Flare Signal
chapter seven
Toshinori texted Izuku in the middle of the night.
It was normally a time Izuku would've been asleep, but he'd stayed up to do some research. Then Izuku had gone down the rabbit hole that was hero analysis forums, and he hadn't slept yet.
Buzz.
Toshinori 3:49 AM
Back.
It was only a single word, but the fact that the text existed at all made Izuku leap up out of his chair in excitement. He read it again—though there was little to it—and ran a lap around his room, careful not to make noise lest he woke one of the others.
It'd been close to two weeks since Izuku had heard from Toshinori. After the first week, he'd kept tabs closely on the media for any sighting of All Might. The only articles that had come up were ones that, like Izuku, were speculating about All Might's absence.
No one had been extremely worried, of course. He was Japan's greatest hero, for one, and heroes were often hidden from the public eye when going on missions. The rumors started as they always did. Maybe All Might was tracking down a dangerous criminal or busting a yakuza. Maybe All Might was visiting a secret family, or taking care of an illegitimate son. Maybe All Might had decided to leave society to become a hermit, which Izuku had found screenshotted to show Toshinori later on.
That Toshinori was back and Izuku hadn't heard anything on the news meant that Toshinori had texted Izuku first. The thought, with his screen like a rectangle of light in the dark, made a soft warmth curl in Izuku's chest.
You 4:00 AM
Is everything okay?
Toshinori 4:00 AM
Did I wake you? I'm sorry, I should've waited until morning.
You 4:01 AM
...No, it's okay.
You 4:02 AM
Are you okay though?
Toshinori 4:03 AM
I'm okay. The case didn't go like we wanted, but no bad injuries on our part. Everyone came out okay, which is what matters.
Izuku breathed a long sigh of relief he'd been holding for two weeks.
You 4:06 AM
...I'm glad.
You 4:10 AM
Thank you for telling me
Toshinori 4:12 AM
go to sleep, Akatani. We can talk in the morning. I'll be here.
Izuku clicked his desk lamp off and slipped into bed. He waited until he was under the covers, tucked away safely before he scrolled through the conversation again. Izuku reread it, short as it was, and found himself smiling when he drifted off to sleep.
It was late when he woke up again, the sunlight already harsh through the window. Izuku sat up, realizing he'd fallen asleep with his phone in his hand, though it'd fallen from his grip in the night.
He rubbed at his face and suddenly remembered Toshinori had contacted him in the hazy hours of the early morning. He clicked his phone on but found it out of power, then lunged for his charging cable.
"C'mon," Izuku said, staring as the phone lit up, charging symbol on screen. It'd be a few minutes before he could start it up, so Izuku took the time to wash up and get ready.
The phone booted up easily when he got back. Izuku went straight to his messages, noting that it was already close to noon. He hadn't been woken by anyone, which hopefully meant that it was going to be a quiet day. No one needed him yet, it seemed.
Toshinori had texted him, a simple good morning followed by a query if Izuku was free to meet.
You 11:45 AM
If you're not too tired or anything. We can meet another time.
Toshinori 11:50 AM
I'm fine. I'll introduce you to Naomasa, maybe.
You 11:50 AM
Naomasa?
Toshinori 11:51 AM
My detective friend. He's a human lie detector, if you will.
You 11:53 AM
HE's A WHAT
You 11:53 AM
YOURE INTRODUCING ME
You 11:54 AM
Omg how does it work
You 11:54 AM [Draft]
Can he detect all lies. What if you're only half-lying
Toshinori 11:54 AM
Ask him, not me.
You 11:55 AM
Sorry I got really excited. When do you want to meet
They set up a time for afternoon tea. Izuku started the day off feeling cheerful, humming as he went to the room next door and knocked.
"It's open!"
Izuku peered in. Silver was spread out on her bed, reading a book. She smiled when she saw him.
"Finally woke up, huh?"
Izuku stifled a yawn. "...Yeah. Are the others here?"
