It is often said that death is not the end of the journey, death is a new rebirth....
Izuku had heard someone say it, he didn't know if it was true....
Anyway, he had lost his mother....
And she will not return.....
*****************×*************
Two days after the death of inko midoriya.....
"To be honest, I didn't know Hisashi well. From what I knew, they were a happy couple... Then izuku was born and hisashi went abroad... I didn't hear from him anymore and Inko never talked about it," confided Inko's best friend, Mitsuki Bakugo.
"It's going to be complicated, we can't locate Hisashi Midoriya and Inko had no other family apart from his son, we will have to place the boy in a foster home," says Inspector Naomasa Tsukauchi in a serious tone.
The inspector, the bakugo, and the Graysons were outside a cemetery.
There were only a few co-workers and friends who had attended the funeral.
The atmosphere was heavy, big grey clouds littered the sky. Everything suddenly seemed grey and dreary.
Izuku hadn't left his mother's grave, he was still crying despite the fact that his eyes were red and swollen.
He felt that he was being held with strength and tenderness, he turned around and saw Amanda who had little tears in the corners of her eyes.
Izuku threw himself on her, sobbing even harder, he was hurting all over.... To the face, to the throat, to the stomach, to the heart...
******************
"The poor child... He lost his mother so early, he is devastated..." Mitsuki Bakugo said wiping away a few tears, her husband Masaru pressed her shoulder in comfort.
"As for Izuku, we will adopt him . He won't go to a foster home," Masaru told Inspector Tsukauchi.
John and Mary looked at each other and nodded before stepping forward.
"Sorry to contradict you but we will adopt him, we are going back to the United States in 3 months, Izuku will come with us" says John firmly.
Mitsuki glared at the Graysons, the tension was palpable between the two families.
"Who do you think you are? Inko was my best friend since middle school, izuku is like a son to me, it would make more sense for him to be under our protection!" Mitsuki cried angrily.
"Mrs. Bakugo..." Tsukauchi began
"Mitsuki, you should calm down," Masaru said calmly, pressing her shoulder tenderly.
"We cannot contradict you Mrs. Bakugo... But not only do we consider izuku as our own son, but also...." Mary began.
"It was a wish of Inko herself..." John said gravely.
Tsukauchi and the Bakugo were shocked by this, a wish of inko?
Flashback: 1 year earlier, home of the Midoriya family.
"Izuku, Amanda, can you leave us alone for a few minutes?" asked Inko kindly as he handed treats to the two children.
"Okay mom! Are you coming Amanda? We're going to rehearse the choreography you taught me!" smiled Izuku as he took the treats and headed to his room, followed closely by Amanda.
Alone, Inko served tea to the Graysons and they stayed to discuss this and that.
"I'm really happy that you're present in our lives, Izuku has never been so fulfilled... He considers you his family too," she says with a serene smile.
Mary nodded and looked at her half-empty cup with a sweet smile.
"We love Izuku deeply, he has become more than a fan, I consider him the son I never had" she said softly as John nodded with a proud smile.
A soothing silence followed....
"I said to myself.... If something happened to me, Izuku would be alone..." she began, looking down.
John and Mary had frozen at his words.
"Inko?" said John, disturbed by the drastic turn of the conversation.
"If something happened to me... Maybe you could adopt izuku, lavish him with all the love he needs. Of course, it's just an alternative..." she explained while pouring them tea again.
John and Mary stared at Inko worriedly, Inko noticed their anxiety and giggled a little.
"I'm fine, don't worry!" she smiled
"It's just that you were so solemn..." John smiled nervously.
"Sorry, that said, I trust you absolutely, if anything happens to me, Izuku will be in your care... You never know, after all," she says with a ghostly smile on her lips.
End of the flashback.
***************×************
This had left the Bakugo surprised and the inspector in deep thought.
"Inko midoriya....." Tsukauchi thought as he stared at the grave.
Mitsuki clenched her fists before loosening them.
If that was what Inko wanted...
As a friend and sister, she would respect her wishes.
"You better take care of Izuku..." she said in a less aggressive tone.
John and Mary nodded with determined smiles.
"Now that everything is settled, I will talk to Izuku tomorrow. For the progress of the investigation, Izuku's testimony is crucial..." Tsukauchi said with extreme seriousness.
"And the two men you arrested that day, did they talk to you?" asked John seriously.
The inspector looked tense, he scratched the back of his neck anxiously.
"We were about to interrogate them, but suddenly they had a heart attack simultaneously, they died..." said the inspector with a tired sigh.
A suffocating silence took place, disturbed only by the rustling of tree leaves in contact with the cold wind.....
