13

Chapter 13: Lose Hold of it Once, and its String Might Sail Out of Your Hands Forever

Chapter Text

Izuku wakes feeling extremely uncomfortable. He must have slept weird, even now he feels sore and cramped. Blinking the crust of sleep away, Izuku's eyes shoot open at the unfamiliar surroundings.

The events of last night are fresh on his mind and Izuku looks around frantically. Eri mumbles in her sleep and shifts against Izuku from his movements, leading him to relax somewhat. He scans the rest of what he can see for his teacher, but he doesn't spot AIzawa-sensei anywhere. Which is for the best, especially since Izuku plans to take his leave now.

He moves on the couch slowly, trying to slip out from under the blankets and Eri without displacing her too much. It might scare her a bit, he thinks with a pang of guilt, for her to wake up and him not be there. There could be a better way to do things, but Izuku can't think of anything at the moment. He doesn't know how to face Aizawa-sensei or how he can explain himself properly. What he needs is time. And space. Eri is safe now anyway, which is all that matters.

Izuku succeeds in extracting himself from the comfy bundle of blankets and warmth on the couch. His clothes are still damp, so maybe not much time has passed? Looking out the window, that doesn't seem to be the case. The sun is up and- oh dear, has his mom already seen his empty bed?!

A little frantic now, Izuku stands and folds the blanket he had wrapped around him, placing it under Eri's head as a pillow since she can no longer use his leg. He thinks briefly about writing her a note, but decides against it. He'll make sure to see her again no matter what.

He hears movement in the other room and Izuku freezes on instinct. Is Aizawa-sensei walking around still? Shouldn't he be asleep?!? How is Izuku supposed to sneak out of the home of the best underground hero without getting caught? Was him coming here a bad idea? Izuku glances at Eri, sleeping in her nest of blankets. No. He doesn't regret it.

Izuku turns around slowly, careful of making even the slightest noise. His body protests the tension and Izuku feels sweat run down his back. When he turns around, he can immediately see a figure in the kitchen, their back to him.

It's not Aizawa-sensei.

Izuku keeps still, observing the stranger and assessing if they're a threat or not. Where is Aizawa-sensei? Who is in his kitchen? Did Aizawa-sensei know this person is in his kitchen? Did he call someone even when Izuku told him not to? What is going on?

The person in the kitchen moves strangely and Izuku realizes that they are dancing. They also seem to be fixing some breakfast or something, Izuku can't see through their body blocking it. Whoever it is, they haven't noticed him yet, and Izuku attributes that to the fact the person is wearing headphones turned up so loud Izuku can hear the music faintly from where he stands.

As more time passes, Izuku becomes more and more convinced that the stranger is not a threat. It didn't make sense that someone who wished to harm them or Aizawa-sensei would be acting so leisurely. Still, Izuku is reluctant to leave Eri alone with an unknown person. Who could Aizawa-sensei know that he'd invite here? Did his teacher have so many friends?

The person is male, and rather tall, Izuku observes. He has blonde hair pulled up in a messy bun, so it must be rather long. He wears casual clothing, a jacket and jeans, and black headphones. If only Izuku could get a better view of his face!

As if the man heard him, his next dance move puts him in side profile. Izuku's eyes widen and he immediately drops to the floor, out of sight. What is Present Mic doing here?!

Did Aizawa-sensei alert UA already to the situation? Where is Aizawa-sensei? Why did he leave them alone? Wait, he didn't leave them alone- cause Present Mic is here- but he wasn't supposed to get anyone else involved until Izuku has escaped!

Wait a minute, isn't this a chance? Izuku moves up until he can see Present Mic in the kitchen again, blissfully unaware that Izuku is awake and about. He never stood a chance if it was Aizawa-sensei watching them, but Present Mic? Maybe. Izuku hasn't interacted with the hero much, but seeing as he's distracted right now, this might be the perfect opportunity. In fact, this may be his only opportunity to get out of here while Aizawa-sensei still has yet to show himself.

Izuku creeps forward, hunched over, so that the counter blocks him from view. He's not that far from the door. He can make it.

Present Mic sneezes. Izuku jerks in surprise and almost falls to the ground. He manages to steady himself, but his heart pounds like crazy. He lifts himself up to peak again. Present Mic thankfully continues his task. Izuku breathes a sigh of relief.