"Nah, they all left. Miss Guidance and Bonestealer went off together for something, and Hisashi went to meet, well—"
"Shigaraki?"
Silver raised an eyebrow. "They told you."
"You didn't," Izuku pointed out, "and Hisashi introduced me."
Silver didn't look very sorry. She shrugged. "I didn't think you needed to know. Or wanted to know."
"I guess," Izuku muttered. The mention of Shigaraki still made a chill run down his spine.
"Hey, what are you doing at night? I can hear you through the wall."
Izuku winced. "Sorry, am I being too loud?"
Silver shook her head. "I was up, too. New project or something."
"Or something," Izuku replied, "but… it's a secret."
Silver considered him for a moment. She and Miss Guidance had the same colored eyes, like dark pools Izuku found himself drowning in. He'd never noticed the similarity, but Miss Guidance had flecks of gold in her eyes. A side effect of her Quirk, Silver had told him.
"I won't ask," she decided. "How's prep for U.A.?"
Izuku groaned. "I've trained more in the past few months than I have in my entire life."
"Aw, Bonestealer treating you well?"
Izuku snorted. "That's one way of putting it."
They sat together for a little while before hunger called Izuku away. He drifted into the kitchen, going through the pantry for anything he could eat. Someone had brought bread; Izuku cooked an egg and folded two pieces of bread around it, eating it while sitting on the countertop.
It wasn't a particularly filling breakfast—or lunch—but it was enough to keep Izuku going. He suddenly found himself craving katsudon, just the way Mom made it. He'd tried a couple times to replicate it, but he'd never been able to get it right.
After eating, Izuku checked in with Silver a last time before heading to the train station. He usually liked walking or jogging, but the tea shop Toshinori had selected was a bit far out. Izuku didn't like being late.
Izuku stood close to the edge of the platform as the train rolled in. Smooth and quiet, it pulled to a stop and buffeted Izuku's hair back.
He waited for a few people to get off and then squeezed in. He found a place to stand and held onto the railing.
Someone bumped into him. Izuku managed to keep ahold of the railing, but he stumbled slightly.
"Oh!" a girl said, brown eyes wide. "I'm so sorry!"
Izuku shifted, uncomfortable. "No, uh… it's fine. No problem."
The girl had large brown eyes set in a soft face, framed with shoulder-length brown hair. She looked kind, maybe excitable, right about Izuku's age.
"Where are you headed to?" she asked.
"Afternoon tea," Izuku answered shortly. He swept his gaze away from her, trying to find another open space, but the train was packed with people. He didn't like this—talking to strangers, having attention on him. The last time it'd happened, Izuku had been made the successor of the number one hero.
With a friendly girl on the train? Izuku wasn't going to take any chances.
It looked like he was out of luck, though. He sighed, counted to three, looked at the girl's smile, and gave up.
"What… what about you?" Izuku tried cautiously.
The girl's face lit up. "Headed to the library," she told him. "I'm studying for the U.A. entrance exams?"
"You're, um, applying?"
"Yeah! I'm determined to get in."
"Uh, me, too."
The girl's eyes widened. "Really?"
Izuku was trying not to think about how close they were standing together or how invested she suddenly looked in the conversation. Izuku wasn't a conversationalist. The longer this lasted, the less Izuku would know what to say. Then he'd be reduced to stumbling over his words and a lot of nodding and yes-ing.
"Y-yeah."
"That's so cool! Are you applying to the hero course, too?"
He nodded.
"Hey—maybe we'll see each other in the entrance exams. It's less than two months away, huh?"
"Crazy, ri- right?"
"I'm super nervous, but I'm sure we'll both make it!"
The train slowed. Izuku shifted easily, catching his balance, but the girl was caught off guard. Before he knew what he was doing, Izuku grabbed her arm, keeping her from sliding too far or falling.
"Sorry," he said, letting go immediately.
"No need to apologize—thanks!" She smiled at him. Behind her, the doors hissed as they opened, and Izuku realized it was his stop.