"This investigation is going to be very difficult..." Tsukauchi thought, looking blankly at the gray sky.
******************×************
The next day, Izuku made his statement at the police station. He had told everything about that night...
It was the mention of this famous "boss" that intrigued tsukauchi, he came to the conclusion that this boss had killed his men from a distance by causing them a heart attack, probably so that they would not talk...
It also confirmed that inko Midoriya had an enemy who wanted her son. This was surprising because according to her relatives, Inko was an extraordinary, gentle and kind woman....
The other person who could guide them was hisashi Midoriya but he seemed to have been sucked into the earth because he was so nowhere to be found.
Izuku had been adopted by the Grayson family two months later, the procedures to change his name were underway...
Thanks to the unconditional love and constant support of his new family, izuku had decided to move forward...
To smile and dance again...
For him and for his mother...
So that she would be proud of him, and that he would become the hero he wanted to be...
A new arc of your life begins, izuku Midoriya... Or rather.....
*******************×*******×*******
In a primary school class....
"In a month, Izuku will leave school and go to live in the United States with his new family, cherish the moments you spend with him so that he can leave us with a light heart," says the teacher with a sweet smile as he presses on Izuku's shoulder.
Some comrades were surprised, others seemed indifferent and Akira was visibly making an effort not to cry.
As for katsuki bakugo.... His gaze was a whirlwind of different emotions.... But they were not pleasant.
Izuku returned to his seat a few meters from the bakugo's seat, the latter often gave him sideways glances.
*******************
Bakugo watched izuku sitting on a bench apart, he drew with a contemplative look on his face.
Bakugo clenched his fists, in the middle of an inner conflict.
He had always been jealous of izuku.
Izuku has always been the best in class.
He was kind, very empathetic, and had this aura that attracted others.
He was the most heroic....
And that, bakugo has never accepted....
He felt inferior in every way, and even when izuku was diagnosed with quirkless and he with a powerful quirk, izuku remained the most heroic.
He had given up on being a professional hero, but he was still far superior to him, since he had turned this handicap into a driver of success.
And now izuku had lost his mother....
He was leaving Japan with the trapeze artist couple.
Bakugo should be happy, izuku would no longer be a stone on his way to glory...
But it was quite the opposite....
And he didn't know why...
"Bakugo! Are you passing the ball?" asked a fat boy impatiently.
Bakugo finally turned away from izuku and threw the ball with a little too much force.
"Watch out!" growled the fat boy.
"Don't give me orders!!" cried Bakugo with contained anger.
He turned again to Izuku, who was now with the super creepy demon-headed girl...
***********************
"Are you really going to leave? I would be all alone with all these people again, mean to me..." Akira said, wiping a few tears from his red eyes.
Izuku looked at her with melancholy, he felt her pain...
Izuku took her hand and looked into her eyes with a reassuring smile.
"John said we'd come to Japan from time to time... I will then come to see you and paint you, I promise you." Izuku said with a determined smile.
Akira sniffed and wiped her eyes, she wanted to tell him so many things, but she didn't know how to express them other than with a simple "thank you" and a sweet smile.
"You will always be my best friend Akira and I appreciate you so much" Izuku cried trying not to cry too.
He changed the drawing sheet and looked at Akira with a bright smile.
"Mr. Onizuka said that you have to cherish every moment to be able to leave with a light heart, I'm going to make lots of paintings of you and take them with me, so we'll have very nice memories of these moments" smiles the jet-black haired boy.
Akira nodded with a sad smile.
Izuku was leaving and she couldn't hold him back...
Then she would spend as much time as possible with him and cherish every moment with him...
With izuku, her first friend, her only friend.....
And her first love.....
**************×*******×************×**********
A month later, Musutafu Airport...
"Take care of yourself, okay?" Mitsuki Bakugo said as he hugged Izuku with motherly sweetness.
Izuku returned her hug, trying not to cry.
Masaru gently ruffled his hair with small tears at the corners of his eyes.
"When you pass here, come back to see us, our door will always be open to you..." Masaru said with a tearful smile.
Izuku nodded and looked behind mitsuki to see katsuki look away, his lips clenched, his fists clenched...
"Katsuki! Aren't you saying goodbye to Izuku?" asked Mitsuki authoritatively.
"I was going to do it! No need to scream, old witch!" cried Katsuki, approaching with an angry gait.
"Unworthy son!!" cried Mitsuki with saw-shaped teeth.
"Old witch!" Katsuki shouted in turn with the same expression as her mother.
"Please calm down..." Masaru said nervously, preventing them from messing up.
