Chapter 83: Why

"Hmmmmmm." Yami was pouting.

Honesty, it was one of the cutest things Izuku had seen in a little bit, however, it was his job to put a stop to it.

"It's fine Yami," Izuku reassured him from behind his desk, giving him a kind smile.

"She got past all the Grimm," Yami said, still pouting. "And she beat a lot of them so easily."

"And she is an extremely powerful fighter. Someone who passed the extremely rigorous test to get a bodyguard license. Something even pro heroes admit is difficult." Izuku told him. "To be able to almost defeat her, at your age, is extremely impressive."

"Hmmm." Yami's pout lessened. He'd seen the Seer's recording of the woman fighting the Grimm. He had to admit, she was something beyond almost anything he'd seen before.

Yami knew that he wasn't the strongest person in the world. Heck, he wasn't even the strongest person here.

If he threw all his Grimm at Sansan at once, he doubted anything would stop her. Except maybe the Hound, but he still doubted that would work.

And of course, heroes like All Might and the American hero Star and Stripe were far beyond his level of strength, or really any level of strength he could hope to achieve.

The amount of negativity he would need in order to make something that could fight against people like them...well honestly Yami hoped that that amount of negativity ever came into existence.

However, in all honesty, he wasn't too upset about his Grimm not being able to stop her.

Something he learned via observation, is that all quirks have shortcomings.

Sansan was a great example of that because Sansan could either be unbeatable or a complete pushover.

The slime girl was widely considered to be the strongest person in the house. Able to take on other contenders like Kiba, Fu, Shiruku, and hoards of his Grimm without any issue, but against Kei, she is utterly helpless.

Kei had one of those quirks that was most effective if you didn't know how it worked. As if you did know, then it would be pretty easy to take her down, by just not looking at her eyes. And Kei couldn't really fight either, meaning that at this point most of the children in the house could beat in her a fight.

Sansan was the exception because her entire body acted as her eyes. And while this is more useful than it is detrimental, it also meant that fighting Kei was pretty much impossible.

And Kei wasn't her only issue. Her spars against Nara in her Articguana form always ended in less than two minutes, and always in Sansan's defeat, and she wasn't even allowed to fight Netsu, as Netsu could very easily accidentally kill her.

All quirks had their strength and their weaknesses. Even if Sori had wanted to kill them, they were never in any danger, because she'd never beat Sansan. And his family would be safe.

Of course, Izuku was displeased with having to use his siblings to fend off attackers, which is why Yami would work hard to make new Grimm, which would strengthen their security system even further.

And for that, he would need a lot more negativity. He'd used a lot to create the security system, and now he needed a lot to fix it.

So for that, he would need to visit the city again.

But now he didn't plan on just wondering the city the like last time. No. He had a plan.

Yami finally stopped pouting, and his expression turned back to his typical, neutral expression. "Dad. I'm going to the city tomorrow, right?"

"Only if you want to." Izuku really wanted to replenish his security system, but he still didn't want to force things onto his son.

"I do." Yami nodded. "I want to go with Amai."

"I figured that was the case, she is a rather good friend of yours." Izuku smiled. He was VERY pleased that one of his children had made a friend outside the house, and would do everything in his power to allow Amei to interact more with his children. Show them the world wasn't so cruel. "I already called her parents, and they said she'd be delighted to go with you tomorrow."

Yami nodded. "Who's shapa...chaperoning us?"

"Well, you'll get two. Mina's going with you, and you'll also be driven around by Mr. Yagi. Do you rember him, he was the one who came here to supervise you all while we were at U.A. You met him briefly." Izuku reminded him.

Yami nodded and briefly was an understatement. As one of the kids who went to U.A, he'd only met Mr. Yagi for a few minutes. When he came to the house, and when he left. The only reason he really remembers him is because he looked more like an undead than Fu did, and that boy was an actual zombie.

He doubted he'd be able to protect them much, but that is most likely what Mina was there for.

Yami looked at the door. If everything went as planned, then they should be coming soon.

A few seconds later, the person he'd been waiting for, Kioku, barged into the room. "Daddy we need to talk!"

"Kioku, I told you to knock." Izuku lightly scolded.

"Sorry, daddy." Kioku quickly apologized, before returning to looking worried and upset. "We need to talk about the new employee."

