Y/n leaned against the tree, a plastic bag loosely dangled from her hand. Bark dug into her back. She looked at the time. He should have been here by now.

A soft evening breeze few by collecting fallen brown and orange leaves from the grass. The leaves skidded on the over the path, crunching as they hit the pavement. The scenery around y/n gave off a calming atmosphere, but it only made her feel anxious, and her impatientience grow.

Time passed. People arrived and left the little park. The air momentarily filled with the sound of children screaming in delight and laughter before returning to a calm and quiet state. Y/n sighed and rechecked the time. Late.

Y/n paced around. Her entire body jittered in nervous excitement. Where is he?

Footsteps steadily walking along the pavement and dry leaves cracking caught her attention. Y/n glanced over and caught sight of a man dressed in a white button-up shirt and brown dress pants. Her heart rattled in her chest as she waved her hand high above her head.

As soon as he was close enough to hear her, she crossed her arms. Her foot tapping on the sidewalk, mixed with her words. "It's about time."

"Sorry, sorry," Tsuji began. He had a carefree smile on his face, which only made y/n's irritation grow. "We had a hold up at the station." Her gaze traveled down and eyed the folder in his hand. She fought the urge to reach out and snatch it from his grasp.

"Villains?" y/n asked.

Tsuji chuckled under his breath. "Villains, sure. But I had other police stuff to work on. Tickets, signing off on some paperwork. Pretty boring but time-consuming stuff."

Y/n couldn't keep her eyes off of the folder. It was so close, but so far away. Currently being held hostage by a meaningless conversation that she didn't care for.

"Ah, I see," y/n muttered. Before the topic had a chance to swap to something else, she placed the plastic bag on the ground and dug through the purse slung over her shoulder. "So, how much do I owe you?"

"A grand," he replied.

Y/n froze in her place while she registered what he said. "Excuse me?"

"A grand." His voice was flat and absolute. "It seems you had a run in a while back with a detective, Tsukauchi, I believe was his name. Fleeing after your talk with him put you even more on his radar."

Y/n cleared her throat. "Oh, is that so?"

Tsuji smirked and let out a quiet snicker. "I placed down faulty sightings and false reports to derail him."

The villain detective waved the folder in his hand. "The price for this plus the service fee for getting Tsukauchi off your back for a while comes to a grand."

Y/n promised herself that she wouldn't abuse Liar. She saw no reason to use her quirk on someone who was helping her out— she had some loyalty, after all. Nevertheless, The League of Villains wasn't nearly as profitable as it used to be.

After their complete failure at Tartarus, many of the organizations funding them stopped, choosing to invest in other up and coming villain groups. Y/n and Tomura heavily relied on Liar for food and other necessities. The shack was still a disaster that she was tackling one task at a time. However, y/n found herself fortunate that Giran knows a bit about science. He managed to help her get electricity running in the old building again. She couldn't imagine how her blue-haired companion had reached by a full year without her.

As much as she didn't want to make a habit of using Liar on allies like Tsuji, y/n had no choice. She and Tomura weren't sitting on a pile of wealth, and she didn't want to rely on Giran's handouts forever. If she couldn't be independent on her own, how was she supposed to teach that to Tomoru?

"I'm going to forward the cash. You should be receiving it in a few days." Y/n could hear the bitterness in her voice.

Tsuji's face fell flat. In mere moments, life returned to his eyes. "Its a deal then." Without giving it so much as a second thought, he handed y/n the envelope.

Y/n hugged it close to her as she watched Tsuji vanish into the distance. Once he was out of sight, she looked down at it. Bittersweet. Y/n decided that was how she felt at this very moment.

She began to head back home, plastic bag in one hand, and folder in the other. Although she was as excited as a child on Christmas morning to open the envelope and go through it, y/n had to go home first.

She had taken a gamble that she never thought she'd ever do. While Tomura took his evening nap, she left Tomoru with him. It may or may not have been a foolish, hasty decision, but y/n had faith that Tomura had at least some idea of how to care for Tomoru.

Although Tomura has never done so much as touch Tomoru, she's noticed him occasionally glance over towards the infant. He was intelligent and Tomoru is a well-behaved baby, she felt confident that he'd be able to figure things out if he started to cry.

Confidence in Tomura's ineptitude aside, y/n was still nervous.

Y/n peered inside the little shack and listened—complete silence. For most mothers, that would be a blessing. However, a surge of panic rushed through her veins.

She held her breath as she passed the door frame and stepped inside. The plastic bag and folder slipped from her grasp as the adrenaline kicked in. Y/n made her way straight to the bedroom, not quite ready to see the horrors that may await her on the other side of the door.

She swung it open and looked.

