The gladiolus symbolizes honor and remembrance. It can also symbolize strength of character, faithfulness, sincerity and integrity, infatuation, and never giving up.

The noise of the news program on TV echoed through the mostly empty common area of the dorms, filling it with the loud sounds of buildings falling and rubbles settling.

"The villain that attacked the city is reported to have a vibration quirk that allows him to topple buildings easily," the news reporter relayed. "A few heroes have tried to subdue him, but for the time being they are not able to do so yet. We have also received word that up-and-coming hero, Barrier Maiden, was inside the building – " she cut her words off, putting her hand on the earpiece she had in her left ear. When she spoke again, her voice was decidedly much more grave. "Recent checking has confirmed that there are at least fourteen people in the building when it collapsed. The authorities hope to retrieve them safely, however it is unfortunately not possible to do so while the villain is still about."

He placed the half-filled glass of water on the table as he sank to the couch, expression falling. If he actually had permission, he'd go out and help. Then again, his provincial license limited his movements to certain area which did not include the place where the incident was happening. Also, considering he didn't have speed or teleportation quirk it was more than likely that he'd end up arriving too late anyway.

"Barrier Maiden," he whispered to himself, tasting the name on his tongue. It was a good hero name, as far as any. Judging from it, the hero most likely had the power to create barriers – and the hero should be a woman, if the maiden in the name was anything to go by. The barrier quirk should be strong, if she was confident enough to choose such hero name to go with. How strong were the barriers she made though? How long did they last? Were there distinct shapes she needed to make to ensure highest stability? What of the size? How much was she able to manipulate existing barriers? What sort of drawbacks did the quirk have? All quirks have drawbacks. Maybe she could only make small barriers? Maybe the sizes determine the stability and power. Maybe…

"Whoa, Midoriya, you're up this early? And already mumbling, too?"

He jumped in his seat and turned. "Ah, good morning, Kaminari," Izuku greeted. "I was out for a morning jog earlier, and I got curious about the news."

Kaminari plopped down on the seat next to him. "Cool. I just woke up because Mineta was snoring really loud, so I figured going to the common area wouldn't hurt." He grimaced. "Also, he's been talking in his sleep. About… weird things."

Izuku winced. "Is it about women's boobs and asses?"

"Worse. It's about 1-A girls' boobs and asses." Kaminari shook his head. "I mean, I'll admit it, I like girls and I definitely like both boobs and ass, but Mineta is just…" he wriggled his fingers weirdly. "Yeah."

Izuku sighed heavily. As good as Mineta could be in schoolwork and heroics, his perverted tendencies never failed to both baffle and made him uncomfortable.

"Mt. Lady is currently trying to dig the rubbles to rescue the civilians while Best Jeanist and Kamui Woods battle and apprehend the villain," the reporter's voice drew Izuku's attention back to the TV. "From what we know so far, the villain has voice-based quirk which creates vibrations capable of toppling buildings. We only hope that Best Jeanist and Kamui Woods are able to apprehend him as soon as possible."

"Man, that villain's tough," Kaminari commented as the TV showed the two heroes and the villain fighting, with the villain ducking and sending his own screams that made the heroes wince and stagger. Kamui Woods' created trees shattered at the attack, and the threads Best Jeanist used clearly frayed, but they were able to at least tie the villain down. Unfortunately, it wasn't enough to completely tie him down, as he repeatedly broke out and lunged.

"Best Jeanist and Kamui Woods both seem to be struggling with this villain. It seems that his vibration weakens each and every material anyone uses to tie him down. However – ah! Viewers, Mt. Lady has just managed to dig out the rubbles!"

The camera switched focus from the fight to the rescue attempt at once. It blurred before focusing, showing Mt. Lady setting aside a large chunk of the wall. In the settling dust was a glowing dome, a somewhat translucent blue barrier that stood strong under the pile of bricks and woods. Mt. Lady quickly brushed the rubbles off the barrier as the camera zoomed in to the barrier.

In it was an unfamiliar hero in baby blue hero suit with pink sash and pink mask. Her face was folded into a frown as she concentrated to keep the barrier intact, and her braided dark hair was messy. As soon as Mt. Lady cleared the area, she lowered her upstretched arms and staggered back. Then, from behind her, several people shot up to catch her before she fell.