"Oh, uh, gotta go, bye," he said hastily, stepping around her.
"Hey, wait!"
Izuku stepped onto the platform but looked back, catching the girl's eyes.
"I'll see you in the hero course."
The train doors shut. The girl reached up and grabbed a hanging strap, but she waved at him as the train pulled away from the stop. The last thing he caught of her was a smile, and feeling light, Izuku found himself smiling, too.
Toshinori and his detective friend were painfully easy to spot, standing outside on the curb waiting. Toshinori waved when he spotted Izuku, and Izuku waved back, crossing the road to reach them.
"This is Akatani," Toshinori introduced, "and young Akatani, this is my friend, Detective Tsukauchi."
Lie detector, Izuku's mind supplied him before he could open his mouth. Instead he nodded and smiled.
"Nice to meet you, detective," he said. Tsukauchi smiled, taking Izuku's hand.
"It's nice to meet you, too."
The three of them stepped inside, and in a blur, Izuku found himself seated with a cup of steaming tea in front of him.
"Applying to U.A., aren't you?"
"That's the plan," Izuku said. His mind drifted briefly back to the girl he'd met on the train.
Tsukauchi smiled. "A good goal. Hero work wasn't quite for me, but you should've seen Toshinori—"
Toshinori, sitting to Izuku's right, choked. He flapped a hand in Tsukauchi's face.
"Naomasa, don't—"
"Go on," Izuku invited, "I'm interested."
"Naomasa."
"Lighten up, old man," Tsukauchi said, and Izuku muffled a shriek of laughter. Toshinori coughed, recovering to glare at his friend.
"Old man? I'm not old."
"Alright," Tsukauchi said placatingly, but Izuku thought he caught a wink directed at him.
Toshinori frowned. "Hey. You're not old until you've reached Gran Torino's age. That's old."
"And look at how well he's doing."
"Gran Torino?"
The reactions of the two men were vastly different. Tsukauchi looked faintly bemused. Toshinori looked like he wanted to melt through the ground.
"He's a retired pro hero," Tsukauchi said after a moment. "But you wouldn't know that being with him. Very energetic, that one."
"Energetic, ha," Toshinori gasped. "He's worse than Chiyo."
Izuku filed the information away for later. Gran Torino, at the moment, looked like he'd be fun to hold a conversation with.
Tsukauchi patted Toshinori on the shoulder and nodded at Izuku.
"You'll meet him one day," he said, glancing at Toshinori, "actually, I bet you'll meet him relatively soon. With that Quirk of yours, you know—"
Toshinori buried his head in his arms. "No…"
Izuku raised his eyebrows. "You know?"
"I know."
"He knows," Toshinori said, voice muffled.
"Toshinori here is actually quite bad at keeping secrets, if you didn't know. I'm surprised the whole world doesn't know everything about him."
Izuku sipped at his tea and then cocked his head.
"So, your Quirk…" he started.
"Off he goes," Toshinori muttered. Izuku ignored him.
"How does it work?" Izuku blurted. "Sorry, I'm really into Quirk theory, see, and I've heard of lie-detecting Quirks, but they all work kind of differently? What counts as a lie? Is it, how accurate is it?"
Tsukauchi chuckled. He didn't seem thrown by Izuku's flurry of words, which was a nice change. Instead he only seemed pleasantly surprised.
"I can tell when people lie," he started, resting his chin on his hand. "It's fairly accurate. My sister has a similar Quirk, but hers is contact-based and more guesswork, since it's based on physical and sometimes visual cues. But my Quirk categorizes what people say as truth or lies."
"But isn't there a grey area? What if they're not outright lying? Or what if they're telling the truth, but it's not the whole truth? How does your Quirk work then?"
Tsukauchi's eyes shone with the challenge. He was a detective. Like Izuku, he had to like thinking, had to like exploring and pushing at the boundaries constantly. Already Izuku felt like they were beginning to understand each other in a different way than him and Toshinori—neither, of course, were bad things, but it was refreshing to find someone who asked and answered as many questions as Izuku did.