Tomura laid in bed, buried under the blankets with only a tuft of blue hair and his hands hanging off the side of the mattress showing. Y/n hastily rushed towards her baby and peered inside the crib.

Her quivering body calmed as she looked down at Tomoru. He was awake and seemed to be happy. He had a pacifier in his mouth that y/n knew she didn't give to him before leaving. The baby was fast asleep when she had went to meet Tsuji. The corners of her mouth curled into a smile.

She retreated to the bed and sat on the edge of the mattress by Tomura's side. Carefully, she leaned forward and kissed the blue-haired villain's still covered head. He shifted under the blankets and let out a tired whine.

Y/n got up from her seat, deciding to stop bothering Tomura. She kissed her index finger and gently touched Tomoru's cheek. "I'll be nearby if you need me," she whispered.

Y/n left the room and quickly returned with the plastic bag. She placed it on the bed and pulled out the contents inside.

First, a rather big and colorful box. Tomura seemed bored lately. He had read all the books within the little shack and has resorted to sleeping away most of the day. She hoped a new videogame system would cheer him up.

For her baby, she aquired several toys. Some were soft and fluffy, others were built for him to chew on.

Y/n sat down on the couch with the folder on her lap. She breathed in and slowly exhaled. "Okay."

Her chest tightened as she broke the seal on the folder. Y/n came face to face worth several papers. Blindly, she picked a random one in the stack.

Y/n looked over the paper. Her lips trembled as she read. Bold letters accompanied a picture in the corner of a petit girl with long hair. Aya Nakamura.

"Oh." Y/n tilted her head to the side, wiping away a tear nearly to the brink of rolling down her cheek. "She got married a few weeks ago."

Ever since they met, Aya swore y/n was going to be her maid of honor. "Nakamura," she muttered; "I wonder if I've met him."

Y/n continued reading Aya's file. Her new marriage was paired with a new house in a new town. She had quit her job and had her own business. At the bottom of the note, it said she frequents a local store that sells things for newborns and toddlers. Y/n recollected an old conversation they once had. Aya wanted both of them to get married and have kids around the same time, so their children could grow up as childhood friends.

Y/n sniffled as she placed the paper onto the seat next to her and looked at the next sheet. It was small and mostly littered with pictures. The town set up a memorial for Ironstrike in the park. Y/n leaned in, trying to figure out the scope of how big the metal tower was. She squinted her eyes as she tried to read the epitaph chiseled on the front. "Something, something. Never forgotten." The tip of her nose was practically touching the paper as she tried to focus on the words.

Y/n spent some extra time looking over the few words on the document. People around town shared a few words about the local hero. Y/n recognized some of the names. She could almost hear them speak as she read their sorrow-filled recounts. Y/n leaned back into her seat.

"Believe it or not, Hinata, I'm still sorry, you know," she breathed in. Thing could have ended differently between them if they tried harder to keep contact. If he never found her in the first place. Had she been honest and not pretended like they've never met before. Or even not protected Tomura from him in the first place. He could have been alive right now, if she made one decision differently.

Y/n still carried the burden of his death. It was still heavy on her mind and heart. "Maybe I can stop by and read it in person one day. I'll leave you a f/f too."

Y/n looked at a set of documents stapled together. Her face heated up as tears rolled down her cheeks as she read the name Sayuri l/n.

She looked at the pictures attached. Last y/n remembered, her mother made a habit of dying her hair. She now had streaks of grey locks that framed her face. She also looked older, and a little tired. Regardless, she looked just as pretty as she always had.

Sayuri had recently gone to the hospital. From what y/n understood from the file, she's fine now, and it wasn't anything serious. Y/n felt relieved to know she was doing well—a small inkling of shame suddenly sunk in. If she knew her mother was ill, she would have been there.

Y/n stared at the picture for a moment longer. She batted her eyes, trying to fight back another wave of tears. She sighed and moved on.

Her hands trembled as she scanned the file. She read it over and over again as if she had misread, desperately searching for a typo. There weren't any mistakes, y/n was reading just fine. Hisato l/n was dead. A lump she couldn't force down formed in her throat. She looked over the document, searching for a reason why.

He went peacefully in his sleep just a few months ago. He was diagnosed a year before y/n had met Tomura. "He never said anything," she whispered. Her voice was broken and weak. She felt like a piece of her had been shattered to pieces, and there was no way of putting it back together.

The papers slipped from y/n's hands and scattered along atop the wooden floor at her feet. "Dad." Y/n didn't know what to say. What could she say at this point?

She hasn't felt this empty since Tomoko. Once again, y/n felt like she didn't have anyone to talk to.

