Had it been fair to make such a critical assumption about Kacchan?
Izuku chewed his food slowly, staring deeply into his rice bowl like it was the most fascinating thing in the world. Several children ran past in the hallway beside the kitchen and he lowered his head all the more, praying nobody would try to speak to him.
The previous night had been... Stressful to say the least and it had taken a mental toll on him. He hoped that he wouldn't be shoved back into group therapy after this whole mess.
Child Protective Services and the police had arrived to escort him to a temporary Foster Home while U.A's Principal Nedzu made preparations to move Izuku into U.A High School's dormitory building until his mother recovered.
The dorms were a last resort for students who had a long way to travel or came from working class families who were struggling financially. Izuku's case didn't exactly fit the usual criteria but it was the best option and Izuku had been happy to accept the offer.
He'd already been back at his apartment and packed a few things to take with him to the dorm and he hadn't been eager to hang around the empty home. The silence gave him a feeling of great discomfort and he could barely hold back his emotions upon seeing the signs of struggle during his mother's attack.
As devastated as he was, he was so thankful that she was still here.
The television from the Home's lounge blared in the background, the fuzzy sound system broadcasting what sounded like the news.
They were talking about something that sounded important; Ketsubutsu Academy High School, he thought he'd heard being mentioned. Izuku knew that school all too well, with it being the rival school to U.A during their monthly events that included athletics competitions and literacy contests.
Ketsubutsu, like U.A, was a famous school for their top performing student records. Izuku mused that whatever the reporter was talking about probably had something to do with some kind of major event the school had recently won or something along those lines. The male reporter was blathering on, using all sorts of long words that Izuku didn't care to hear this early in the morning.
His mind was still occupied with trying to get over his late-night visit back to his apartment with the police.
Izuku had truly felt completely numb after walking around his deserted family home. It had physically hurt watching his guardians lock the doors and as they drove away, he had finally allowed himself to break down in the back of the car.
The eerie silence and the lack of the familiar warmth and welcoming air about the apartment gave off a haunting feeling.
It honestly felt to him like somebody had died there.
Thank God that hadn't happened.
Whenever he thought about wandering the apartment's seclusive structure, it gave him a sense of complete uneasiness which wasn't a nice feeling. At all.
He just wanted to go back home and see the warm, welcoming smile of his mother again.
.-.-.-.-.
.-.-.-.-.
"Hey, you hear the news?"
Izuku glanced up from his phone, attention on Eijiro Kirishima, Denki Kaminari and Hanta Sero talking in the corner of 1-A's classroom.
"Yeah, man. His poor family," Sero acknowledged with a nod of his head.
Kaminari cocked a brow up, "Uh no, I didn't. What happened?"
Both Kirishima and Sero exchanged an uncomfortable glance before Kirishima opened his mouth to answer;
"Yo Shindo's body was found this morning just a few yards away from Ketsubutsu's main gate."
Izuku almost dropped his phone in surprise.
Yo Shindo was a highly intelligent student who always finished in the top three for any event he took part in. His strategic ability had always been something to truly admire. Now the three boys were saying he was dead?
Had that really happened?
The three boys were all friendly members of Izuku's class, there was no way they'd make up something so horrible.
"It's not looking good," Sero shook his head. "Can't imagine what they're going through."
"Yeah, real messed up stuff," Kirishima frowned, digging both hands in his blazer pockets. "Whoever did this was so unmanly. Shindo never hurt anybody in his life."
Which was a true statement; Shindo did have a cocky side to him and he schemed a lot during their school competitions...But it was never malicious, he just liked to have strategies to win. Nobody could fault him for that.
Odd how his mother had been attacked yesterday and now a new body had been discovered. Though they hadn't been friends, he was student from a different school that Izuku had been familiar with. Could there be a connection?
"Was anything mentioned about strange writing carved into the skin?" Izuku stood up to face them before his brain could even process what he was doing.
