Rambles Express

Present Day Earlier in the day, he didn't miss his parents sitting in the back listening in to his court case this time around. He almost missed them seeing the amount of news reporters and journalists in the courtroom with their notepads ready to scribble notes. He didn't look at them, especially his mother, Rei. Touya was still dressed in his court outfit. A suit fitted to his body with quirk canceling restraints connected to his wrists on the table. He had a migraine from listening to his new lawyer, Miori who worked under Reika for years and was the only one Reika trusted to handle his case without judgement. He had seen that lawyer before in the meetings with Reika before the court proceedings started. He had assumed she was an assistant. Unknowingly, Reika was actually preparing Miori to take over if the public ever found out the connection between her and Touya. Miori and the opposing lawyer talk all day. It was basically foreign language to him, but he tried to follow along. There was also an intern from Reika's law office who always provided sparknotes version of the court proceedings afterwards so he could understand what was happening. Touya had been thinking of Sugar's pastries all week, looking forward to his traditional yap session with Mia Sugars over some pastries. Unfortunately, it had been canceled due to his lawyers requesting a meeting at the last minute. At least Mia still left the pastries for him. 

Touya was already in a foul mood after spending hours sitting in the most uncomfortable chair imaginable while looking forward to speaking with Mia. She was the only one who provided updates on everyone he knew what they were doing now. He could ask her anything related to you or the kids, because you gave her permission to tell him whatever he wanted to know. 

Today, he had actually worked up the courage to ask about you to only lose the opportunity, which pissed him off.

He was mindlessly munching on pastries and nonchalantly offering them pastries to his lawyers who each took one. He was quite surprised to see Reika present at their private meeting. "Before you start cursing us out. I personally believe you should have the plea deal being offered through the HPSC. You would still be within the rehabilitation program for the next 20 years, but you would be able to live among society after transition instead of being locked up in this same building for that double amount of time with only limited privileges." Reika said, causing Touya to slowly chew and narrow his eyes suspiciously at her.  He looked at the folder that was oddly thick being slid over to him as if it was a trap. "We don't trust them." Touya stared at her knowing the history between HPSC with Renji and (Y/N). "I don't either, but the fine print within the contract doesn't lie as long as you meet your side of the agreement. A lot of people have taken this plea deal." Reika says as if it is to ease his skepticism.

Touya swiped his hands against his clothes, before reaching out to open the folder to immediately be greeted by large colorful words across the flyer. Criminal to Hero Route Rehabilitation Program. Immediately Touya started to cackling into laughter, "This is fucking joke." However he quickly quieted down when he realized no one else was laughing to actually realize this is a real and legit document. "Are you fucking being serious right now?" Touya asked, looking at Reika who merely shrugged. "I am a war criminal, a murder." Touya points out the sheer insanity of this offer being given to him. "I am a part of the organization that dismantled the whole hero society." "You were given the offer, just the rest of the league. All of you have potential." Reika says before taking another bite of her pastry. 

"What is the real reason? Because this is batshit fucking crazy for the government to allow this shit. There has to be a catch." Touya asks bluntly. "In short, we are still facing a hero shortage after the war. There is still an enormous gap left to be filled. Many of the older generational heroes are retiring, because they can no longer keep up with the demand of the job. Other heroes have moved overseas to work. A lot of the heroes in training left the profession entirely due to trauma or personal reasons after graduating and found work in other fields. The statistics show there is a strong potential for a new generation of heroes but that would be a couple years from now. They need people in the streets now as quickly as possible." Miori explained, showing Touya the data on her tablet indicating that the amount of people who wanted to become heroes dropped significantly.

