A stanley blade sliced across thick tape with ease and Izuku immediately peeled back the cardboard box lid to continue with unpacking his belongings in his new dorm room. He'd moved in two days prior, but was now down to his final box.
He sighed over in the direction of his All Might themed clock that read 5:30 AM. Sleeping hadn't come easy for him in the past few nights.
While he was glad that U.A had dealt with the dorm situation really quickly, he still felt a wave of wistful homesickness that made everything feel worse than it was.
He didn't want to be here. Or stuck in some temporary house with a foster-family.
He wanted to be back at his own home, with his mother.
But she was going to be in hospital for a while, due to her fighting a frightening infection that was so serious, Izuku couldn't even go and visit her.
Sepsis, the doctors had called it.
It even sounded nasty. When Izuku had researched it on the internet, he'd instantly regretted it and shut off his laptop.
Everything was going so wrong and it was hard to physically and mentally keep up with everything. Izuku truly felt like his head was about to explode with all the pressure he was currently trapped under. He just hoped things would get better in the long run.
There was still the mystery of the ominous collection of text messages… Obviously he'd gone straight to his teachers and Principal Nedzu after receiving them. The police were alerted and he had to sit with several officers and explain the same story over and over again, like he had set himself on repeat. He hadn't particularly liked being in their company, maybe it was all in his mind but from the odd looks the officers shot him, he felt like he was being questioned like a suspect.
A statement had been collected, the decision to move Izuku straight to the dorms had been immediately set for his protection due to his mother's recent attack. The authorities hadn't elaborated much on the case but Izuku had a feeling there was more to the story than they were letting on.
But then, there was more.
Like he'd predicted, he had been shoved back into counselling where he had to wear a forced smile while overly chirpy people tried coaxing him to talk about problems he didn't want to share.
"It'll help," the teachers and governors had said in order to try and sugar-coat the fact they knew he was going through a lot of problems.
It was utter hell.
What was he even supposed to say?
'Hi, I'm Izuku and not only can I see dead people but now my mother's been attacked and some asshole threatened me via text message. But that's not all! I've now been forced to come here when I'd rather be back at my own home! Yay!'
Thankfully the session had only been an hour long and he practically skipped out of the session like the world's happiest person. The reception area smelled wonderfully like fresh coffee beans and Izuku decided he'd treat himself to a mocha for dragging himself here in the first place.
"Stupid fucking skin, God damn it!" a voice snarled that halted Izuku from digging around his pocket for change. Slumped in one of the bright plush chairs, was a young man furiously digging at his face with one hand while a console was held in the other.
The flashing console was set on pause, a golden-haired hero beaming back at him in pixel form as Izuku felt a swell of recognition.
"Hey, that's a classic!" the teen found himself calling over before he could stop himself. "United States of Smash, right? I used to play it all the time when I was little."
The young man on the seat lowered his scratching hand, shooting the teen with a scrutinising glare as his chapped lips morphed into a line. "Uh, and you are?" he rudely demanded.
"Oh!" Izuku's face flushed peony. He bowed his head, "Sorry! I'm Izuku Midoriya, nice to meet you."
"Tenko Shimura," the other male grunted, "well that's what the State called me anyway."
Izuku hummed, unsure of how to respond to that. The young man was dressed in clothes that hung off of his incredibly slim frame, red patches spread across his face and neck which were obvious signs of irritation. Even the air around him felt tense, like it couldn't even be cut through with the world's sharpest blade.
Seemingly unfazed by the fact Izuku was staring dumbly at him, Tenko spoke up again;
"So what brings you here?"
Izuku shrugged his shoulders, "Family stuff."
It wasn't a lie. He didn't particularly want to elaborate either, but the answer seemed to satisfy the lighter-haired male as he barked out a jagged laugh.
"Ha, ain't that the fucking truth."
Jesus Christ. Izuku was finding this guy difficult to hold a conversation with.
He hoped to heaven that he didn't sound this way when talking with other people.
"Well, I, uh-" the boy shifted uncomfortably.
"Got places to be?" Tenko answered smoothly, setting the console aside with a raised brow. Izuku nodded. A bit too quickly.
Tenko eyed him with slight suspicion before shrugging, "Whatever. Nice to meet you, I guess."
Izuku felt a squeeze of sudden guilt. From the sound of it, this young man had heard that very same phrase countless times more than likely. While he was rather stiff in personality, Izuku wanted to at least try and make a friend. Especially seeing as he'd be coming here for the unforeseeable future.
"Do you come here often?" Izuku finally found his voice again, cringing slightly at how small his voice sounded.
The older male regarded Izuku with an expression that screamed; Well, duh!
"I've been coming here for years. At least it's a place that wants to see me. Story of my fucking life in all honesty."
"Y-yeah, I guess I can relate a little," Izuku shrugged his shoulders with a sigh. As awkward as it was talking to a person as guarded as Tenko, Izuku had a sense of familiarity which he found impossible to shake off.
"You?" Tenko snorted.
Izuku bristled at Tenko's response.
Oh, good. He's not taking me seriously.
.-.-.-.-.
.-.-.-.-.
"Some weirdo sent me random pictures last night," Mina Ashido groaned, swinging back on her chair. Noticing a potential danger, Tsuyu Asui pushed Mina's seat back so that all four legs met the floor.
"You too?" Tsuyu blinked, leaning forward. She held up her own phone that was covered in various frog-themed stickers. "I got the same thing."
