Shouta kept his expression carefully neutral as Tsukauchi walked back into the interrogation room, this time accompanied by both Nezu and a representative from the hero commission. Shouta almost breathed a sigh of relief when he saw they'd sent Mera to handle it, thank god. He was too exhausted to question the why of Shouta's request too deeply. Plus, if worse came to worst, Shouta could always bribe him with a new sleeping bag. Hopefully.

Hawks(perking up): You can do that? Oh I've got to do that when we get home.

"Are you sure you want to do this?" Tsukauchi asked. "Withholding info like this is technically obstruction of justice."

"I'm just trying to do what's best for both society and Viridian." Shouta answered carefully. "The kid was never the most confident to begin with, but with the circumstances of All for One's death, if Viridian doesn't have a guarantee that he'll be allowed to become a hero, he'll bolt before I can even get close, which could potentially cut him off from his civilian identity and just make things worse for everyone. So yeah, unless the commission makes a public announcement about his acceptance into the vigilante program so that everyone, including him, knows that we're serious, then I don't know anything."

Tsukauchi: Good excuse.

Aizawa: You're not bothered by the lie?

Tsukauchi: I want to get the kid help too, Aizawa.

Tsukauchi groaned, "Eraserhead..."

"It's alright, detective." Mera cut in tiredly. "We're about as tired of trying to track this kid down as you all are, so if Eraserhead thinks that giving a public announcement is enough to corner Viridian into becoming a legal hero, then my personal opinion is that it's one less headache for us to worry about. What do you think, Nezu? You're the smart one."

"I think that I trust my employee." Nezu said cheerily. "I am sure that Eraserhead must have a good reason if he is being so insistent on this and he, of course, knows the boy better than any of us, so I believe it's a reasonable request. Besides, I'm sure the commission doesn't want him to continue running around without a license, correct?"

"You can say that again." Mera groaned. "It wouldn't be as big of an issue if he wasn't so popular, but of course the stupid teenager had to go and make himself a meme, which risks inspiring copycats, which is something we would really prefer to nip in the bud as soon as possible. The biggest hold-up on our end is how it will look if we make the announcement and the kid runs anyway."

Mitsuki: He'd better not...

"Ah yes, that would be a tad awkward." Nezu agreed. "But I am sure that Eraserhead is willing to guarantee Viridian's capture! Will that be an issue, Aizawa?"

"No." Shouta resisted the urge to grin victoriously. "I will personally make sure that the problem child is in our hands by the end of the day. If for some reason I fail, I'll gladly take the fall for it, but this is the best chance we have at finally catching him and I don't want to pass that up."

"And, of course, it will help keep the media from breathing down your necks." Nezu smiled. "I have noticed some of the more intrepid reporters have already sniffed out that something happened last night. Letting them believe it was the capture of a popular vigilante is much more palatable than explaining the truth of All for One, I believe."

All Might: Yes... that will be... difficult...

Mera shrugged and stood up, "Perfect, glad that's over. Eraserhead, make sure you congratulate the kid when you arrest him."

This time, Shouta did grin, "Don't worry, I will."

Izuku was feeling so many emotions that they all cancelled each other out and left him feeling almost numb. He heard mom moving around in the kitchen and frowned as he looked at the clock. Shouldn't she be at work right now?

Inko: Not when you're hurt like this, Izuku.

The confusion was enough to get him out of bed and he hesitated for a moment before grabbing his Eraserhead hoodie off the back of the chair and pulling it on. It was dumb, especially since Eraserhead would probably never want to see him again, much less work with him, considering that he was both quirkless and a murderer now, not to mention that it wasn't even cold enough to be wearing a jacket, but, well... there was a reason Mom called it his comfort hoodie and it couldn't hurt, right?

Toga: Isn't it still covered in blood?

He didn't even notice that he'd been moving silently like he would for vigilante work until Mom didn't even notice that he was standing behind her, "Good morning Mom."

To her credit, Mom only jumped a little, "Good morning, baby! How did you sleep?"

Izuku gave her a smile that didn't quite reach his eyes, "Uh, it was... it was a long night, but don't worry too much about me, I'll just go to bed early tonight! What about you? Don't you have work today?"

Kaminari: I wonder if he'll realize that she stayed behind for him.

"Uh..." Mom turned back to the stove. "Um, Beru wanted some more hours, so I volunteered to let her take my shift."

"O-oh." Izuku frowned. That didn't seem quite right, but he trusted her, so decided not to question it too deeply. "Um... okay."

Kirishima: Guess he didn't.