All three boys turned on him, all looking puzzled by the quiet boy's question. Izuku immediately felt his cheeks flare up when he realised how loud he'd been. Several other classmates glanced in his direction and he suddenly wanted the ground to swallow him whole.
"Uh, don't think so," Sero answered with a shrug, thankfully noticing Izuku's nervous disposition and choosing to ignore it with a sympathetic smile.
"Yeah, same with me," Kirishima agreed before his face morphed into an expression of concern. "How have you been doing, Midoriya? We know you're going through a lot right now but we're all here for you if you ever needed to talk."
As nervous as Izuku had been with his new classmates on their first day, he was relieved that they were nothing like the students from Aldera Junior High. He was mainly ignored by everybody in Aldera, due to most of the kids being freaked out by his random outbursts in the past. Meanwhile, the U.A students were all friendly faces which felt...surreal to the green-haired teen if he had to be truly honest with himself.
Despite this, he had gotten quite close with all of the members of 1-A. However, he wasn't in the best mood to start socialising due to the evening prior.
"I-I appreciate it," Izuku gave the three boys a wobbly smile before returning back to his phone. He hoped he had sounded as grateful as he felt, the other teens seemed to understand and went back to their own conversation which was a godsend to Izuku.
Allowing himself to let out a tiny sigh in relief, he then quickly logged into his phone internet and immediately began searching for the latest news stories. With a few clicks, he found what he was searching for;
BODY FOUND OUTSIDE MUSUTAFU SCHOOL GROUNDS
There were a lot more articles listed below the top search.
HIGH SCHOOL SET TO CLOSE WHILE INVESTIGATION GOES UNDERWAY
KETSUBUTSU HIGH SCHOOL STUDENT IDENTIFIED AS SECOND YEAR
Izuku clicked on the third article that identified the victim's name. Scrolling down, he noticed a part of the document that made him feel slightly queasy upon reading it.
The teen was pronounced dead on sight. Along with various stab wounds, a large slash-wound was found across his neck which authorities have confirmed to be the cause of this tragic outcome. Our thoughts and prayers are with this boy's family.
Izuku chewed on his bottom lip, a nagging thought in the back of the head about whether or not these two major incidents had been connected or not. It was just weird that both attacks happened around the same areas and had occurred several hours after one another.
Maybe he should stop looking into it and leave the investigation to the police. After all, he still had the undead clamouring for his attention so he had enough to deal with as it was.
Still… Izuku glanced at the news article one last time before closing it completely and placing his phone back into his bag.
Perhaps it would be best to not look further into these things.
His phone buzzed from inside the back and he let out a small sigh, deciding whether or not to check it. From the singular motion, he'd probably either received a notification from the device or a text message.
It'd make sense to leave it until after class but then again…
What if it was his mother checking in on him?
With that in mind, Izuku immediately snatched his bag from the ground and rummaged around inside the front pockets until his fingers stroked the familiar plastic phone case.
It was a text message, judging from the little blinking envelope icon. Izuku unlocked the device with an apology ready to write to explain that his teacher would be arriving shortly.
However, the message wasn't from his mother.
Frowning slightly at the UNKNOWN NUMBER across his phone screen, Izuku hovered his finger over the touchpad before quickly pressing on the Read button.
Hi Deku.
Izuku froze in his seat, his entire body going rigid.
What the hell was this?
The only person that had ever called him Deku was...
He winced at the memory, knowing that he should've probably just ignored the mystery texter but his fingers acted before his brain could catch up.
Who is this? How did you get this number?
Another message immediately appeared under the first one;
You'll see soon enough.
Was that supposed to be some kind of threat?
Swallowing thickly, Izuku stared at the screen completely frozen in place. What on earth did you say in response to something like that?
Oh one more thing. You know what happened with your mother?
The teen inhaled slowly. Three dots appeared, indicating the person was typing.
Should he switch the phone off?
But then it buzzed for the final time and he bit down on his bottom lip, dreading whatever was about to be said.
And he was right to feel anxious about it;
That bitch had it coming.