A few nights prior.
There was a light rapping against the front door of a house before it creaked open slowly. Stepping inside and removing her shoes, was Toru Hagakure. She dropped her handbag beside her shoes and made her way towards the kitchen, drawn to the singular light source like a moth to a flame.
"Hey, Ojiro! I brought the movie just like you said-" the girl paused, peeking around the kitchen door with a confused blink. "Ojiro?"
Her socks slid slightly along the vinyl flooring and she set down the DVD on one of the kitchen worktops. The floorboards creaked slowly and softly from the ceiling above her and she stifled a small giggle.
Was Ojiro trying to play a joke on her?
It wasn't like him at all but she wondered if he was trying to appease to her playful side?
If that was the case, that was ridiculously sweet…
"Ojiro, are you hiding from me?" she smirked, trying to play along as she covered her mouth when she heard feet hurrying along the upstairs carpet.
She figured she'd definitely have to go along with it now.
As she made her way up the stairs, her ears picked up on what sounded like a faucet that was still running. It was just a quiet sound of water droplets hitting the sink but it was hard to ignore once she had noticed it.
Another way to try and make it more challenging?
Hagakure sniggered, rolling her eyes. Ojiro had obviously swallowed a fun-pill to be up for something like this. Her boyfriend was extremely reserved and rather socially awkward, so she was slightly touched that he was willing to try and mess around like this for her sake. Out of character perhaps, but still cute.
"Honestly Ojiro," she smiled, shaking her head fondly as she reached the top of the stairs. She screwed her face up at the dripping sound coming from the bathroom and sighed. The sound was starting to get pretty annoying…
She padded along the soft carpet, her hand gripping the handle of the ajar bathroom door. Only to jump out of her skin when the lights all turned off and left her in complete darkness, aside from the thin strip of light that the bathroom provided.
Alright, so he wasn't in the bathroom…
Although, she wasn't very fond of the dark. Ojiro knew that so why turn out the lights? In such a creepy way too…
Shaking her head and putting it down to nothing, she decided to check his bedroom first. Ojiro had a massive closet in there so it was probably the best place he could think of hiding from his seeking girlfriend.
Well…
Hagakure hoped he was hiding in his room as she didn't feel right entering his parents' bedroom without permission.
"You gave yourself away!" she goaded, sneaking into the bedroom. "It's obvious that you're-" she thrust open the closet and was met with nothing but empty shadows staring back at her. "Oh."
He's not here?
But she could've sworn-
There was a sudden sound of loud running that was followed by the slam of a door outside and Hagakure silenced a small yelp with both hands.
"Okay, okay. You win!"
After that occurence, she was met with absolute silence and she had finally decided that she was finished with this game completely. It wasn't remotely funny anymore. The dripping sound was getting louder and she was seriously starting to feel scared, even more when her mind inputted something that made her skin crawl;
What if it wasn't Ojiro?
She bit down on her lip hard while chiding herself internally.
Of course it was him!
"Ojiro, I give up," she called, trying to hide the annoyance in her voice as her heart thudded roughly against her chest.
When there was no response, she growled and stomped across the hallway once again and glared at the bathroom door that was now closed.
"Ojiro, seriously. It's not funny anymore."
When he didn't answer her again, she swore under her breath and thrust open the door, only to freeze in terror at what she saw in the mirror staring back at her.
I ALWAYS WIN had been written across the glass in a deep crimson that looked almost like…
Drip, drip, drip.
She slowly turned her head and immediately found the cause of the loud dripping she'd originally heard earlier when she'd climbed up the stairs.
In complete terror, the phone slipped from her hand and clattered to the ground. Unable to comprehend what or why this had happened, Hagakure finally found her voice and screamed.
As loudly as she ever had in her entire life.
.-.-.-.-.
.-.-.-.-.
"Ugh, I can't believe they were sold out of mochi," Ochaco Uraraka grumbled, trailing along the footpath with Izuku and Tenya Iida. She had been looking forward to a sweet treat after weeks of cramming for their upcoming exams and had left the stall greatly disappointed.
They'd been granted permission to visit some of the market stalls nearby the school, the staff had been reluctant to let Izuku go along with Iida and Uraraka but they'd all promised to stay close to each other.
Izuku had only agreed to come along because of Ochaco's pleading. Ever since he'd received those text messages, he had little to no comfort in venturing outside of U.A's gates.
Right now, it felt like eyes were on him with each step he took along the winding path home.
Watching and waiting...
"Perhaps we could make another stop tomorrow afternoon if the teachers allow us?" Iida proposed, chopping his hands in the air for erratic effect. His words had snapped Izuku out of his inner monologue which the green-haired teen was silently grateful for. "Kaminari can come with us this time. Are you good with that, Midoriya?"