Izuku sighed. He knew this would come up. He already had a talk with his mother and Ochaco about his decision to hire Sori. And he knew that he'd be having a similar discussion with Sori.

"I told myself that I wouldn't be upset about hiring outsiders, but really daddy! Her! She attacked the house!" Kioku protested. "How can we trust someone like her to keep us safe when she attacked us!"

Izuku sighed. "I told you, she wasn't attacking us, there was a misunderstanding, she never meant to do me, or anyone here any harm. And I've looked, VERY thoroughly into her background, believe me, she is of no harm to us. She even consented to a psychic probing. Which if you don't know, is allowing someone to look through your mind for thoughts or memories that indicate you'd be a threat to your employer, which is us. It's something not a lot of people are comfortable with doing, and consenting to it in it of itself shows how innocent she is. We literally looked through her brain and found no proof that she wanted to hurt us. I know it's hard, I don't trust outsiders either, but it's what needs to be done."

Kioku didn't really have any argument against that. I mean, how could you really say she might be dangerous when you literally looked through their mind?

Still, she didn't like this decision one bit. That woman had caused her so much stress when she heard about an intruder coming to kill her father, and taking down their Grimm, and now she was just supposed to forgive her?

Forgiveness wasn't exactly Kioku's specialty.

Izuku knew this, and so he already had a plan to comfort her.

He walked over to her, and picked her up, bringing her back to his desk and sitting down, before placing her on his lap and embracing her. "Kioku, what do you think a father's number 1 priority should be?"

"Giving out love and hugs." Kioku answered, snuggling into Izuku's chest.

"Close. The number 1 priority of a father, is to make sure his family is safe." Izuku told her. "And yet, I sent my daughter, to fight a potential assassin. In pretty every situation, that is unacceptable. The only reason I even considered it, is because I looked at her fighting all the Grimm, and figured she didn't have any way of actually hurting Sansan. And I was right. But in the very slim chance I was wrong about that, then I would have sent my daughter directly into harm's way. And thought makes me feel ill."

Izuku tightened his grip on the chair, anger, and shame directed at himself coursed through him.

Honestly, even if he was right in the end and Sansan would have been fine, he still regretted sending her out there at all.

Back then he had considered going out there to face Sori himself if she got past all the Grimm. Hoping at the very least if she killed him, she would spare his family and 1A.

Ultimately, he didn't because of a few reasons. Firstly, he was pretty certain that if he tried that, at least Ochaco, if not many more members of 1A would have stopped and restrained him, gone out to fight her themselves, and died because they were nowhere near her level.

Secondly, he was almost 100% sure, that Sansan could easily defeat this woman, without any harm coming towards the slime girl.

And third, if he died, then chances are this whole operation would fall apart. He had no doubt that D.O.C. would try to salvage this with a replacement, or that his mother would try and fulfill his role, but given how unstable this situation was already, he doubted the Midoriya Foundation could survive his death right now, not to mention all the phycological trauma that would inflict on his children.

And so he was backed into a corner and forced to send out his less than ten-year-old daughter to fight for him.

Never again.

For all the panic Sori had caused him, she also did him a great favor in showing him how his defense system did against A or S rank villains. And the answer was, not so great. Sure, it was extremely unlikely he would ever have to deal with A or S rank villains, considering that A rank villains made up 8% of all villains and S-ranks made up less than 1%, but it wasn't impossible. And so Izuku would have to increase his security to handle such villains, or at least stall them long enough for the heroes to show up.

"Kioku, you don't want villains to come in and hurt any of us right?" Izuku asked her.

Kioku shook her head so hard Izuku was concerned she'd hurt her neck.

"Then I need to make sure that our security can handle threats on the level of Sori," Izuku told her. "Which it can't. But you know who can handle threats on the level of Sori?"

"...Sori." Kioku begrudgingly, looking like she just swallowed expired milk.

"That's right. It's very rare to find someone with her talents, and that someone literally knocked down our front door, and asked for a job." Izuku explained. "Not to mention I was able to do a background check so through, that it leaves me with no doubts about her allegiance. This is a golden, once-in-a-lifetime opportunity, falling on my lap. I would be a fool not to take it."

"Hmmmmm." Kioku was now the one pouting. As she no longer had any argument outside of "she didn't like her" which she knew was a weak argument in the face of Izuku's much stronger ones.

