Hey,

thanks so much for the great response to last chapter. I hope you'll like this one just as much and it's still not getting boring.

The Investigation

Three hours later it was dark outside and they had a bit more information. Silent Tracker had called. She had thoroughly searched the last known location of Natsuo's phone and had come up with precious little. There hadn't been a violent assault recently, of that she had been sure. There was nothing out of the ordinary. Camera footage from different shops close by showed Natsuo with a rucksack strolling through the street texting on his phone. He was alone and nothing unusual had happened on any of the tapes. They had even found more footage from the time after his phone had been shut off, showing him going further along his path, hands in his pockets all the way to the station, wherein his trail was lost.

Natsuo was clearly going to the station of his own free will, and he might have just turned off the phone himself or run out of battery.

That was everything Silent Tracker could tell them. At the station, Natsuo's further steps were lost in the massive crowd of people traveling to and from Tokyo on a late Saturday evening. At least now he knew Natsuo hadn't been taken. Why hadn't he turned on his phone again, though?

Why had he turned it off in the first place?

From this information, though, they didn't know if it was opportune to inform the police just yet.

He didn't go to the dormitory himself in the end. One of his colleagues went there instead in civil clothes to prevent the undue attention that would inevitably come with heroes marching into a student dormitory. But that particular trail didn't offer much new information. Nobody knew more than they already did and even searching his room only yielded the information that he must have packed for about two days leave.

"So he probably planned to leave for the weekend, but expected to be back on Monday," concluded Silent Tracker from the information. They all sat in the Todoroki's living area around a table now littered with paper with pieces and scraps of information written on them.

"And we don't know why he didn't come back then. But we know he left of his own free will." That was All Might, looking at the pictures from the camera footage of the street where his phone had last been located.

Endeavor grunted in affirmation. "Something must have happened on Sunday or Monday morning." He glanced over the arrival and departure schedule from the station. "If we assume he went to Yokohama, which is still our best guess, he probably took the train at 21:43 or at 21:59. He would have arrived somewhere between 22:10 and 22:37."

His phone rang again. "Anything new, Inari?"

"Not for now. We requested the phone records, but we won't have them before tomorrow. The same is probably true for the information on this Haruka-girl."

"Is the university squeamish about handing out information?" He knew that might be an obstacle. Without the police, they couldn't demand information be given to them. Most institutions were still very forthcoming, but apparently this university was not one to hand out information on their students without a warrant.

"I fear so. Office hours are over by now. We'll have to wait for tomorrow one way or the other. That aside, we were able to find a few more people who know Natsuo and get a better description on this Haruka-girl. Twenty to twenty-two years old, a bio-major. She doesn't live on campus."

"Where does she live?"

"We don't know yet, but in so far everybody seems to agree on one thing; apparently, she is not very dedicated to her studies. We spoke to another bio-major who was surprised when he found out they had essentially the same schedule, because he claims he never saw her in his lessons."

"So …" He didn't know what to make of this information, yet. "Thanks. Call, if you dig up something else."

"There's also the other matter … you had me look into."

Endeavor hesitated. "Not now. I can't deal with that now. Can you compile a list for me with everything you found?"

"Of course, … but, you should probably give it a quick glance."

Enji looked at the people around him looking at him expectantly. "I … will look over it as soon as I can."

He relayed the new information on Natsuo to the people around him but left out anything on the other matter.

"That … doesn't fit to him, at all," commented Fuyumi. "He has always been dedicated to his studies. Most of his friends are from his classes or the dormitory. How would he even meet that girl, if she doesn't live on campus, doesn't have his same subjects and doesn't even attend her own classes?"

Shoto nodded and Enji had to agree, even if he didn't know the boy quite as well as the other two. "They don't seem to have anything in common, none of his friends know any details and he hasn't even given you any information about her," summarized Endeavor. "We need to find out who she is. But for now …" He glanced at the clock, it was already past midnight. "We should probably call it a day."

"What?" gaped Shoto. "You can't mean it! We still don't know anything! We can't just stop looking."

"You need to rest," said Endeavor calmly.

"If you want to rest, go ahead. I won't just leave it at that!" Shoto balled his fists in helpless anger. "How can you just …"

"Shoto!" Endeavor cut him off. "We all need to sleep. We won't be able to find out anything new for now." He gritted his teeth in anger at the suggestion that he wasn't doing everything he possibly could. "Tomorrow morning, we'll have more information and we need to have our wits together then."

"But …!"

"Your father is right, young Todoroki," said All Might reassuringly. "We'll meet back here tomorrow."