"Hm?" Izuku looked up from his phone with a sheepish smile, "Y-yeah. Sure thing."
Uraraka's brow furrowed and she glanced over at Iida, both of them sharing a look with each other before the girl decided to speak up; "Hey, Mido?"
"Yeah?" Izuku turned his focus on the girl, slipping his phone into his trouser pocket.
"Are you..." She suddenly looked a little uncomfortable, "doing okay?" It was directed at him but she made it sound more like she was asking herself.
The corner's of Izuku's mouth lifted and he gave her a genuine smile. He knew how Uraraka could be when dealing with serious issues due to her own family's financial troubles. He wasn't dealing with adults who thought they knew better, he was spending time with his friends.
"I will be."
Which wasn't a lie, technically...
Uraraka paused when a cheerful ringtone began to play, indicating that she was receiving a call. "Sorry, guys. Lemme take this a sec," she murmured, quickly setting her things down and fishing the phone out from the front pocket of her bag.
Izuku squinted at the caller; YAOMOMO
He made a small face, it was weird that Yaoyorozu would be calling. Didn't she have evening classes that her parents made her attend?
"Hey Yaoyorozu, how are-" Uraraka's chirpy tone faltered and her chestnut eyes morphed into a look of anxiousness. "Momo...Hey, calm down-" she blinked, letting out a startled gasp. "Are you serious? No effing way."
The two boys shared a look.
"Can you hear what's going on?" Izuku mouthed at Iida, the taller teen shaking his head nervously in response.
"Guys…" Uraraka cupped a hand over the phone and turned to the two boys, chewing on her bottom lip. She was utterly lost on how to explain what her friend had just sobbed out to her over the phone.
The familiar unpleasant rush of bad energy washed over him like thick, inescapable sludge entrapping every moment he attempted to make.
That feeling got significantly worse.
"Toru found Ojiro dead in his house the night before last."
Straight away, Izuku thought back to the absences from school yesterday.
So that bad feeling...
"What?" Iida burst out, horrified while Izuku kept quiet.
Uraraka shuffled on the spot, wincing down at her phone;
"Apparently she found him hung up in the bathroom. Everything that should've been inside his body was spilling out into the bathtub."
.-.-.-.-.
.-.-.-.-.
"You won't believe this, Toshi," Sorahiko grunted over the phone, glancing at the email in his inbox. "Some kid knows your real name. Said his name is Izuku Midoriya."
On the other end, Toshinori nearly sprayed his green tea down his shirt, "C-Come again?"
"He wrote to us through the old site. One of the show's producers forwarded it to me. She was pretty concerned, understandably."
"What did it say?"
"About meeting you in hospital?" Sorahiko huffed. "He left a phone number and his email address just in case you wanted to contact him."
"Can you send them over?"
Sorahiko blinked in surprise, "Are you serious, Toshinori? You're going to contact some kid you met once in the hospital?"
"Uh, yeah?"
Toshinori chose to keep the Nana Shimura stuff quiet. Besides, Sorahiko would've been sceptical the second Toshinori tried to explain himself.
"You're an idiot," the elder eventually muttered with a sigh.
Toshinori snorted, shaking his head fondly. "Can you send it over?"
Sorahiko huffed on the other end, followed by the sound of his computer mouse clicking away. The blond's thin jaw twisted into a grin as he brought up his own email page with a few tapes of his keyboard.
"Oh, wow. That was fast," the blond hummed, immediately clicking on the New Mail icon. "I can see it in my inbox. Thanks for that."
"Wait, what? I haven't sent it yet," Sorahiko spluttered in protest. "Toshinori?"
...
Unknown Email Address: shelovedyoumore
Subject: OPEN ME
To me
You're a fraud, Toshinori Yagi. This is your address right?
Apartment 1006
Might Tower
Minato District
Tokyo
See you soon.
File Attached Download
...
Toshinori swallowed thickly, eyes landing on the download bar as it reached one hundred per cent.
Shivers turned to a blank stare as a pixelated image popped up on screen. It looked to a close up of some kind?
Toshinori zoomed out of the image, inhaling slowly at the odd image of an ancient-looking grenade covered in dried mud. The question now was; what should he do from here?
Especially after viewing the picture of the grenade, he had to take this seriously.
Right?
For all he knew, it could be somebody who genuinely planned to do something terrible. Like blowing up the building, for example? But then again, it could be nothing but some lowlife who wanted a cheap scare.
Making his decision, Toshinori set his own phone down and immediately dialled the number for security.