Chapter Text
The mall is huge, but mostly empty given it’s a work day for everyone else. Izu is nervously following behind Eraserhead as he and Present Mic lead the way. They’ve been here for all of five minutes and Izu already wants to leave. What if Eraserhead changes his mind after he buys her a bunch of stuff? What if he buys her more than will fit in her bag? What is she even supposed to get?
“Okay, time for Operation: Teen Style. What’s the plan?” Present Mic turns to look at Izu and she freezes up.
“We’re just here for some clothes and anything else she wants or needs. Why do we need a plan?” Eraserhead looks exhausted and Izu feels bad that he had to wake up so early to come here.
“Because we need to know which stores to go to and which to avoid. We need to know Izu’s sense of style so she can get the right clothes and then we need to find the stores that sell that style of clothes. Plus, what if she wants things for her room? We’ll need to find the stores that sell home goods. Plus, I know there’s a hero merch store around here somewhere. What if we want to stop there? Or, what if-”
Eraserhead puts a hand over Present Mic’s mouth. “Okay, we get it. We will make a plan for finding the clothes. Will that make you happy?”
Present Mic nods and Eraserhead drops his hand. Present Mic again turns to Izu. “So, little Listener, what is your style? What suits your fancy? Where should we start?”
Izu looks up at him with wide eyes. “Um, I don’t really know. I’ve never had a choice in my clothes before. You can just buy me some basics and we can go.”
“Nope, that won’t do! Your clothes should show the world who you are! Clothes can be your armor against the world, or a freedom to show off. Your style matters and you should own it. Now, where would you like to start?”
Izu looks around where they currently are for a moment before something catches her eye and she points hesitantly toward it. Present Mic smiles and leads the way. They enter the store, its dark walls, floor, and ceiling giving it a cool atmosphere. Izu walks over to some of the shirts on display and smiles, touching the fabric of one of them. She looks to the next one and laughs. It has a picture of a possum with the words “The Vibe is Feral” written in light blue around it. She picks it up and holds it up to her body before putting it back for a larger size. She’s never liked when clothes fit her perfectly, it always made her feel like she was trying too hard to fit in, like she was trying to look good for her abusers. She then grabs a few more shirts in darker colors, all in sizes much too large for her and all with funny or dark humoured graphics on them. She walks over to the pants and finds some black skinny jeans with holes in the knees, some distressed denim shorts, and a checkered patterned skater skirt. Then she goes over to the accessory wall and grabs several packages of tights, some fishnet versions, some with a floral pattern, and some just plain ones, but all of them black. As she walks around, grabbing things she likes, she misses the way her guardians are smiling softly at her.
The next few stores follow the same pattern, a grunge-y and softly punk kind of style beginning to form. She gets some chunky belts at one store, some chokers at another, and a black denim jacket at one more. Then they stop at a shoe store. Izu grows quiet and hangs back a little. Eraserhead notices her hesitance and stops, kneeling down in front of her.
“What’s up, Kid?” His voice is soft as he gets her to look him in the eye.
She wrings her hands together before softly speaking up. “Quirkless shoes are expensive. The less expensive brand is what I always get and they are bright red. I don’t like them. But the good kind are too expensive…” She looks away from him toward her feet.
Eraserhead lifts her chin so she’s looking at him again. “We will get whatever shoes you want. I have plenty of money and Zashi works three jobs, so if they’re really expensive, we’ll just make him buy them.” She smiles a little at that. “So don’t worry your big brain about this. We’ll get you good shoes that aren’t bright red.” When she nods her understanding, Eraserhead stands back up and leads her into the store.
She goes straight to the small quirkless section and, finding the expensive brand, looks through the various shoe designs. There’s sneakers and boots, ballet flats and heels, all kinds of shoes that she’d never dared to hope for before. She’d always been forced to wear the same bright red sneakers and now she has options. She looks through them until she finds what she’s looking for. She glances up at Eraserhead, needing one more confirmation that this is okay, and he nods with a small smile. She turns back to the shoes, a small smile on her face, and grabs the combat boots she’d been eyeing, as well as some checkered slip-ons and a pair of dark green hightops. She’s never had shoes that she liked before and now she has three pairs!
The next store they make a stop at is full of hero merchandise. Izu nearly squeals with delight at all the various figures and things decorating the walls and shelves. She hesitates only long enough for Eraserhead to nod with a smile before she’s roaming the shelves looking for her favorite heroes. Eraserhead stays by the doorway, but Present Mic gets into the spirit with her and they look at the various merch together. She makes sure to grab a Mirko crop hoodie with bunny ears on the hood and the newest action figure of the rabbit hero doing her ultimate move Luna Ring. She gets a Present Mic radio, which the hero promises to sign when they get back home, and a poster of Ryukyu. She gets a Fatgum hoodie and an Edgeshot keychain. She finishes the new collection with an Ingenium lunchbox that is styled after the hero’s costume. Izu bounces on her feet as Present Mic laughs, paying for her new hero merch collection with his platinum credit card.
They end their shopping day with lunch in the food court, and Izu can’t help the beaming smile plastered across her face as she looks over all the bags filled with things for her. She’s so grateful and she has no idea how she’ll ever repay Eraserhead, but she’ll do everything she can to let him know that she appreciates what he is doing for her.
—
Shouta watches as Izu runs up the stairs to put her things away, carrying far more bags than should be physically possible. He can’t help the small grin that appears on his face. Zashi elbows him in the ribs, getting his attention.
“You are so attached.” His best friend smiles.
Shouta rolls his eyes. “I am fostering her.”
“Yeah, but it’s more than that and you know it.” Zashi turns serious. “You want to adopt her, don’t you?”
Shouta doesn’t respond, just watches as Izu runs back down the stairs to grab the next load of shopping bags.
—
Izu stands up to put her plate in the sink when Eraserhead takes her hand, gesturing for her to sit back down. Present Mic smiles at her and takes the plate for her, leaving Izu with Eraserhead.
“We need to talk about something.” Oh no, she did something wrong. She asked for too much. She knew this was too good to be true! “Stop spiralling, Izu. It’s not a bad thing. We just need to talk about where you’re going to school.”
“Oh. Well I’m currently at Nakamura Junior High. I’ve been to most of the public schools in the area, so I don’t mind moving to wherever.”
Eraserhead sighs. “I’m not going to just dump you into any old public school. I want to make sure you’re safe during the day, and your past experiences at schools in the area leave me less than confident in their abilities to do that. I’ve decided to enroll you in Somei Private Academy. They have an extremely good track record of keeping their no tolerance policy when it comes to discrimination and bullying. I also know of several hero families whose kids attend, so you should be safe there.”
“A private school? But those are expensive! I can just go to a public school! I can handle it, I promise! I’m not good enough for private school…”
Eraserhead lifts her face so her eyes meet his. “You are more than good enough for Somei Private Academy. You deserve the best education in a safe environment free from people who would look to hurt you. Please let me do this for you.”
Izu looks him in the eye, searching for any doubt. When she sees none, she nods. “Okay.”