He continues to tiptoe into the entryway. The part where he has to cross the opening into the kitchen is especially nerve-racking, but he accomplishes it without an issue. He'll have to thank Aizawa-sensei later for teaching him the proper skills to sneak out of the pro's own house.

When he reaches the door, he can see it's locked. He'll have to be careful of the noise it makes when he disengages it. Hopefully Aizawa-sensei also keeps his door hinges well oiled. Present Mic probably won't hear anything through his headphones anyway, but Izuku isn't about to underestimate a pro hero, no matter how much he's lowered his guard.

As he turns the lock slowly, he expects at any point to have Aizawa-sensei spring forth from nowhere and grab him. Or Present Mic to come out from the kitchen and see him trying to leave. Thankfully, neither scenario happens and Izuku finishes turning the lock, wincing at the audible click it makes. He stalls once again, just to ensure he's safe, before he starts turning the knob. The door opens silently. Izuku thanks the gods above for small mercies.

He waits until the opening is wide enough for him to slip through before he exits quickly. In his rush, he closes the door a little too loudly and panics. Did Present Mic hear that? Izuku isn't about to stick around to find out. The sun has risen and Izuku has no idea what his mom will do once he gets home. How much does she know? How much has she guessed? What can he tell her?

Izuku runs off the porch and down the drive, activating his quirk so he can get home as soon as possible.

His mother is going to kill him.

Shouta is going to kill him.

Why did he leave the children to be looked after by Hizashi again? He usually has better judgement than that. He should've called Nemuri. Wait no- she tends to gossip too much. He sighs and pinches the bridge of his nose.

"What do you mean, you don't know where he is?" Shouta glares down at the man nuisance wrapped up in his capture weapon, quirk in full force.

"Shoutaaaaaa! I'm sorrrrryyy! I swear I only took my eyes off him for a second! He must be a ninja or someth- ow ow ow!"

Shouta tightens his bindings mercilessly. "I was only out for fifteen minutes to do a job. Honestly, I thought I could trust you to watch them while I was gone. How could you have not noticed?!" He growls.

Hizashi whimpers pitifully, teary gaze turned to him, but Shouta isn't about to yield.

"C'mon Shouta, don't be like that! You told me they'd be asleep the whole ti- ow! Okay! I already said I'm sorry! Stop doing that!"

Shouta is still angry, but rationally, there's nothing he can do after the fact. If anyone's to blame, it's himself. But, it isn't like he can just ignore a call when he is needed. And he couldn't leave the kids alone...Ugh. Shouta massages his temples. He just wants to sleep. He's going to need to put on another pot of coffee.

"Deku…?" Shouta hears a soft voice from the other room. He glares at the still trapped Hizashi to be silent and walks out to greet the awakening child. She sits up on the couch and looks around slowly, rubbing sleep out of her eyes. Shouta sighs. He didn't want to have this conversation.

Eri looks up at him and thankfully, she doesn't seem scared. "...Eraserhead-san?" She asks carefully. Shouta nods.

He approaches the couch and notices that Eri seems to be having trouble breathing. Her breath comes out in short pants and her skin appears unnaturally flushed. Shouta frowns.

"Where is Deku?" The child asks and he pauses where he stands beside her in order to crouch down to her level. Shouta's never believed in telling lies or hiding the truth. The girl would have to find out eventually.

He reaches forward slowly to press the back of his hand to her forehead. It's apparent right away that she's running a temperature. He was planning on taking her to UA with him today regardless, but he'll have to stop by Recovery Girl's clinic first thing to get Eri treated. Hopefully the older brat will be fine. He sighs again and pats the girl on her head. Speaking of that brat...

"Deku left." Shouta tells her, staring her in the eyes. Why is it him who is left to comfort people? He's never been good at such things.

But, the girl doesn't cry as he suspected she would. She only looks down at her lap dejectedly, her tiny fists clenched in the fabric of the blanket.

"Oh." She says.

Shouta knows not to make promises. Especially if they're not ones he knows he can keep. That's basically the same as lying. Still, from what he has observed from this 'Deku', he thinks he's justified in what he says next.

"Don't worry. He'll come to see you again."

Eri looks up at him, blinking slowly with a glassy gaze. She looks as if she'll fall asleep again at any second.