"So their brilliant idea was to rehabilitate criminals into heroes to fill that gap. That's what you are saying, right." Touya deadpanned at her. "It originally started with the petty to low profiles, before expanding to higher profile cases, but not everyone is being offered this plea deal. The real crazy bat shit psychopaths, they weren't given this, because that is just asking for a disaster. Everyone who gets offered this plea deal undergoes psychological evaluation before the final decision is made. " Touya quietly listened while reading through the flyer, before lifting it. It reveals the thick stack of papers that made up the contract. His eyes automatically landed on the salary causing him to freeze with his eyes widened, before letting out a low whistle. "Let me guess. The reason a lot of criminals accepted this plea deal was because of the salary. Bunch of money motivated bastards." Touya comments, staring at the enormous number. … That has to be close to his father's salary as the number two hero….. "Yes, but that isn't the official amount." Reika explained."The salary can increase depending on your abilities shown throughout the training program. You are already given a higher salary on paper due to showing your combat skill, and how powerful and effective you can be with your quirk… well when you want to be. When you are being reckless as if you were still a newbie and burning yourself alive." Reika says, raising an eyebrow at Touya who shot her a flat look before returning to the contract and continuing to read. "Techinallly, you would serve as a hero for 10 years and remain under supervision of another hero willing to take you under their wing. You will continue attending therapy twice a week until your therapist determines otherwise. You will be evaluated every year for the following 10 years to ensure you are mentally stable and capable of marking your own decisions without outside influence. Any other rehabilitation services, you will continue to receive it for the next 20 years beyond your service of 10 years. You will receive the traditional salary and vacation time as the hero would." 

Reika leans back on her chair watching Touya flip through several pages. "What is the catch? It sounds too easy." Reika gives him a disbelief look. "Being a hero isn't easy. You will also receive PR training which I know for damn fact that's where you are going to struggle the most with that damn mouth of yours." Touya deadpanned and clarified. "I mean what happens if I don't follow their rules. I know being a hero isn't easy. I lived with one." "If you violate the agreement, You will be sent back here and serve your original sentence for however many years you are supposed to have. You will be cut off from society again with limited visitation privileges. That is the original plea deal we are currently fighting for." Miori says. 

Touya glanced back down at the contract. "Am I going to wear a monitor or something?" "You will be wearing an ankle monitor most of the time. Once you have demonstrated that you can follow the law. It can be removed after 5 years or earlier. It heavily depends on your prohibition officer who will be the hero. You will also live with them for the next 5 years as well." Miori said. Touya couldn't help but be disgusted, yet uncomfortable knowing he will be watched that closely for 5 years which would be halfway of his sentence if he were to take this crazy plea deal. It made his skin crawl.

Yet… The offer was tempting. He can eat whatever his heart desires when he is out instead of hospital food that surprisingly tastes good, but no junk food or sweet treats. "Has anyone in the league taken this plea deal?" Touya asked, before getting a nod from Reika. He knows she couldn't tell him who. "Can I have some time to think about it? Because it sounds like the government is desperate to close that gap with criminals." Touya looks down at the document in complete disbelief, before looking at Reika His eyes lifted towards Reika. "It's hypothetical and outright fucking absurd."

"There have been a lot of changes within the system over the last five years."

Reika says, feeling the stare from him. " I agree with you about its hypocristal and its batshit crazy." "Yet it is also an alternative where you are still able to interact with the outside world, instead of spending decades locked away and trying to adjust to society afterwards." Reika says, glancing at the folder in front of him. "Read over it and think about it. Sleep on it. You have about a week before you'll need to make a decision if you are going to stay within this faculty or take the weirdest plea deal I've ever seen." Miori says before collecting her things to pack up. "Feel free to write on it. That's your copy if you have any questions or don't understand." Reika stands up before looking at Touya. "Before I forget. Your probation officer will be Shouto if you decide to go through with it." Touya didn't try to stop the groan that left from his lips. How wonderful ... being babysit by his younger brother…

____________________________________ Over the next couple days, Touya found himself reading through the thick contract which was pretty much indirectly exploitative in a lot of ways, yet he kept reading it whenever he was bored which was majorly of the time. He hasn't earned any additional privileges yet and his case is still ongoing. Aside from the television in the common room, he is still disconnected from the outside world. He kills time by doing his physical therapy exercises daily, and slowly introduces his body to other exercises when nurses aren't watching him. It irritated his soul to feel so weak and pathetic, but knew recovery was going to be slow. It is going to take time to be remotely close to the strength he had before. Most days, he sat at the desk in his room and he would scribble notes on the margin of the document at the sections where he would need to get more clarification on or questions. From what he had gathered while reading the contract….