She knew Izuku knew much more than her. And he made decisions that she didn't like a lot of the time, but ultimately they proved to be necessary.

But sometimes, she felt that Izuku's kind heart could be too kind.

She didn't see any issue with her siblings fighting villains. The villains who got all the way here would no doubt be tired after fighting the Grimm, and her siblings were extremely powerful. They would be more than capable of handling threats coming their way.

But Izuku loved them too much to put them in any kind of danger, and as such, they would need a powerful bodyguard.

And Kioku hated to admit, she did like the idea of having someone so powerful guarding her father's life when they weren't around him.

Although she would have preferred that person to be Ochaco.

But Ochaco had a life of her own and didn't live here. Nor would she unless…

As a plot brewed in Kioku's mind, Yami started his own.

"Hey dad, I want Kioku to come outside with us," Yami suggested.

"Eh!?" Kioku's head spun to look at Yami, giving him a shocked and betrayed look.

"That's…" Izuku also looked surprised, but he was considering it.

I think that's a wonderful idea father. Yonda's voice rang inside their heads, and they looked at the doorway to see that the mind reader had let herself in. Kioku's always so scared and upset about the outside world, I'm worried she'll end up like Fukunoko and shut herself away. Oh, the thought brings me to tears.

Yonda whipped a fake tear away from her eye and secretly winked at Yami.

Yami smirked, as Yonda did her part of the plan.

A few hours earlier

You want me to convince dad to force Kioku to go outside with you, and you want me to come to, and tell you what she's thinking. Yonda reiterated what Yami had asked of her.

Right. Yami nodded.

Yonda gave him an odd look. The boy had come to her room with such a big request, that she didn't see the direct benefit in. Why?

Want to know why she hates outside so much. Yami explained. Getting her outside is hard. Need help. Also need to know her thoughts. To help figure out why she was so angry. And help her.

Most of the children in the house were pretty happy nowadays, Izuku's fall aside, they were all pretty willing to push aside the negatives of their past(and to some extent their present) to enjoy the many positives they had now.

However, there were a few exceptions to this. Those being Kioku, Kota, Fukunoko, Ken and Fu.

Fuku was trying to be more positive and she had plenty of people around her to help her with that.

He would get to Kota, Ken, and Fu at different times, but for now, he wanted to try and help Kioku. For two reasons mainly.

Firstly is that she is the most upset at any given point in time, out of all of his siblings. Bringing up anything about the world outside would either cause her to get slightly upset, or really upset. And from what Yami could tell, that was not healthy.

And the second reason was...well he owed her.

It was thanks to her, that Yami was who he was today. Without her, it would have taken years for Yami to adjust to civilization, and so many things either would have been pushed back or never happened in the first place, like his friendship with Amei, not to mention she saved both him and Izuku years of hard work in trying to get him to adjust.

Much like Izuku, he owed her a debt he could never really pay off, but he intended to try.

Not to mention it would likely help him in his journey to become a therapist, so it was mutually beneficial anyway.

I see. Yonda considered it. She wasn't really sure if this WOULD help out Kioku, but she was interested in that happening. Kioku's negativity was something she could do without, but still, that was a lot of work for something that ultimately might be pointless. I'll do it for 10,000 yen.

Deal. Yami already had the money in his pocket and threw it on Yonda's bed. He'd been taught that money was a useful tool, and from what he'd seen, that was VERY true.

Yonda grabbed the money, smiling as she counted it. You'll have my full support dearest brother.

Back to the present

"Hmmm." Izuku gave this some serious thought.

"Daddy!" Kioku objected, giving Izuku a tearful look. "I don't wanna go!"

Izuku gave her a sad look. All and all, that only convinced him he needed to send her more. It was one thing to prefer staying inside, but it was another to loath the outside world entirely.

Still, he didn't just want to force her. He needed to convince her.

"Kioku I think that going outside might do you some good. You can see that people aren't all trying to hurt you." Izuku told her. "But, since I know you really don't want to, I won't force you."

Kioku breathed a sigh of relief.

"However," Izuku added. "If you go outside, not only will I give you 15,000 as part of your allowance, I'll also let you pick what we have for dessert tonight."

Kioku looked conflicted.