She managed to get all the people in the building into her barrier, Izuku realized. She protected them all.

"New hero Barrier Maiden is able to round up and protect all fourteen – no, fifteen people in the building using her quirk!" the reporter gushed excitedly. "Families of these people can now rest easy, as Barrier Maiden has saved them all. She's now cooperating with Mt. Lady to bring these people to safety. The police and paramedics are waiting by the road, and they will provide the needed support to – oh no, watch out!"

Izuku swallowed down a whimper when he saw the villain breaking out of Kamui Woods' restraints and lunging to Barrier Maiden and Mt. Lady. Beside him, Kaminari let out a troubled shout. Kirishima was beside Kaminari, yelling at the villain for being a prick, while Bakugou yelled obscenities at the villain and Todoroki gave a wordless noise of disapproval from right next to Izuku's ear. Mixed in the noise was Uraraka's loud no, Tsuyu's croak, and Yaoyorozu's groan. Izuku spared them all a brief glance, wondering when they even got there, before turning back to the TV.

Barrier Maiden had reacted quickly, trapping the villain inside a ball-shaped barrier. She winced when the villain screamed and her barrier began to crack, however. She turned and put all fifteen civilians she had protected inside another ball-shaped barrier and gestured to Mt. Lady. The hero with gigantification quirk nodded and picked the ball barrier up, running to the police line.

The barrier imprisoning the villain shattered, and Barrier Maiden flinched. The barrier with the civilians shuddered but didn't break. She glared at the villain and untied the sash around her waist, holding it like a weapon. Behind the villain, both Best Jeanist and Kamui Woods creeped closer.

With three heroes working together, it was a quick work restraining the villain. Barrier Maiden imprisoned him within another barrier that he shattered as quickly as it manifested, making her flinch and stagger, but Best Jeanist and Kamui Woods both were prepared, quickly using thread and wood to tie him in place, with Kamui Woods creating some sort of gag using his quirk. Not willing to take any chances, Barrier Maiden then created three layers of barriers to secure him further until police came in to bring him in.

(It was a good precaution, because by the time the police was there the villain had managed to break the restraints Best Jeanist and Kamui Woods created and was in the process of trying to shatter the second layer of Barrier Maiden's triple-layered barrier, and the two older heroes couldn't create more restraint because apparently people couldn't use their quirk from the outside of the barrier to the inside and vice versa – though if you were already in the inside and used it inside it would be fine.)

"That was intense!" Uraraka commented. "Barrier Maiden's quirk was so cool!"

"It was great that she was able to save all those people," Tsuyu croaked. Her head tilted in thought. "Her quirk seemed pretty powerful. What do you think, Midoriya?"

Izuku sat ramrod straight in his seat. "Eh?!"

"Well you are the resident quirk analyst," Kirishima pointed out as Kaminari poked him on the arm. "And you're usually pretty spot on, too."

"Well, uh," Izuku pursed his lips, bringing his hand up to his chin as he thought. "Her quirk is emitter-type, right? So naturally it'll be weak to quirks capable of cancellation of its activation, such as Eraserhead's erasure. It's strongly defensive in nature, so I wonder about its offensive application. Also, Barrier Maiden seems to be hurt when the barriers are broken forcibly, so damage received to the barriers most likely reflect to her indirectly." He hummed. "It's surprisingly convenient that her first appearance in the media is to protect civilians from crumbling building, though. It showcases her strong point considerably."

"Almost shoving it to your face, actually," Todoroki pointed out. "The damage the villain dealt to the city is huge, there many civilian lives on the line, and her quirk was excellent in minimalizing victims. You don't usually get that lucky, as far as debuts go."

"It's good for her though, right?" Uraraka pointed out. "You need media attention and popularity to stay in the business, after all! Unless you're an underground hero like Aizawa-sensei."

"Still, it is very convenient," Izuku thought aloud, mostly to himself. He turned back to the TV, where the reporter was gushing about how fortunate it was that a hero with defensive quirk had come in to save the civilians from falling rubbles. The shot showed the police thanking the four heroes. Barrier Maiden preened quietly at the back until the police turned to her, to which she flushed immediately.