"Half-truths are harder to discern. Technicalities get muddy, but usually my Quirk will mark them as truth if the lie is small, insignificant, or closer to the truth."
Izuku was brimming with energy. "It's based on what people say, right? That's so useful! Is it hard to process?"
"Sometimes."
A waiter passed, offering a bowl of fortune cookies. Izuku took one, cracking it open as he thought.
"What about if someone believes something is true?" He waved a hand, trying to explain himself. "Like, um, I don't know, if someone dies, but the person you're talking to doesn't know that, and so they say that the other person is alive? Does that count as a lie?"
"It's situational, but for the most part, no. My Quirk marks it as true."
Izuku mulled the thought over.
"Wow," he said finally, "pretty cool."
Tsukauchi smiled gently. Izuku liked his smile; it was soft and kind, and from the hint of wrinkles around his eyes Izuku thought he smiled often.
"Thank you," he said, "though I think we might've confused Toshinori over there."
Izuku ducked his head, blushing. He'd almost forgotten about his mentor in his train of thought.
"So—sorry it was just so cool," he started. Toshinori snapped back into focus and laughed.
"You're excited," he said, "so it's fine. Not personally something I find riveting, but I'm glad the two of you can find conversation in each other."
"I could go on forever," Izuku warned Tsukauchi. He stuck half of the fortune cookie in his mouth. "Just a heads up. You might regret it."
"I'd be glad for it," Tsukauchi replied. "Get a good fortune?"
Izuku plucked out the strip of paper, reading over the front before flipping it over.
"The man on the top of the mountain did not fall there," he read. "Huh."
Izuku stuck it in his pocket, saving it for later. He ate the other half of his fortune cookie.
"Interesting," Toshinori said. He cracked his own fortune cookie open. "Enjoy the good luck a companion brings you. Mm, think I will."
Izuku's phone buzzed in his pocket. As Toshinori and Tsukauchi slipped into an easy conversation, Izuku checked his phone.
BS 2:31 PM
Silver said you were out. Come back for a training session.
BS 2:32 PM
I've got a surprise.
"Uh oh," Izuku murmured to himself. He didn't like surprises. Bonestealer, on the other hand, loved surprises.
"Everything alright?"
Izuku hummed distractedly. He stood, chair scraping back.
"Sorry, I think I have to go." He bowed to his companions. "Thank you for the tea… it was nice to meet you, Detective Tsukauchi."
Tsukauchi stood and shook Izuku's hand. "Likewise."
Izuku dipped his head in Toshinori's direction. "I'll see you, I guess. I'm glad you're alright."
Then Izuku hurried away.
A surprise training session. Izuku felt his body pulse in memory. He wasn't really looking forward to another training session with Bonestealer. It'd be another brutal afternoon, he supposed.
Despite his trepidation, Izuku wasted no time. He returned to the base and took the stairs down into the basement where Bonestealer was waiting.
At first, Izuku didn't see Bonestealer at all. Instead he found himself staring at a large hunk of twisted metal, light glinting off a dirty surface. He took a step back and tried to make sense of it.
There was a panel, and there, joints… a robot.
"Like it?" Bonestealer called.
Izuku looked up, craning his neck. Bonestealer was perched on the robot's head, kicking their legs back and forth in the air. They moved gracefully, leaping from part to part until they landed in front of Izuku.
"Uh… sure?"
"I did some research, see," Bonestealer said. "For their entrance exams, U.A. uses robots for the best simulation in the hero course. I don't know what kind specifically or how they work, but I figured they're all robots, right? In the end, they're all the same."
Izuku wasn't sure that was completely true, but he thought he understood where Bonestealer was going with it.
The robot Bonestealer had brought (found? Salvaged? Built? Izuku didn't know) was a little over two meters, twice Izuku's height. It stood close to the ceiling. It didn't look like anything Izuku imagined from U.A. This one was slightly rusted, and though Izuku didn't know much about robotics, he thought it looked outdated. Vaguely humanoid, it was missing a hand, but otherwise it seemed operational.