"Okay." She murmurs, her eyes slipping closed. Shouta helps her back down onto the couch and tucks the blanket back around her. Does he have any medicine for fevers? He'll have to check. Recovery Girl is sure to have some though…

Shouta glances at his clock. He needs to get to UA soon anyway. He picks up the girl bundled in her blankets, careful not to wake her and walks towards the door. As he passes, he grabs his keys from the tray.

"Shouta?" The still wrapped up worm calls out to him. "Shouta, where are you going?"

He doesn't spare the worm a second glance. "Work." He says bluntly.

"Hey wait!" Hizashi yells. "I need to get to work too!"

Shouta ignores him. He steps over the struggling worm and opens his door.

"Shouta! Hey Shouta! You're not going to leave me here, are you?! Hey! Are you?!"

He blocks out the sounds of Hizashi's whining by stepping through his door and closing it behind him. He can hear a muffled cry of "Shoutaaaaaaaaaaaaaa!!!!" as he turns the key in the lock and walks off.

Hizashi can handle being a few hours late.

The window to his bedroom is easy to sneak through and it doesn't feel like the world has ended just yet, so Izuku will count that as a plus. He immediately strips his wet clothes and grabs new ones. He quickly runs through the house and hops in the shower. He has to undo the bandages around his head, which he hadn't noticed, beforehand. Will his mother notice? The wound is well hidden by his hair, so maybe it's fine? There are a couple of scratches, scrapes and bruises around his body though. His ribs are a particularly nasty shade up purple and blue. It seems today would be a good day for long sleeves. Best not let his mother worry.

After the shower, Izuku gets dressed and walks into the kitchen to make breakfast. He feels a little sluggish and achy, but the shower helped wake him up. His mother walks in through the front door at that time. She looks worried and Izuku's brain runs in circles for a suitable excuse for when she asks him.

"Izuku!" His mother says when she spots him, surprised and relieved. "When did you get home? Where were you?" Her questions appear to be asked casually but Izuku knows that if he doesn't give a satisfactory answer he could face her ire.

"I went on a run this morning." He tells her smoothly. "We must have just missed each other. I only got home about twenty minutes ago." Izuku smiles, hoping she can't see past it.

His mother sighs and clutches her chest. "Jeez. I thought that was the case, so I went out to look for you. Do you know how worried I was when I couldn't find you?" She hangs her head, her eyes shadowed, but Izuku knows she's close to tears without having to get a good look.

He rushes towards her without a second thought, breakfast forgotten, and envelops her in a hug while his heart breaks. He ignores the flare of pain in his sides. "I'm sorry." He tells her, willing her to believe it. He knows he lies to her, but he's definitely not lying about this.

"You couldn't have left a note…? Or a text?" She mumbles into his shirt, clutching him back just as tightly.

"I'm so sorry." Izuku repeats. He doesn't know what else to say. He really messed up. Why can't he do anything right? What kind of son puts their mother through this much heartache? She thought he was missing again. He let her believe that he went missing again.

"Please," His mother says shakily, her face pulling away from him, shiny with tears. "Please, please Izuku." She sniffles and wipes at her tears. "Just tell me next time, okay?"

"Okay." Izuku agrees and wipes away his own tears he didn't realize he was shedding.

His mother smiles up at him, but she frowns a second later. Quicker than he can blink, she's cupped either side of his face and stares at it intently, turning it this way and that.

"You look horrible Izuku, what happened? You're awfully pale...and are those scratches?" She asks, her eyes boring into him.

Izuku chuckles nervously and promptly sneezes. His mother pulls her hands away.

"You're burning up!" She exclaims. "Go lay down, I'll get the thermometer."

Surprised, Izuku feels his own face. He is a little warmer than usual, but is he really sick? It must've been the rain. Sleeping in wet clothes was probably not such a good idea...hopefully Eri's okay. He is still dead tired and achy, but he thought that was leftover from last night. But well...if his mom wants him to take it easy today, it's not like he's going to complain.

He gets fussed at until he lies in his bed, finally noticing the ache and exhaustion settled in his limbs. Izuku had slept at Aizawa-sensei's house, but for how long? He's still so tired. But, before he can fall asleep again, his mind runs through his mental checklist of the next things he needs to get done.

He has to hand out the information that he gathered regarding the Eight Precepts. It would be nice to know how the yakuza group is reacting towards the loss of their "asset", but it might be better for him to lie low. Izuku still wants to see the downfall of Overhaul through until the end, but hopefully the passing on of his information to the heroes will handle it without anymore interference from him. Well, he'll just keep an eye on it.