As the camera zoomed to Barrier Maiden's face, Izuku caught movements from behind her shoulder. Far back, leaning to a building, was a man in a charcoal gray hoodie. One of his hands was in the hoodie's pocket while the other held a phone to his ear. He spoke into the phone, listened, nodded, and casted a look to Barrier Maiden. He nodded once in what seemed to be satisfaction and walked away.

Izuku squinted, but the camera zoomed out to show the other heroes also thanking Barrier Maiden. The man in the hoodie disappeared from his sight, too far away to be caught in camera. Something about him piqued at Izuku, though he wasn't sure what, exactly.

"Deku?" Uraraka's voice brought him back to reality. "Is something wrong?"

"Oh, nothing!" Izuku assured. It wasn't anything important, anyway. "By the way, have you guys finished your homework for tomorrow?"

The collective groan from half his classmates who were present at the area was answer enough, and that day ended up being a study group day, with them all piling together in the common area to deal with their homework. It was interrupted around noon, however, when Izuku's phone chimed with an incoming phone call.

"Ah," he exclaimed when he checked the caller ID. "I should take this. It's my mom."

"Sure, Midoriya, we can handle this much on our own," Kirishima assured. Izuku smiled at him and made his way outside.

"Hello, Mom?" Izuku greeted when he picked up.

"Izuku," Inko's voice was brimming with hopeful excitement. "I was wondering, are you busy today?"

"No, not really," Izuku answered. "Why?"

"Is it possible for you to go home for today?"

"I don't know if it's possible to request a permit to leave the ground in a short notice, but I'll see what I can do," Izuku promised. "I'm sorry if this troubles you, but I think you'll have better chance just coming here than me applying a permit out of nowhere, Mom."

"Oh, no, no, it's fine!" Inko hurriedly assured. "This is rather sudden, after all. It's just that… Hisashi's home."

Izuku's mind blanked out for a moment. "Who?"

"Hisashi," Inko repeated, a hint of amused exasperation in her tone. "Your father, Izuku."

Izuku blinked. "Now, after all these years?"

"I'm as surprised as you are," Inko said. "Can you believe him? He didn't say anything, and suddenly he just called saying he's coming home and popped out in the front door about half an hour later! I'm happy, of course, but he could have at least called yesterday." She spoke the last part loudly, as if wanting someone else to hear. A faint voice chimed a sorry, dear in the background, and Inko sighed. "In any case, we had hoped we could get a family dinner. If it's not possible, we can schedule it sometime this week, I hope?"

"Yeah," Izuku nodded. "I can definitely get a permit for sometime this week. Maybe Wednesday or Thursday? Homework tend to relent on those days."

"You know, it still makes me a little upset that you need a permit to leave school grounds," Inko said. "It's like you're imprisoned there."

"I'm not, Mom," Izuku assured. "We're allowed to go out as long as the school is notified – that's what the permits are supposed to do, anyway. Besides, it's kind of necessary, after the whole…"

"The kidnapping fiasco," Inko finished when Izuku faltered.

"Yes, that."

"I suppose extra layer of security wouldn't hurt," Inko admitted. "U.A is much safer than our own apartment, after all."

Izuku laughed. "It sure is, with all those walls that shoot up whenever someone without an ID tries to get inside the school ground."

Inko giggled her own amused agreement, and their phone call soon ended. Izuku smiled as he hung up and put the phone back into his pocket. U.A was fast in dealing with permits, so if he requested a permit for Wednesday tomorrow he should get it at Tuesday morning at the latest.

His smile faded when the thought of meeting his father struck. When was the last time he saw him? When was the last time he actually spoke to him? He didn't even remember the last time his mom even spoke of him, not even in a secondhand comment. Midoriya Hisashi was as much a stranger to Izuku as someone he passed in a department store.

Oh god he'll have to reconnect. Oh god he'll have to explain about One for All. Family dinner was going to be supremely awkward.

The man suppressed a smile at the scene before him. Barrier Maiden was guaranteed to have a good popularity after this sort of stunt. It had been a hassle setting all of this up, and he was glad their efforts had paid off. It wasn't perfect – things rarely were – but it was pretty close. He knew for sure the kids were cheering happily.

