Izuku learned a lot about Mr. Aizawa during their time together. Like how he had a soft spot for cats, went through a bottle of eye drops each week, and was married to the Present Mic who much like in the quirked world, had his own radio show that Izuku listened to religiously.

Oftentimes it would make him feel like he was back 'home', while other times Izuku simply enjoyed hearing the crazy stories Mic came up with when he was broadcasting on air. His charisma was infectious and the radio host never failed to brighten up his days.

His most recent session had involved the 'country vs. rap debate' where Mic proceeded to defend country music while his viewers would call in and roast him on live. In the end, Mic confessed he was actually a fan of both genres and proceeded to rap about a random pair of socks he deemed were 'lucky' while a backtrack of some random country song played.

"Wait, Present Mic is your husband?!" Izuku asked while they were finishing up a lesson.

"Unfortunately," Aizawa answered with a slight eye roll. Izuku didn't miss the tiny smile that appeared on the officer's lips though.

He had learned to appreciate Aizawa's subtle facial expressions. It was really hard to make the officer laugh or smile, but when he did so on his own, the greenette appreciated it even more.

Izuku gasped and sat up a little, careful not to hurt his arm. "I listen to his radio show all the time! Especially the segments in English. They really help me practice the language."

And then, a little quieter, Izuku gestured to his notebook and shyly lowered his gaze.

"Could you, um, maybe get him to sign this for me?"

Aizawa blinked.

"Are you seriously asking me for my husband's autograph in the middle of class?" he asked with a raised brow that seemed to twitch a little bit.

"Yes?" Izuku bit his lip and offered him his best smile. He nearly squealed in delight as Aizawa grabbed the page Izuku had torn off and put it in his pocket.

"I'll see what I can do," the officer grumbled eventually and Izuku gave a silent cheer. "But anyway, before we move on, do you have any questions that are actually relevant to the source material?"

"Oh, I actually do!" Izuku grinned as he inched closer to the officer. They both sat on the floor this time. Aizawa was in front of him with his back against the unfinished metallic structure that was probably never going to get built, while Izuku found himself sitting criss-cross applesauce. His legs had fallen asleep ages ago but he was too busy taking notes to care. Izuku would pay for it when he tried to get up though. "Did you ever get to work with any vigilantes? Or at least meet them?"

Aizawa furrowed his brow. He didn't seem pleased with the question.

"You did ask if I had any questions—" Izuku began, fumbling with the strands of his hoodie.

"I know, I know," Aizawa said as he ran a hand through his hair and puffed out a bit of air. "I guess you can say I was acquainted with Mrs. Joke, Knuckleduster, and Stendhal."

Izuku's eyes widened slightly when he remembered the conversation he had had about Mrs. Joke with the Iida family. For some reason it seemed so long ago. He wondered how they were doing while he scribbled all three vigilante names on the margins of his page. He was going to need a new journal soon. "Oh, I've heard of Mrs. Joke before! Did she really use laughing gas on people?"

"Only all the damn time. But that woman's mouth was enough to put you to sleep. I swear she was the queen of puns and bad jokes," Aizawa rolled his eyes and Izuku giggled with a nod. He casually made a note about Mrs. Joke's choice of humor and Aizawa's lack thereof in his notebook. Aizawa gave him a look but didn't say anything else as he continued talking.

"As for Knuckleduster, we sort of met later on. He taught me a lot of moves before they caught him."

Izuku looked up from the page with a slight frown. "He's in jail?"

"I don't think so. At least not anymore. They sent him to a rehab center for vigilantes but we haven't talked in years. So who knows where he is now," Aizawa shrugged a little bit. If Izuku would have asked him about this when they first met, he'd have interpreted his reaction as standoffish. But Izuku had learned that Aizawa was simply not a man of many words, much less nice ones. His reactions were often neutral and cold but deep down, Izuku knew that he cared. Or at least that's what he wanted to believe.

"You know now that I think about it, he reminds me of you a little bit," Aizawa said, rousing Izuku from his thoughts.

"Hm?" the greenette looked up again, as he met Aizawa's calculating gaze.

"No one really knew how he got so strong, so there was always speculation about his abilities. He played into it too, claiming he had superpowers."

Izuku felt his mouth go dry. "S-superpowers?" he asked, trying not to let his voice tremble. "No way."

Aizawa nodded but he didn't seem to pick up on Izuku's reaction. "Yeah, but it was all an act. Knuckle used it as an intimidation tactic, kind of like what you do with your ghost persona."

Izuku nodded vigorously at that until he felt light-headed.

"R-right. That makes sense."