"You're going to need to be able to take down one of these," Bonestealer said. "And you're going to need to be able to do it as fast as possible. For the next few weeks, we're going to work in maneuvering with and around it, what things to break, what parts you can use, and how to win."
Izuku nodded slowly.
He didn't always appreciate Bonestealer's methods of training. But Izuku knew the next two weeks would be valuable in landing him a spot in the hero course.
"With a Quirk like yours, at least for the exam, it's going to be useless, kid."
"Yeah." Izuku blew out a breath. "I know."
"Illusions won't do shit against robots," Bonestealer continued.
Izuku nodded. He'd known that. Even if the robots could be tricked, Izuku wasn't sure he could concentrate on a full illusion while fighting at the same time. It wasn't practical.
"So… you're going to have to think fast."
While they'd been talking, Bonestealer had retreated to the corner of the room.
It was the only warning Izuku got before the robot whirred. Pale yellow eyes lit up as the head turned and locked on its target.
"Holy," Izuku shouted, diving to the side. The robot slammed a massive fist down where Izuku had been, but quickly recovered.
Izuku dodged, dancing around the robot. It was bigger than him. Fast.
He wasn't strong enough to beat it through sheer strength alone, though Izuku figured he could if he used One for All.
The arm came down again. Izuku skidded as the force sent him back, then threw himself forward. He clambered up the robot's arm. It shifted, trying to throw him off.
Izuku screeched as he slid, scrabbling at smooth metal. He managed to catch his fingers in a groove and was left hanging.
The robot swung around again. Izuku hooked his feet into the ridge of a plate and crawled onto its shoulder.
A hand arced back. Izuku couldn't move in time, and giant metal fingers crushed his foot. A burning pain shot through him, but Izuku dragged himself out of reach, clinging to the robot's neck.
Izuku gritted his teeth against the pain, wrapping his legs around the robot's neck to keep balance as he pulled a knife from the sheath at his waist. He worked the back panel off.
Underneath the silvery metal was a mesh of colored wires and lights. He thought back, scraping together the little knowledge he had, and found himself going blank with how to disable it.
Didn't matter, Izuku thought, catching a glimpse of Bonestealer's face.
"Fuck it," he hissed. Then Izuku drove the knife into the wires. Something sparked, heat against his palm. Underneath him, the robot shuddered and slowed to a stop.
"Not bad, kid," Bonestealer called.
Izuku carefully let himself down. When he landed, pain shot through his foot; Izuku crumpled, yelping.
Bonestealer studied Izuku as he wiped his eyes.
"Take care of that," they said finally, nodding at his foot. "We'll be back tomorrow. Don't be late."
Bonestealer left him stunned. He'd expected them to demand for Izuku to get up and continue training. Instead Izuku got up and limped over to the wall, slumping against it. He tested his weight on his bad foot and found it didn't look good.
Still, after Izuku poked at it for a minute, he figured it wasn't broken. He limped his way back to his room and wrapped it in bandages, then found a bag of frozen waffles in the fridge to pop on top of it.
Izuku went to get his phone and found his fingers touching something papery to the touch. It was the fortune from the fortune cookie.
The man on top of the mountain did not fall there.
Izuku considered it for a moment and took out his secret notebook. Carefully, he taped it on the inside of the front cover. There was something about the quote Izuku liked, though he wasn't sure what.
Then he put his notebook away and turned to the various textbooks and papers scattered about his room. With nothing else to do, Izuku figured, it was time to get back to work. U.A. was waiting.
Khhz—khhhhrzz… … kr—
A sound like static. Garbled, unintelligible voices.
"—changing. Something's different."
"Different?"
"It takes longer, now. Far longer than it should and far longer than it used to."
"Should we do anything?"
Footsteps. "No… for now, we wait and see—"
Khhhz… kh- khhrr—
A note: yes. I know it's Akatani Mikumo. Yes, I use Mikumi. Thanks.
