ATOMIC STRUGGLE

1「capture scarf」6

"This is uncomfortable," Izak complained with a deadpan look. Currently it was the same day of the attack on the USJ, and he and Aizawa were at his apartment. The students had all been carefully escorted out and allowed to go home after speaking a bit with the police, which had been called thanks to Kaminari.

The moment Izak had released his hold on Aizawa's body, he'd found himself bound by his handler's capture weapon as he glared at him, his eyes blazing their signature red. From then on, the teen had been by Aizawa's side and mostly subdued for the rest of the day, and he was still tied up.

"Too bad. You're lucky no one wanted to give you more of a punishment than house arrest until Friday," The man stared hard at him, as if willing him to realize the extent of the situation. "Izak, you killed people."

"Villains," He corrected with a yawn, but his handler shook his head.

"People all the same. Heroes are told to kill only as a last resort, and even then, we should avoid it at all possible," Aizawa told him sternly. Great, another morality lesson, Izak internally rolled his eyes before shrugging. Too much energy to fight it.

"Fine then, next time I'll just put them through excruciating pain so they can't think straight, how's that?" He offered, and instantly the hero was on guard with his hair standing up and his eyes glowing red. But then he blinked, pursing his lips.

"I'm hesitant to agree to that."

"Just do it. Either that or I could paralyze them all," The boy huffed.

"Paralysis usually includes the lungs, which means the person would still end up dead, Izak. No," The suggestion was once again denied, causing the teen to sigh.

"You ask so much of me, but fine, I suppose it would be easier to just knock them out with a few tweaks in the brain," Once again, Aizawa activated his quirk like he himself was going to be subjected to that treatment, and of course Izak just sort of deadpanned at him until he blinked.

"Only if I'm there or someone else's life is in immediate danger, am I clear?" The hero glared at his charge, who pursed his lips for a second before shrugging.

"Sure."

"Just your word isn't good enough anymore, not after that stunt you pulled today. So," Aizawa's expression darkened like he was about to deliver the news of the death of a family member. "Swear on Mihoko. If you break your word, she'll be taken back to the orphanage, and you'll come live with me. Am I clear?"

This time, Izak did not shrug his handler's words off. He looked him dead in the eye, as if challenging him to repeat the ultimatum he had just proposed. After a moment of neither of the two backing down, the teen finally opened his mouth. "Only if that rule doesn't apply to her."

"How so?" Aizawa tilted his head.

"I mean, if something happens to Mihoko," Izak's eyes were filled with a fury that the hero knew he never wanted to be subjected to. "I get to gut the bastards that did it, with or without you there. That's my deal."

Obviously that was out of the realm of possibility, Aizawa knew that, but then again, all he had to do was make sure not the slightest thing happened to the seven year old, and they would be golden. One or two lives for the lives of any and every villain that ran across Izak's path was a somewhat fair price, so in the end, he agreed and the arrangement was set. "You're still under house arrest for the rest of today and tomorrow."

"I know."

"No quirk usage either, except for translation."

"Yeah yeah, seriously, can you let me out of this thing already?"

"No. This was part of the punishment, you get to be tied up until dinner, so deal with it," The teacher sneered. The teenager groaned lightly before flopping down on the floor. "What are you doing?"

"I'm resting. Can't really do that in an upright position, not comfy."

"And the floor is?" Aizawa raised an eyebrow.

"It's better."

"Fine then, rest up all you want, problem child," He rolled his eyes very strongly as he got out some papers from his sleeping bag so he could start grading and planning upcoming classes. About an hour later, Mihoko showed up, humming as she came in the door and went to her room, put her things away, and then came into the living room.

Stopping at the sight in front of her, she felt dread sink throughout her body, but mostly her mouth and stomach. Crap, we're gonna have to eat normal food if he's here! She almost glared at the pro hero, but managed to catch herself in time and instead wandered over to where her guardian was laying on the ground. "Izzy, what are you doing?"

"Resting," he answered without missing a beat.

"Wanna watch TV with me instead?" Mihoko offered with a tilt of her head. "You look really uncomfortable, also what's with the scarf around you? Are you cold?"

"He's being restrained, and will continue to be until six o'clock," Aizawa supplied without looking away from his papers, causing the girl to furrow her eyebrows. Moving down next to Izak, she moved her mouth to his ear.

"You did something bad, didn't you?"

"Something like that," the boy confirmed, then finally sat up and went with his charge to the couch, plopping down on the one with two cushions and allowing Mihoko to take up residence on the three-cushioned one. Surprisingly, she switched to a news channel once the TV had been turned on, and of course, everyone was reporting about the USJ attack.

It didn't take long for the little girl to get the whole picture, and then her entire face was sparkling as she was bouncing up and down on the couch. "Iz is so awesome! He took down so many bad guys! That's so cool!" She squealed as she shook her arms giddily.

"Don't encourage him," Aizawa instantly deadpanned at her, but she just kept giggling and cheering. This was a sort of payback for having him over and costing her the best food in the universe, and yes, Mihoko was very petty that way. Sure, at first the whole idea of Izak killing that many people kind of really scared her, but then she remembered that he was protecting his teachers and classmates.

Izak really was cool. If anyone really thought about it, it must be tremendously difficult to control all of the atoms in the world, and yet he could do it with such precision. That level of control, the atoms doing exactly what he wanted, not messing up or accidentally doing something, it was probably much harder than people thought.

All of those facts might scare some, but Mihoko couldn't help but just respect and admire Izak. His quirk was dangerous, probably hard to control, and yet he kept it in check all day every day. So no, Mihoko would never be scared for more than an instant, and she would always greet her guardian with a smile no matter what.