"And I think the people who fell for it simply underestimated how much time he spent training," Aizawa continued. "Knuckle was really dedicated to the cause and for a long time, his speed was unprecedented. He had been training as a vigilante long before Oboro and I—" he stopped immediately and his brows furrowed.

Izuku watched him closely.

"Oboro?" the greenette asked aloud, while he tried to think about whether or not Aizawa had mentioned the name before. It didn't sound familiar and Izuku didn't recognize a pro hero who had that name either.

Aizawa wouldn't meet his gaze as he shook his head. "Yeah, anyway, they caught Knucklduster in the end. Surprisingly it was a rookie officer who did it too."

The officer looked slightly uncomfortable while he talked, so Izuku decided to drop the subject altogether. He was more than happy to continue discussing vigilante stuff instead.

"A rookie?" Izuku asked.

Aizawa nodded. "Officer Tensei Iida. They call him the 'Vigilante Catcher' now because he's so fast. I think he used to work in Nagoya but they transferred him over to Hosu recently. Something about his vigilante rehab program."

"I see," Izuku said while glancing down at his notebook. He had written down three names and crossed out each one every time Aizawa explained who they were. But he noticed there was still one on the list. "You, um, also mentioned a third name," he squinted at the page. "Someone called S-Stend...hal?"

"Oh, yes. I never patrolled with him personally, but I heard he was really good with knives. Apparently, he could hit his target even with a blindfold on," Aizawa commented.

"Wow," Izuku blinked after writing down Stendhal's strengths on the side of the page. He drew a little doodle of a knife too below the smiley face he had labeled for Mrs. Joke and the clenched fist for Knuckleduster.

I don't even think I can use a kitchen knife correctly, Izuku thought with a slight frown. He wondered if Aizawa would teach him how to use weapons when they started combat training.

"I think Stendhal was the most passionate out of all of us. Even more than Knuckleduster. But then he just kind of disappeared. Some people think he died, but I guess he just grew disillusioned much earlier than the rest of us. There's only so much you can do as a vigilante, kid," Aizawa finished with a sigh.

Izuku felt like asking more, but he found that he was quickly becoming increasingly tired.

"Do you think he might've become an officer too?" he asked, after finally settling on a question that piqued his interest just enough and wouldn't send his mind in an analytic frenzy.

"Who knows, kid. Who knows."

—

Izuku was excited to head over to Nagoya the next day. He hadn't been to Gunhead's Studio ever since he broke his arm and Uraraka had texted him that she wanted to hang out after her class was over. Apparently, she was determined to get Izuku to ride the Ferris wheel. And after everything that happened with Bakugou, Izuku really needed a friend.

"Midoriya, over here!" Uraraka called over from where she sat waiting for him on the bench.

Izuku's face immediately lit up when he saw his friend. "Uraraka, hey!" He rushed over quickly and gave her an awkward air hug so she wouldn't bump on his arm.

"How have you been? I feel like we haven't seen each other in ages," she said with a groan as they began to climb the stairs.

Izuku blushed and scratched the back of his neck. "S-sorry. I got carried away with school and stuff."

"School and stuff? What, did you finally get a girlfriend?" Uraraka asked, a small smirk playing on her lips.

Izuku's blush spread throughout his entire face and he quickly shook his head. "N-no! It's not like that at all."

Uraraka gave him a playful shrug while twirling a bit as she walked in front of him. "Okay, a boyfriend then?"

"Uraraka!"

The brunette threw her head back and laughed while Izuku desperately tried to hide his face from her. "Well then tell me already!" she nudged at his arm and Izuku nudged her back.

"Or do you want me to guess?"

Izuku hummed quietly. "Mmm, sure. Why not? Go ahead."

The rest of the way to the shopping district was spent with Uraraka giving crazy guesses as to what Izuku had been up to, as well as catching him up on her crush on Ojiro. She apparently claimed to be over the guy, but when they passed by an advertisement of him on a bus, Uraraka almost tripped because she was so busy staring.

"It's just not fair, Midoriya," she whined, leaning on Izuku's good shoulder while they waited to cross the street. "He's so talented and stuff. I don't know if I like him or if I want to be him."

Izuku chuckled softly and shrugged. "Hmm, that makes sense. But I guess you'll never know which one it is until you go talk to him."

"Which is never going to happen by the way," Uraraka mumbled as soon as the light turned red.

"Hey, communication is important," Izuku said with a grin.

Uraraka rolled her eyes as she started walking backward. "Says the guy who's currently fighting with his best friend because of a miscommunication."

"I'm working on it, jeez," Izuku furrowed his brow. "Don't make me regret telling you about that."

"I mean my offer still stands. I can talk some sense into him if you know what I mean," Uraraka smirked as he cracked her knuckles and then her neck.