Y/n held her head in her hands. She couldn't breathe or think. She found herself in a suspended state of despair. It was too soon to hear she had lost yet another person who was precious to her.

The springs in the couch dipped down. She glanced over towards the figure sitting next to her. A veil of tears muddied her vision. "Tomura?"

She immediately latched onto him, tightly squeezing Tomura's torso. Y/n hid her face in his shirt, stifling her sobbing. A pair of fingers ran through her hair. The movement was slow and comforting, almost out of character for Tomura.

Y/n pulled away and wiped at her eyes, clearing up her vision. Ruby eyes looked down at her. The blue-haired villain had his arms crossed as he starred. She noticed his gaze drifted towards the papers street about on the floor.

He leaned forward and picked one up. Y/n saw his eyes dart around the paper. "Do you like him?" he asked.

Y/n sniffled, wiping her nose on her sleeve. She saw her father's name printed in bold letters up top. "My dad?"

Tomura remained silent, staring at y/n. She cleared her throat. "Well, yeah, he's my dad after all." She caught a small glimpse of Tomura rolling his eyes at her reply. Y/n held her tongue, remembering that talking about his family for one reason or another was a tough subject for the blue-haired villain.

"What made you like him?" Tomura asked.

Y/n thought about it. "There wasn't really one single reason." He crossed his arms and glared.

Y/n sniffled as she thought about it. She wiped away a tear with her thumb. "He used to take me to the park after work. It didn't matter how long he worked or how terrible his day was; he always made time for me. Mom worked a lot more than he did, so we spent a lot of time together. Mom came along when she had the time."

Y/n fluttered her eyes for a moment, trying to stop the tears. "And, well, let's see... what else?" she muttered.

Her face lit up, recalling another story. "He used to have a small window sill herb garden. For my birthday, he clipped a few of them and gave them to me so I could grow my own herbs. That's where I learned to love flowers."

A small, almost saddened smile crossed her lips. "They died, and I cried. He ended up clipping me a few more just to make me feel better."

She paused, hesitating. But then a warm smile returned to her face. "Those died too."

Tomura sat surprisingly still as she talked. Y/n mentioned a few more things she wouldn't have known she loved if not for her dad before swapping the topic to other stories about her childhood.

The villain reached out and brushed his thumb just under her eye. He then moved to the other. It didn't occur to y/n that she was tearing up and crying the entire time she had been talking to him.

Her head sunk into her hands. "I just wish I knew. I never got a chance to say goodbye. He never even got a chance to meet Tomo."

Y/n paused again; her face felt hot. She spoke just barely over a whisper. "After the whole IronStrike thing, I must have been such a disappointment."

"Disappointment?" That was the first word Tomura uttered since y/n began telling him her stories.

She looked up and found a mixture of confusion and frustration on his face. "How?" Tomura genuinely looked like he was thinking hard about what y/n had said.

"You have your own budding organization with people willing to work under your command. Why would he be disappointed?" The look of confusion that painted his face and tone made y/n stop and giggle.

She wrapped her arms around Tomura's torso. "I'm not a hundred percent, but I feel better. Thank you."

Tomura pulled himself completely onto the couch. He wrapped his arms and legs around y/n, keeping her in a loose, yet secure hold. She buried her face in the nook of his neck. It felt rough, yet comforting.

This was important to y/n. Seeing those files, and reading what happened to the people she had left behind. Y/n felt like she can finally close those old chapters of her life and move on with what has yet to be written.

"Hey, Tomura." Y/n pulled herself away from him, sitting back into her spot in the center of the couch. She reached down and collected the papers from the floor. Y/n held the stack up to Tomura. "I think... I don't need this anymore."

Tomura looked at the papers. He reached out and held them in his hand, minus his little finger. Y/n smiled at him and gave him a nod. The blue-haired villain placed down all his fingers, ash fell down to the floor. Her eyes trailed down to the collection on the ground. She breathed in, slowly. "And that's that."

The room went quiet. Suddenly, she called Tomura's name gently. Y/n's voice hooked his attention. She stopped her thought for a moment and glanced over towards the bedroom door. Deep down inside, she already knew what he was going to say, but she wanted to hear him say it for herself.

"Tomura," she began again; "what do you hope Tomoru will do when he's older?"

Tomura's eyes lowered to the ground. She saw them dart about as if he was thinking hard about her question. He looked up at her. "Follow my footsteps. Rule the underworld in my place."

That was precisely what she thought he was going to say. "Don't you think it's too early to plan such things?" she asked. Tomura looked away, almost in a pout.

"I just hope you don't get upset if things don't go the way you plan."

Tomura stayed quiet; she struggled to read his expression. Y/n hoped he was seeing her point of view, at least.