Izuku gave her this choice for a reason. If she really hated the idea of going outside so much that she would refuse an offer like that, then forcing her outside really would not be the right call.

Meanwhile, Kioku was really struggling to make a call here. The offer was good, and on top of all that, going would make Izuku very pleased with her.

"Hmmm. Fine." Kioku relented, not looking particularly happy about her decision.

"Good. Thank you for giving this a try." Izuku patted her on the head, and kissed her forehead, already making her feel better about her decision. "You've made me proud."

Kioku smiled a bit, hugging her father. "Thank you, daddy."

"Well then." Izuku set Kioku down. "You should go get ready for tomorrow, it's gonna be a big day."

"Ok." Kioku said, before turning around and leaving.

Grabbing Yonda and Yami as she forced them out of the room with her.

She closed the door behind her and then glared at her siblings in the hall outside. "What are you two up to?"

I'm just worried for you dear sister. Yonda lied. Both Kiba and dear Fuku have described the hermit lifestyle as dreadful, and I just don't want that to be your fate.

Kioku gave her a suspicious look, not sure if she would buy that, but she would accept that answer for now.

She then turned her attention to Yami. "And you? Why do you want to drag me outside so much?"

"Same reason." Yami also lied.

Kioku looked at him with even more suspicion than Yonda. However unfortunately for her, she was against people who were particularly good at lying.

Yonda pretty much had to be good at keeping secrets, seeing as if she didn't then there would be absolute chaos. And Yami was just not very expressive when he wasn't angry.

Seeing as she couldn't detect and ulterior motives, Kioku decided to drop it for now. "Alright, I'll believe you for now. But don't expect me to have a good time tomorrow, I'll be busy watching for threats."

I'm fairly certain Mina has that covered, dear sister. Yonda told her.

"Hmph. Better safe than sorry." Kioku argued, before walking away. "I'll see you both tomorrow."

We live in the same house, you'll probably see us later today. Yonda pointed out.

Kioku ignored her and walked away.

XXXXXXXXXXX

"Are you really sure about this?" Ochaco asked once again, standing opposite side to Izuku's desk and looking at him, face to face.

"You all kept telling me I needed to start trusting people and hiring people to help out," Izuku told her.

"Yeah, but I didn't mean to hire just anyone," Ochaco argued.

"You and I both know she's not just anyone." Izuku countered. "Someone with that level of power and skill would take years if it was even possible at all. And not to mention she's not even in it for the money. She's genuinely loyal to Kiba and by extension me. Bad first impressions aside, she's literally perfect."

"Except for the part where she's dumb as a rock." Ochaco pointed out with a sigh.

"Yes, she is rather...lacking in intelligence. But, with enough direction, we easily work around that." Izuku told her. "I've heard of pro heroes and sidekicks who are...mentally lacking who have worked around it."

Yeah like All Might. Ochaco thought bitterly.

"Ultimately, I need someone capable of handling threats that a normal security system can't. And she can do that." Izuku restated.

Ochaco crossed her arms. She knew trying to talk him out of this was pointless. Because while he called Sori's break in a bad first impression, it was actually the best impression she could have made. Because she accomplished three things that pretty much guaranteed her the job.

She made herself look strong, she made Izuku's security system look insufficient, and she made Izuku paranoid and desperate to strengthen his defenses.

Had she met Sori on better terms, she would have no issue with her being hired. But given that she had been quaking in fear of this woman not even a week ago, it made her a little hesitant to leave her around Izuku and the kids.

But, she heavily doubted that anyone would convince Izuku otherwise, and she didn't feel THAT strongly against having her here that she would keep trying.

"Well, then shouldn't you wait until she starts working here for you to send the kids out into the city?" Ochaco asked.

"All Might will be with them, I know they'll be fine," Izuku reassured her. "And I'm sending Mina there for good measure, I haven't known her long, but I don't think she'd ever let anything bad happen to the kids."

"I guess. Sorry, I'm just a little...on edge." Ochaco sighed. "First you got sick, then the assassination attempts, and then Sori. It's just all been...so…"

"I know. It's a lot." Izuku gave her a sad smile. "But we're still alive, still going strong despite everything."

"Yeah." Ochaco smiled back. "No one's knocking us down anytime soon."

"And Sori will help make sure of that," Izuku told her. "Just trust me."