Izuku laughed nervously and shook his head. An image of Bakugou fighting Uraraka flashed through his head and he was honestly not sure who would win. Uraraka might have been sweet and all, but she definitely had a fighter's spirit. And Bakugou… well he was Bakugou. "It's my fault he's mad at me, okay? And I'm going to be the one who fixes it."

"I don't know, Midoriya. Seems like he needs to be the one to learn what boundaries are," Uraraka said as she hopped up on the curb.

While she did have a point, Izuku continued to feel like he had messed up big time. It wasn't Bakgou's fault that he had literally been sent to a completely different universe and replaced the person whom the blonde believed was his friend.

"But let's not talk about him," Uraraka said. She seemed to sense his discomfort and quickly switched topics. Izuku was thankful for that and nodded happily. "Today is all about getting you on that Ferris wheel."

But as they finished crossing the street, Izuku noticed the next intersection was taped off and blocked with police cars. All of them led up to the curb of the police station where he and Uraraka had met the Iida family a couple of weeks back.

"Huh, that's strange," Izuku mumbled. "Looks like the whole street is blocked off."

Uraraka frowned. "We could try going around the other way?"

"Hmm, maybe—" Izuku was about to move around when a female officer stopped him and the rest of the crowd that had gathered. Some of them were trying to get by, while others had their phones out and were whispering quietly to each other.

Izuku managed to hear the words "murder" and "police officer" filter through the air.

"Alright, step back folks. Nothing to see here, nothing to see," the officer frowned while she tried to motion for them to move back as if they were a herd of sheep.

"Excuse me miss," Uraraka walked over to where Izuku was standing, "why are all the streets closed? We're trying to get to the shopping district."

"Police investigation, kid. This entire part of the precinct will be closing soon. Now run along before curfew starts."

Izuku frowned.

"Curfew?" he asked aloud, turning to look at the woman again. "What curfew? Why would there be a—"

Suddenly, Uraraka gasped and her hand reached for Izuku's, squeezing it tightly.

"M-Midoriya, look," she whispered while pointing to one side of the station.

It was a little hard to see because of the crowd and the cars that were lined up in the parking lot, but eventually, Izuku's eyes settled on the message written out on the brick wall.

"Is that…" Uraraka asked shakily.

"Blood," Izuku finished through a whisper of his own. There was no doubt it was blood and some of it seemed fresh too, dripping down the side of the building. The words 'PURGE THE STAIN' was written in big letters across the entirety of the wall and a set of handprints had been left directly underneath the message. Izuku tried not to think about who they could belong to and started backing away slowly along with Uraraka who was still holding onto his hand.

"Let me go, let me go you, bastards!"

The pair of teens whipped their heads around as soon as the yelling started, only to see an older woman pushing through the crowd. She wore some kind of office attire but her hair was a mess and makeup streamed down her sharp features.

"Ma'am, ma'am please stand back—" the officer from earlier tried to get her to calm down, but the woman slipped out of reach. She even managed to get past the caution tape that separated everyone from the station's driveway.

"No! You have to let me through," she cried as a pair of officers tackled her to the ground. "My husband… Orochi Shidehara he– he can't be dead. I still have to—" her voice came in waves as she alternated between screaming and sobbing.

Officer Shidehara? Izuku found himself leaning in, despite the sick feeling that settled into his stomach. If he remembered correctly, that was the same officer who had tried to frame Mr. Compress and had even threatened Izuku.

Did the blood belong to him?

"Mrs. Shidehara…" the female officer said, although this time her tone was much lighter. They had finally managed to pin her down Mrs. Shidehara continued burying her face into the dirt, crying out her husband's name.

"Please, I just want to see my husband one last time," she said through a sob, eyes frantically gazing at everyone in the crowd. There was even a point where she met Izuku's gaze and he had to look away because he couldn't stand her pained expression.

"Mrs. Shidehara."

It was a new voice this time, belonging to a man in his late thirties, maybe early forties who had walked out of the station. He was followed by two other officers who both wore gloves.

"I'm so sorry but your husband is dead."

Oooh, what ever could this bloody message be about?! 😏😏😏 ngl tho 'Purge the Stain' sounds like a cool band name. I would definitely listen to their music.

Speaking of music, I'm back on my Nintendo bullshit. I love listening to the Pokemon Platinum OST (the nostalgia is real folks) and any kind of video game playlist on YouTube. The water-themed ones are my favorite. Seriously, go check them out.

ANYWAYYYYYYY, I HOPE U ENJOYED THE CHAPTER. It's a little on the short end again but that's cuz I have to set things up for future arcs and stuff muahahaha. See you next time!

✩ Next update: 7/16 or 7/17 ✩