He almost failed to contain his snickers then. Kids. They would blow a gasket if they knew what he referred to them as, considering their age. Not to mention that he already had a kid of his own.

His phone vibrated in his pocket and he took it out. A private number greeted him, and he openly rolled his eyes. It would be cute that they even bothered to try if it wasn't so annoying. His company had Access with them. Their feeble attempt to upkeep a semblance of anonymity was just plain useless.

"Trailblaze here," he said when he picked up the phone. "You know, you could've just called Brightlight. He's pretty much second in command, after all. I know you people are too scared to actually talk to Siren, even if she's better at this sort of thing."

The person at the end of the line paused. "We prefer to go straight to the head," a smooth voice replied at last. "You never told us that the damage would be so… massive."

"You didn't ask," he replied flippantly. "Besides, it's not like your company will have to pay for all the damage from the battle. Barrier Maiden wasn't the one doing the wrecking."

"It would upset her to know that so much damage had been dealt to ensure her memorable debut."

His brow shot up to his hairline. "You plan to tell her?"

"Our contract requires us both to be completely open and honest to each other."

"Well, okay, if that's what you decided to do. Just a heads up, though, heroes generally dislike this sort of tactic."

"We're aware."

"Ah, well. Anyway, remember that we'll have your company name on our list. We'll call in favors from time to time, so be ready for when that happens."

"Of course." The phone clicked and the connection was cut off from the other end. He took his phone off his ear and stared at it, clicking his tongue. Sheesh, rude.

He was about to pocket the phone when it vibrated again. he stared at it as Access' modification to trace private numbers appeared; showing that this number had never contacted him before and that it came from within the country.

A potential client?

He answered the call and placed the phone by his ear. "Who is this?"

"Is this Trailblaze of the Enablers?"

Yep, a potential client, then. "That's right. Who is this? Are you requiring our service?"

"I would rather meet you face to face before going into the details."

"Sure. Where and when?"

The person gave an address and a time, and is eyebrow shot up to his hairline once more. He smirked. "Ah. Is this some bigwig in need of a diversion, then?"

"I wouldn't put it that way," the person said mildly, but it wasn't a denial. Both of them was aware that it was far from a denial.

His smirk widened a fraction. "Well, see you later then, Mr. Politician. I hope you're aware I will require a large payment and probably even larger favors."

"Oh, don't worry. It's common knowledge within our circle, even if no one talks about it. Good day, Traiblaze." He nodded with a hum as a response, and the phone call ended. He pulled the phone away from his ear.

Another client, so soon, and within the same country. This almost felt like a Christmas present. He gazed at Barrier Maiden who flushed under media attention, nodded in satisfaction, and walked away.

It looked like he was going to stay around for a while. Might as well go home and reconnect with his family. He wondered absently about how his wife and son were doing. He should be in his teens, maybe about late junior high or early high school age? Early high school age sounded more like it. If he'd inherited both his and his wife's brains, he should be in a fancy high school by now.

Probably not in heroics, though. There was no way the heroics department of any high school would accept a quirkless kid. General education was more like it. Maybe support. God, he hoped he was in support. It would be great to drag his kid into the business. Ultimately, the choice wasn't his to make, though.

He lifted his phone again and dialed a long since familiar number. He should tell them he was coming instead of showing up out of nowhere. Granted, this was pretty sudden, but a late notice would still be better than nothing, right?

"Good morning, Midoriya residence," a feminine voice answered the phone call.

His smile bloomed like a flower. "Hi, Inko."

Midoriya Inko paused, and he could imagine her eyes growing wide in shock. When she finally spoke, it was in a disbelieving almost-shriek.

"Hisashi?!"

A/N: May you readers be warned that I wrote this as I stress myself out about my finals in January while curling up in bed in Christmas due to a cold and I totally didn't think this through before posting despite the fact the idea has been floating around in my head but not exactly cooked and I already wrote this chapter before writing my finals' essays because I have lost control over my life

Come yell at me for being a walking disaster in my tumblr ( twilighteve. tumblr - please remove space on your own because ff net is a jerk about links), because seriously i ought to have shared this years ago