"Breakfast will be ready in just a little bit." Mom said kindly. "Why don't you go relax for a while? You can watch some TV and I can call you when the food is ready?"

Izuku nodded absently and wandered out of the kitchen, a little unsure about what to do with himself while he waited. Mom had said to watch tv, but... would a murder as big as all for One's be on the news? Maybe the heroes would try to keep it quiet like they had with the villain factory investigation and his involvement with the sports festival. If reporters had caught wind of what he'd done, would they be clamoring for his arrest now that there was blood on his hands?

Thirteen(wincing): They probably will...

Mic: Who knows what those vultures will do next?

Izuku knew that it probably wasn't a good idea, but a morbid sense of curiosity had him turning on the tv anyway. The news was running a special interest story at the moment, which was reassuring because if they had time to show that, then they probably weren't going to report on a quirkless vigilante murdering the symbol of evil, since if they were going to, then that story would take priority and screen time away from the less important ones. Small blessings, he supposed.

Izuku relaxed slightly. No one was going to be talking about him today. The special interest story wrapped up and Izuku inhaled sharply as the camera cut back to the station to reveal a grainy picture of him in vigilante gear plastered across the green screen behind the reporters. Maybe he'd spoken too soon.

Shinso: Sorry, Midoriya, but people are definitely going to talk about you.

Shouta could almost feel Nezu's curiosity as they watched the press conference from Tsukauchi's computer, but he stayed stubbornly silent until the announcement had been made and there was no way the hero commission could back out of it, "Alright, let's catch the kid and get it over with."

"It's quite unlike you to stick your neck out like this Aizawa, even for a child with potential." Nezu pounced. Sometimes, it was almost like the principal could smell metaphorical blood in the water. "I would have thought guaranteeing the capture of a flighty vigilante would be the height of irrationality."

Midnight: Yeah, except he got attached to the flighty vigilante.

Shouta just gave him a half-hearted glare and leaned over to look at Tsukauchi's screen. "He's a teenager, most likely around Kacchan's age, so set the search parameters to males between the ages of 14 to 16."

Tsukauchi sighed, but entered the information anyway, "You know that's not going to narrow it down Eraserhead, so I really hope you know what you're doing. You said you saw his face, right? Do you have any sort of physical description?"

Shouta nodded, "Green hair, green eyes, freckles."

"So basically nothing we didn't already know, with the exception of eye color." Tsukauchi sat back. "There's still over 2000, results and that's assuming he lives in musutafu and not one of the surrounding cities."

Bakugo(starting to chuckle): Here it comes.

Shouta leaned a bit closer, "Only include results that are listed as quirkless."

Tsukauchi froze, "Seriously?"

Shouta just grinned.

(everyone laughed at Tsukauchi's shocked face)

The reporter smiled at the camera as Izuku stared at the screen in shock, "In a press conference just a few minutes ago, the hero public safety commission announced that Viridian, a popular vigilante based in Musutafu, will be joining the ranks of legal heroes! This makes him the second vigilante approved for the vigilante rehabilitation program in just as many weeks, after the acceptance of Touya Todoroki, aka Dabi, just after the UA sports festival. For the information of everyone watching at home, less than 25% of active vigilantes meet the requirements for the program and even fewer are invited to participate, leaving less than 5% of vigilantes who ever end up getting a license this way, so it's a pretty exclusive club!"

Izuku couldn't keep his jaw from dropping. They had to be talking about some other Viridian, right? Were there any other vigilantes that went by Viridian? Izuku couldn't think of any, but even if there were, then why were they showing his picture on the screen? But they couldn't be talking about him! Eraserhead knew he was quirkless now, he knew that Izuku couldn't even be a hero, much less qualify for the vigilante rehabilitation program, plus he'd just killed someone, which was something that no real vigilante or hero would do. Izuku couldn't even be a vigilante right, so why was the news saying he could be a hero?!

Inko: Because you can, Izuku.

Todoroki: And some heroes do kill.

Joke: Not just Endeavor who does it because he doesn't care. It happens more often to underground heroes, but there are times when to make sure civilians live, a hero has to make the tough call to end a life.

He was so caught up in his thoughts that he hardly noticed someone knocking on the door or Mom going to answer it. If anything, he thought it was a salesman or maybe a package until Mom came in, "Izuku, baby? There's someone here to talk to you."

Izuku's eyes widened as he saw Eraserhead. Next to his mom. In his living room. #@(*&.

"Hey problem child." Eraserhead hid a grin beneath his capture weapon. "It's nice to officially meet you, Izuku Midoriya."

Mina: Hurry up next chapter!

Jana: Okay okay I'm going don't be so impatient!