He's accomplished what he wants to accomplish for the moment. Eri is safe and likely will be for the foreseeable future. Izuku's been away from the USJ plans for a couple weeks, so he is going to have to check up on that. He might even have to plan a visit to the bar, despite his reluctance to do so. He grimaces.

Thinking up a cover story for when he inevitably meets Aizawa-sensei would be good too. But that will have to wait until his mind isn't muddled with sickness and sleep deprivation.

He's getting a headache just thinking about it.

"It was my negligence! I'm sorry! Please spare me!" The pathetic thing whines. Kai doesn't hesitate to enclose his hand around the thing's head and erupt it into a splatter of red on the wall of their new hideout. He shakes his hand, flicking droplets of blood off his fingertips. Disgusting.

"He should have thought of the consequences before he let dear Eri get taken." A voice drawls from behind him. Kai glances out the corner of his eye, at his aide's form, dressed in a long white coat. Kai doesn't bother with a reply.

"What have you learned?" He asks, his voice distorted through his mask. Someone comes forward with a handkerchief that he grabs without seeing who handed it to him. Kai wipes the blood off his hand and discards the dirtied cloth to the side.

Kurono lifts up an object sealed in a plastic bag. "We found this, worn by the perpetrator."

Kai looks at the object again, until he can make sense of what he's seeing.

"...A mask?" He asks, curious. Was it a hero? That didn't make any sense. No heroes should know of Eri's existence or her importance to their now-thwarted scheme. The mask seemed cheap too, made of costume plastic. What kind of hero would wear that? Especially if it were modeled after another hero? Does that mean it was someone else?

"Not only this mask, we were also able to recover pieces of a laptop as well as still frames from the security footage after it came back online. With this much evidence left behind, we can find out who it is." He says confidently. "In fact, we already have a lead."

Kai stares at the manilla folder that his aide hands him. He flips through the papers inside, picking through the police mumbo jumbo for pertinent information.

"A vigilante, huh?" He looks at a picture in the file, blurry because of the quality of the CCTV camera. There is someone there- male the files says- wearing the same obnoxious mask that matches the one they found. It seems he's appeared several times over the past few months, taking out small time villains and thugs.

"The vigilante is usually active near the Kamino area and is credited with a large number of takedowns despite no one knowing their true aim. It seems their sightings decreased a couple of weeks ago, time that would be in line with them taking on a different operation." Kurono explains.

"While barely anything is recoverable from the laptop, we can infer that this vigilante used it to hack into our security cameras and prevent us from noticing his infiltration. Unfortunately, we are unable to recover any footage of what went on during the infiltration until a little after the alarms had already sounded."

Kai hums at the information. "Who sounded the alarms?"

Kurono crosses his arms. "One of the guards on level eight. He was alerted by a different guard who was present when the vigilante reached Eri's cell. Don't worry, both of them have been...punished for their negligence after confessing all needed information."

Kai nods. As it should be. His organization was not meant to crumble because of a single rat. Any fool who allowed that to happen deserved to be purged.

"After the cameras came back up during the fight on the ground floor, we managed to get a look at the vigilante's face without his mask on." Kurono hands over multiple photos, all taken from different angles and slightly blurred. Kai can't tell much of what the person looks like. Large eyes. Freckles. And an otherwise plain face. Some sort of cap conceals their hair and their clothes also don't give away any discerning body features. Still. It was something.

"Can we find him?" Kai asks, handing the photos back. From what he could tell of the incident from first hand accounts as well as video footage, the vigilante has an extremely powerful quirk. Quirks like that aren't so easily hidden.

Kurono taps his finger against his arm. "It's possible. Although depending on how many resources we devote to this will determine how quickly we find him. There is the missing girl as well."

Kai nods. While finding this vigilante and teaching him a lesson would be gratifying, recovering their asset was much more important. However, their only lead to Eri was through this masked nuisance. He may as well deal with two troublemakers at once.

"Put our experiment on hold. We can't progress without the girl anyway. Have everyone be on the lookout for whoever this thief is who thinks he can steal from the Eight Precepts of Death."

Kai walks away, Kurono at his side. His subordinates scurry behind him to clean up the mess.

"And what do we do once we find him?" Kurono asks, his hooded head tilting to the side.

Kai clenches his hands into fists and flexes them. "Bring him to me. I will show him what happ