Anyone who accepted the plea deal would receive the same privileges and benefits as a licensed hero. The person would get hazard pay depending on the level of case or mission given to them. The contract is a 10 year commitment but there are circumstances that allow for early termination. If they permanently lose their quirk, suffer life threatening injury, or become disabled due work related incidents. They would no longer be required to complete their sentence as a hero.  They would only need to continue their rehabilitation requirements such as attempting mandatory mandatory therapy sessions. For the first two to five years, the participants  would live with their assigned probation officer and wear a quirk-suppressing tracking device in the form of ankle to wrist bracelets depending on the user's quirk. With approval from their probation officer, they could temporarily remove the restraints for up to twenty four hours, but would need to remain in contact during that period of time. Yet, Touya is actually contemplating on taking it despite already believing this batshit crazy plea deal. He could have life outside of these walls as long as he stays out of trouble and just does his part of the job and goes home along meeting the requirements of participating in nonprofit organizations. He could perhaps… He could reconnect and amend his relationships with his rest of the family and apologize. He could be an active father…the thought alone was terrifying, but it's better than being a deadbeat father.  He could actually be there instead of relying on letters and phone calls, especially with Renji who recently started sending letters together with Seishiro. Some drawings that Touya has no clue what he is looking at, until he reads what you wrote in the back to explain what it is. Seisihiro already informed him that you were forced to tell little Renji the truth because he is going to find out through someone else or a parent being hateful towards him due to him being the son of a murder. It was better for him to find out by you than a classmate or someone else.  Supposedly, Renji is already having a hard time at school because of the news being public knowledge and actively being isolated by his classmates due to their parents not wanting their kids to be around him anymore. Touya can't imagine the hell you are experiencing and trying to take the blunt force of the hate instead of the kids. A couple kids tried to pick fights with Seishiro but he just ignored them because it always pissed them even more when he was not acknowledging their presence. Seishiro kinda enjoys it… cheeky brat from what he read from the letters. Seishiro definitely learned or inherited that, because you would ignore someone and pretend they don't exist if they are trying to pick a fight with you. Because you thought it was a waste of time and energy in your eyes. … Atleast, his oldest isn't impulsive like him from what he has seen and read…. Touya is aware that you have hired them multiple bodyguards after the news was publicized which is a smart move. 

He is more than aware that he has made a lot of enemies and victim's families hatred towards him…. He is more than aware. He knows you are surrounded by good people, but the thought of it doesn't ease his guilt. He should be doing something. He should be there and take it instead of you or the kids. Sometimes thinks he should have kept his mouth and died in that cold dark clinic, alone. It would have spared you a headache. But now, someone is handing him over a contract and implying that he could have life as long he follows the rules. _________________ Bonus Scene Seishiro attempted to help by using his quirk to knock Renji out of sheer panic because his little brother kept engulfing himself in flames while screaming for you. The fire extinguishers weren't doing shit. Renji was crying and panicking because he couldn't turn it off. His panic was only making it worse. The water from the shower is starting to stop working, seeing the water turning into a stream. Seishiro could feel the flames getting hotter. He heard you, you raced up the stairs with multiple fire cooling blankets while speaking to an operator on the phone.

How was he supposed to know his quirk would be a bad match for his brother's quirk? He had never experienced pain fromabsorbing energy from someone else before. The intensity of it was too much. It felt like his body was burning from the inside out. Within seconds of activating his quirk was enough to throw him into dangerous high fever. Everything went black for him before he collapsed onto the bathroom floor.  The sight of Seishiro unconscious only made things worse. Renji's flames grew larger from seeing his brother on the ground because of him. You immediately abandoned any thought of using your quirk on Renji. You have to work with what you had with a different type of fire extinguisher,  and soak the fire blanket wrapping it around him until help arrives. You could feel yourself getting burned, but you kept talking to Renji trying to calm him down. The more scared and panicked he was, the worse the flames became. His flames reacted the same way as Touya's, which is the worst possible outcome. The fear intensified as the little flames started burning through the specialized blankets as if they were ordinary blankets. You were forcing yourself to remain calm talking to Renji and responding whenever the operator spoke through the speaker from your phone.