John and Mary had big drops on their heads at this spectacle. Amanda looked at them with a "WTF" expression on her face.
Izuku just smiled softly, he was going to miss the Bakugo family dynamic a little.
Katsuki tried to say something, but the words seemed stuck in his throat. He glared at izuku but the latter did not distinguish any anger in his crimson eyes....
It was something else...
"Goodbye Kacchan, I am sure that you will be a very great hero. You're strong and you never give up, so I'm counting on you," izuku said with a serene smile.
There was no mockery in his voice, no resentment, just a sincere affirmation....
Katsuki held back with all his strength not to cry in front of izuku, he didn't want to look weak!
"yes.... I was counting on it, nerd," he said in a trembling voice.
Izuku nodded with a smile as Amanda gently took his hand to leave. John and Mary shook hands with Mitsuki and Masaru as a sign of goodbye.
Katsuki saw izuku give them a last wave with his hand and gradually walk away with his new family.
Katsuki lowered his head...
Mitsuki approached and pressed his shoulder with gentle firmness.
"Come on, let's go..." She said softly.
Katsuki nodded without barking for once, following both of his parents.
***************×*******×**********
The trip had gone well, izuku was now in the United States, more precisely in the glittering and lively city of New York.
This was izuku's first real step towards reconstruction
Here he was not izuku midoriya, he was not a simple foreigner.... New York was to become his city.
*********************
"Welcome to your new home, Izuku..." Mary smiled softly as John opened the door to a warm apartment on the outskirts of Brooklyn.
The apartment was large enough to accommodate 7 people with a wonderful terrace that overlooked the city.
Izuku inhaled and exhaled deeply before going inside.
"It's beautiful, isn't it?" asked Amanda with a proud smile.
"Yes, you feel at home there..." Izuku replied with a warm smile.
"It's always been our home, 20 minutes from our workplace... It's perfect," John said as he put down the suitcases.
"Come on children! We'll try to put everything away and then we'll order pizzas!" Mary smiled loudly as she clapped her hands.
Amanda and izuku nodded happily.
A few hours later, it was already pitch black...
Izuku was watching the city from the terrace, it was as if alive and every sound seemed to be the vibrations of his heart.
He looked at the sky, it was absolutely beautiful...
It was his new life, he was going to enjoy every second of it with John, Mary and Amanda... His new family.
But also with the memory of inko, he will never forget how she was killed and hoped with all his heart that the boss behind it would be stopped.
"Mom, if you're looking at me, know that I would become the hero I want to be and help those who need it most... With the smile," he said with a sweet and determined smile.
A gentle draught caressed his face, as if it had been heard...
"Izuku? The pizzas have arrived!" called Amanda.
Izuku nodded and looked at his new city one last time before joining his sister.
Thus, two months had already passed...
Izuku had gotten used to this new life, he loved New York, he loved Brooklyn.
He went to school and had made friends who didn't care about his lack of an Quirk.
He was admired for his virtuosity in the arts of movement, considered a true master in these fields.
He was so good at acrobatics that he did demonstrations without a net and his agility as well as his reflexes were superhuman for a boy of his age and especially quirkless.
So from time to time, he performed at the holy circus and his reputation grew, he was nicknamed "the Grayson bird".
He also had his American identity, his name was...
"Dick! Are you ready? Your performance must be in an hour! Mom and dad are waiting for you!" growled Amanda.
Izuku midoriya, no, Dick Grayson descended the stairs in a perfect pirouette, landing artistically in front of his sister.
"I'm ready!" said Dick with a beaming smile.
"Well, so much the better!" cried Amanda, pulling her little brother's cheek.
Dick laughed, and the Graysons brothers left the apartment.
******************×********×**************
Meanwhile, a father and daughter looked at the circus tent with nostalgic joy.
"It's been so long since I've been to the circus! I can't wait to see the Flying Graysons in action again!" smiles an eight-year-old girl, with wavy blonde hair, ocean blue eyes protected by a pair of glasses.
Her father, a man with brown hair, of average height, laughed at the enthusiasm of his darling daughter.
"you're right Melissa, I can't wait to see them in action again, especially since there are three of them now" says the man with a small smile.
"Really?" Melissa was surprised.
"yes, a virtuoso who is nicknamed "the Grayson bird", he's your age I think.... "says the man as he enters the tent with his daughter.
"Oh..." Melissa said, impressed.
"He must be fantastic! I can't wait to see him!" smiles Melissa as she takes her father's hand.
"me too" says softly Mr. David Shield.
Two children who didn't know each other yet but who had one thing in common....
What would this meeting be like?
To be continued...