However much he needed his rest, sleep proved elusive, and he assumed he wasn't the only one in the family who couldn't relax. Tomorrow started early, and he made his way to the kitchen to already find his children at the breakfast table eating quietly.

"Anything new?" asked Shoto instead of greeting.

"Not, yet."

Shoto looked at him utterly lost. "What if …?"

"Everything will be fine," interrupted Enji.

"You can't know that!" hissed Shoto angrily.

"No," relented Enji. "But …" He would make sure. Whatever was happening here, he would solve this. He would find Natsuo and bring him back, no matter what!

They didn't talk much after that, until the bell rang and All Might came in. He had Tsukauchi with him, which irritated Endeavor.

"I brought my friend Tsukauchi," declared All Might, "He's a detective at the-"

"We've met," interrupted Enji, shaking hands with the man. "We worked together in Kamino, did you forget?"

"Oh, of course." All Might rubbed his head, a bit embarrassed. "Right. I thought I should bring him along, to look over what we know so far."

Enji thought about throwing both of them out again. He hadn't wanted the police involved quite yet. Maybe it was because he didn't want them to take over the reins of this investigation, pushing him into the position of 'worried family member'. As soon as the police took over the case, he felt like he had to step out of the way and let them take over. Professionally, he knew he probably should do that anyway … but he couldn't just sit around, to wait and trust other people with finding his son.

"Come in," he uttered angrily, holding the door for the two men.

"Toshinori already informed me of the rough details," said Tsukauchi as they moved towards the living area where the evidence so far was assembled. "I would like to take the case," admitted the detective. "I know we have no evidence of a crime yet, but with your position, I think we should take this seriously."

Enji gritted his teeth. "Of course," muttered he. "I'm aware of the implications."

"If this is an attack against you rather than your son or just a misunderstanding, then this might be an attack against your position rather than your person." All Might explained what Endeavor had already understood.

"Or against both you personally and the position. I'm certain you probably have a few enemies?"

"Some," he confirmed. Countless really. He was not a man easily loved. Even his own family at some point might have counted as an enemy.

"But before that … Is there a reason why Natsuo would leave on his own accord?"

They sat down on the couch. Fuyumi brought tea, and Shoto and Enji sat opposite the newcomers. Enji looked a bit unhappy with the question. When he didn't answer immediately, Shoto did instead.

"Don't tell me you want to keep it secret, even now, Dad? I had thought …" he seemed somewhere between disappointed and angry.

"Yes," Enji admitted. "He certainly had reasons. Our family … has had a few issues in the past years." He looked at Shoto shortly, who glowered at him, but didn't offer more information for the newcomers. "We didn't have a good relationship for years. Recently, I tried reconnecting with Natsuo, but he said he needed some time alone. It was the reason we didn't suspect anything when we didn't hear from him for a few days." He frowned. "But he lives alone. So there would be no reason for him to run away like this. Shut down his phone, maybe, but not to leave the dormitory and ditch his studies." Shoto too nodded at that.

"He wouldn't do that," confirmed Fuyumi as she came back with the tea, sitting down with them.

"And you only realized something was off when he didn't call his mother?" asked Tsukauchi. "Could I talk to your wife?"

"Rei is …" he hesitated, "in the hospital. I would rather not worry her."

"Father," said Fuyumi disapprovingly.

"You want to tell her that her son is missing?" asked Enji honestly. Because he himself didn't know what the best decision was here. He hadn't seen her in forever, but the doctors kept him updated on her mental state. According to her healers, her mental state had vastly improved, but was still fragile. They feared even seeing him could set her off on a downward spiral again. Finding out her son was missing, especially when she couldn't offer any information and they couldn't give her any assurances as to his safety, would surely affect her. "Maybe Fuyumi can talk to her again. But I'd rather not have her talk to the police like this. I can't imagine she would take it well."

Fuyumi seemed to concede to that.

"Okay," nodded Tsukauchi. Before he could ask anything else, Enji's phone pinged. He had an email.

"Wait a minute," he asked, opening the attached file. It contained his son's phone records. "We have …" He sent the file to his printer. "We have his phone records."

Shoto immediately dashed for the printer, coming back with a stack of papers and laying them out on the table.

So now the Police is involved!

Honestly I always feel a bit insecure writing Shoto and All Might because they are important main characters and I always fear I'll write them out of chracter.

Also dropping Rei's name here with All Might and Tsukauchi. Because of her situation she'll likely only appear very late in the story and not take up as much of a role as I might have hoped.

Considering her though, I'm curious, because I struggle with what my endgoal will be with this marriagen. What do you think? Can it be salvaged?

So, I hope the investigation is still interesting even if it takes babysteps :D

Until next week (presumably)

Ceies