, come with us."
He looked even less familiar behind the goggles. A wall of midnight and a flash of yellow, pleading.
"You don't understand what you're getting into. This man is mad- you need to be-"

"Did you ever stop to wonder why All Might was so interested in you?"

He couldn't possibly know.
Tomura Shigaraki couldn't know his true identity. The emaciated skeleton. My friend.

So why did Toshinori Yagi tense all the same, struck by the question?

He was the fastest man alive, determined to end the questions with deadly force.

But I was rising, instinct of someone with training channeling through my veins.
My hand shook. Every muscle screamed down my spine at the exertion.

But Toshinori Yagi could move no further, fist centimeters from obtaining permanent silence.

Tomura Shigaraki chuckled.
"And yet another player joins the field-"

"What did you mean?" Speaking was so strenuous I nearly vomited. All Might fought my hold and a flashback of familiarity clouded my vision. The USJ. The Nomu.
The Nomu before me, however, sat as an obedient dog before Shigraki's feet. "What about All Might?"

He laughed again- a distorted, childish sound. "You mean All Might never told you? Wake up and smell the coffee, Tsutomi." He snickered again. "Didn't you think it was odd, when the best-known hero chose you to join UA's esteemed staff? You, with no particular skills or talents. Surely that rang some warning bells-"

"Enough," Eraser Head interjected. His hair continued to flutter and I braced for impact, assuming he was focusing on me, cancelling my hold on All Might.
I realized now, grip still strong, he was looking behind me.

Mom had reached out, taken hold of my fingers without me ever noticing.

"Chiyo- No-" The terror in her eyes almost made me let go, release everything and take her away from this place.

But the realization of her touch, what Eraser Head was preventing, ripped my hand from hers.

Tomura cackled again.

"Once upon a time, there was a hero before All Might. She was just as pathetic and pretentious as her thick-headed successor. One day, she went and got herself killed and her big, almighty student took over the mantle. But low and behold, she'd had a son! A son who grew up and had children of his own. Now, as any good student would, he surely would protect the wretch's offspring-"

All Might defied my hold with such force a handful of ribs cracked in my chest, pulled by his movement. I bit back a scream, clenched the invisible chord between us tighter still.

"Didn't you ever wonder who your father was, Chiyo Tsutomi?"

"Chiyo, no," Mom whispered. Tears fell from her cheeks like soft petals, silent and soft. "Please, please."

Where I thought there would be responses, counters, only silence rang.
Silence, and the heavy taste of words about a man with dark hair and shy, quiet smiles, with eyes like the beacon of a lighthouse.

Eleven pages.
Five thousand, five hundred words.

"You knew." It wasn't a question.
"We didn't- not until recently," He answered.

My remaining ribs were collapsing like pillars of salt.

Even through the yellow slats I could still see the grey of his eyes, hidden in the shadows.

"What am I you, Shota Aizawa?"

His hair fell with the question. Mom didn't try to reach for me again.
His mouth opened, swallowed an inhale.

When the purple flames flickered around me, I wasn't scared.

In fact, I didn't feel anything at all.