Re-Written on November 26

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The next day Shouta headed to the station for the interrogation. He was hesitant at first but the kid said she'd be ok with Hizashi. So with one last hug, he left to go home so he could change and grab his extra capture weapon because the kid had basically claimed his other one as her own.

"Alright little listener I was thinking after breakfast we could go to the playroom. How does that sound?"

"What-What pl-playr-room?"

"It where you can play with stuffies or read books and maybe even go down slides if they have those here."

"Stuffies?"

"Their super soft pillows. Some of them can be animal shaped." Hizashi continued his long-winded explanation of all sorts of things that could be found in playrooms.

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Unfortunately, the playroom didn't have a playground but it did have a playhouse. The room itself had murals on each wall. A small bookshelf in the corner and boxes filled with blocks and other toys by another wall. It may have been because it was so early that made the room empty though Hizashi wasn't complaining.

The kid walked around the room cautiously. She circled around the playhouse twice before going inside. Hizashi peaked in from the windows and pointed out all the different things in the house. She was oh so delicate with everything as though it were made of glass and it all could break with one wrong move.

Next, she moved towards the books. She picked one that seemed to have the brightest colours. With a glance, Hizashi could see it was in fact a book about colours.

"Want to look through that book together Listener?"

"Y-yes pl-please." Hizashi patted the gound, inviting her to sit next to him and they both looked through the book together.

After an hour or so the two of them were surrounded by all sorts of books. Ones about colours, animals and shapes. The kid's favourite ones were the animal books. Occasionally Hizashi would make it educational by having her pick out the different colour blocks and pointing at the different animals that were painted on the walls.

Eventually, a nurse came in to tell them that the kid would need to be checked on. She was happy to hear she could bring a few of the books with her back to her room so Hizashi scooped the kid up with books in her hand and walked back to the room.

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It was only after lunch did Shouta come back. He walked in with a new face.

"Mouse."

"What?" Hizashi looked at the new face.

"You smell like mouse." The kid looked around and Hizashi must've realised what she was looking for because he handed her a book. "S-see, mo-mouse."

"Do I smell like a mouse?" She nodded.

"Kid how do you know what a mouse smells like?"

"F-friend. Like-like thi-this one."

"Well, that's a very interesting observation. My name is Nezu."

"M-mouse have-have name?"

"Of course little one. Do you have one?" She shook her head.

"Nezu why are you here?"

"Ahh I was curious as to why the two of you were asking for leave of absence and Aizawa here was kind enough to keep me in the loop."

"Mr Eraser l-look. Mr 'Zashi g-got me book-book with ani-animals and-and col-colours."

"That's very nice kiddo. Have you had lunch?"

"Y-ya! I eat f-fish."

Shouta hummed. He passed the bag he was carrying to Hizashi. The blond looked inside to find a change of clothes so he told the kid he'd leave for a bit before going somewhere to get changed.

Nezu had struck a conversation with the kid. Feeding into her curious little mind. Shouta listened on recognising how her vocabulary had expanded slightly. Something else he noticed was how whenever she would talk about an animal some of her features would change accordingly. Whenever Nezu being a mouse came up she'd have a mouse snout and whiskers. She'd have the horns of a giraffe or a cat's ears.

"Iruka," Shouta mumbled softly. The kid must've heard because she perked up slightly.

"This-this one Mr-Mr Eraser?" She flipped through one of her books and pointed at the picture of a dolphin.

"That's right. But did you know Iruka could also mean flower?"

"Hana?"

"You can write it to say Iruka."

"Write?"

"Ya. I can teach you how to write it sometime." Shouta could feel the excitement radiating off her.

"I think that should be her name, Iruka. Seeing as she obviously has some kind of animal quirk."

"My-my name?"

"Ya kid. You need a name. So how does Iruka sound?" They could see just how deep in thought the kid was. It was honestly adorable.

"I-I l-like it. My name is Iruka!" She cheered.

"Well, it's nice to meet you Iruka." Shouta could feel himself melt at the smile that crept onto the kid's face.

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Safe to say that Hizashi was both very salty he didn't get to help pick out Iruka's name and excited in knowing his little Listener now had a name.

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Huzzah!! Iruka finally gets her name. Honestly didn't think it would take this long for Iruka to get her name and as long winded as the process turned out to be I much prefer this being the way she got her name.

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Stay safe, you are loved,
Bye Lovies~