"I called Kaminari last night thinking it was some dumb prank," Jiro muttered from across the classroom, tangling the electric pink cables of her earphones around her finger. She then jabbed her thumb in the blond's direction, "But he claimed to not know what I was talking about."
"Yeah because I didn't," Kaminari huffed, shaking his head.
"Well I got weird pictures too, dude," Kirishima shrugged, taking out his phone and showing the message he'd received. It was a close up, pixelated image of something round with square shapes and ridges around it. It had flecks of dry dirt spattered across the shapes which made it look a little bit like the shell of a tortoise.
"Weird," Kaminari hummed, examining the photo, "I didn't get one of those."
"Well I did," another voice chimed in, belonging to Fumikage Tokoyami.
"As did I," Mezo Shouji added.
Izuku glanced over in the direction of the discussion taking place. Was this supposed to be important or something?
In all fairness, everybody had been on edge with the recent news reports of Yo Shindo, so in a way it was kind of understandable.
"Okay, let's test something out," Kaminari muttered, walking to the front of the class. "Put your hands up if you got weird texts last night."
Momo Yaoyorozu lifted a dainty hand up, followed by Tenya Iida and Ochaco Uraraka. Sure enough, more members of 1-A followed suit which left Kaminari and Izuku.
Not that Izuku cared in the slightest but he wasn't going to admit that to his friends. Besides, two other members of the class, Toru Hagakure and Mashirao Ojiro were absent today and thus, couldn't add to the number of hands. Their homeroom tutor hadn't even mentioned the fact that they were both missing from class, which was strange but maybe something had happened?
Ojiro and Hagakure were in a relationship so perhaps they'd been caught truanting from school?
"It's probably some jerk who's trying to mess with us," Minoru Mineta wailed from behind Izuku's own desk. "Like that weird Monoma kid. He always has it in for us!"
"Yeah but how could he get our numbers?" Kirishima piped up.
"I don't know, maybe Tetsutetsu's in on it too?" Jiro cut in pointedly, looking over at Kirishima with a prickly glare.
Kirishima immediately took offence to this; "He'd never do something so unmanly-"
Izuku sighed and rolled his eyes, tuning out of the debate. Kirishima was friends with 1-B's Tetsutetsu but that kid found Monoma's aggravating behaviour irritating like everybody else, so the chances of him being involved were extremely slim.
I mean, it's not like they were pictures of-
"Dead bodies?" a voice whispered in his ear.
Ignore it.
Izuku ground his teeth together, ignoring the buzz of fear in his mind. They were becoming more frequent, but why? After all this time, they barely appeared to Izuku.
But ever since he'd met Yagi-san…
His hands tightened against his desk. Had he been seeing this all wrong? Had the spirits been trying to warn him about something?
.-.-.-.-.
.-.-.-.-.
Izuku stared up at the ceiling of his dorm room, listening to the hum of the air condition rearing to life from across the hallway.
Tenko Shimura.
That name… It was familiar.
Shimura.
He'd hear that name before, he was sure of it...
And then, realisation smacked him like a semi-truck.
He sat up with a gasp.
Nana Shimura!
The female spirit who had been hovering around Yagi-san like a secondary shadow. She had spoken to Izuku, wishing to communicate with the blond male.
Maybe Tenko could shed some kind of light on the connection between Nana and Yagi-san? Family seemed to be a bitter subject for the young man, but maybe he'd understand if Izuku shared his own personal history?
It was worth a shot. What the worst thing that could happen in the long run?
He made a mental note to go straight to Tenko next time he saw the young man at the counselling centre. With that sorted, he started his next investigation: Toshinori Yagi.
Typing in Yagi-san's full name into the search bar almost caused him to drop his phone in complete surprise. Familiar beaming faces grinned back at him, one after another while Izuku suddenly felt like the biggest idiot ever.
STAR OF HIT SHOW RETIRES AFTER FINAL SEASON
Yagi-san was the famous icon, All Might? The man who made so many people's childhoods with his daring deeds?
Holy shit, he felt stupid now. He knew he'd seen him before.
How hadn't he recognised him?
The articles listed were dated from a number of years ago, so they weren't very helpful. Izuku brushed a thumb along the other results. It was weird though. During the credits at the end of each episode, the actor who played All Might was always credited as T. Torino.
Maybe it was a name to protect his privacy? Izuku could understand that.
The show was a MAJOR hit for years, after all. It made a lot of sense.
TOSHINORI YAGI TALKS ALL MIGHT AND POTENTIAL REBOOT
Izuku blinked at the article, mind already wandering far off into the distance. There was going to be a reboot?
Focus, dummy!
Izuku shook his head harshly and brought up a new tab to look for the All Might fan-site. It was run by the team who had worked on the original show, so perhaps contacting them via fan mail would be the best way to reach out to Yagi-san?
HELLO! WELCOME TO MIGHTY MAIL!
Please fill out you questions and/or greetings in the contact box below. Remember to follow our rules and guidelines or you will be suspended from contacting this site.
Hello, my name is Izuku Midoriya and I am sixteen years old. I grew up watching this show and still love it to this day. I'm writing to you with hopes to talk with Toshinori Yagi. We met a while ago in hospital while I was visiting my mother.
If it's possible, please forward this email to Yagi-san. He'll know who I am.
Staring into the bright, blaring screen with newfound hope, Izuku realised it was just a matter of waiting it out now.