I am back!
Frankly, I could have gotten this out sooner, but I sort of got distracted with... Minecraft. Hey, it's a fun game!
No Warnings. Enjoy the chapter!
Normal Text - Story telling
"Hey there!" - Dialogue
I like cheese - Thoughts
"I will kill that bastard!" - Whispering and/or mumbling
("That shirt looks ugly") - Small Flashbacks and/or comments
BEEEEEEP - Sound Effect
"Water is real?!" - Announcement and/or Online Text
Chapter 07 - Interrogation
"Ugh, my back's killing me."
Aiho Yomikawa grumbled those words as she opened up the door to her apartment. She had to deal with several different out of control espers today, although they were mostly settled quickly. The main problem was dealing with… that.
She walked into the apartment and took off her shoes. Her eyes wandered over the room, searching for the other occupant. Very quickly, she found Midoriya sleeping on the couch with a calm expression.
A smile found its way onto her face. It has been only a few days since she found him unconscious and bleeding in the streets, yet he had already recovered completely from it. He was definitely a strong child with a strong will.
Although… What kind of world was this boy living in where teenagers were becoming 'heroes'? It sounded like something out of a western comic. And honestly? It sounded very unethical! Teenagers should not be experiencing those kinds of things!
(She failed to realize that Academy City wasn't exactly the best example of an ethical society. Hell, it could be even more guilty of this.)
She walked over to the kitchen and rolled up her sleeves, before plugging in one of the rice cookers. Her stomach grumbled as she prepared to start cooking some more rice, causing her to let out a small laugh. Hopefully Midoriya would be hungry when he woke up too.
As Izuku returned to consciousness, a fresh scent tingled at his nose. He couldn't quite place it, but it smelled really good. What was it?
He opened his eyes and found himself on a couch. He was confused for a second, before he remembered what happened. Oh yeah, I returned to the apartment.
He moved his body up so he was sitting up straight. His backpack was still sitting on the table in front of the couch, just as it was when Izuku returned to the apartment.
"Oh hey! You're awake!" a voice exclaimed from behind. He turned around and saw Yomikawa in the kitchen with her hair tied back. "I'm cooking us some dinner right now, so just wait a bit."
"...Okay…" The green haired teen just woke up, so his mind was still slightly groggy. "...What is for dinner?"
"Rice! You can't go wrong with that!"
"...Works for me…" Izuku's brain was slowly rebooting as he waited for the food to be prepared. The events of the day were starting to return to him.
Soon after, Yomikawa walked over with the food in hand. He thanked her for the food and dug in. Just like the previous night's dinner, the green haired teen very much enjoyed the meal.
After they each finished eating their food, Yomikawa posed a question. "So where did you head out today?"
Izuku's mind froze. "H-Huh? How did you know that I left?" He swore not to tell anyone about going to the experiment! This wasn't his fault!
"Well, it was obvious!" She laughed. "You're a naturally curious teenager, so it was bound to happen. And it looks like my guess was correct!"
The quirk user internally let out a sigh. Looks like she did not know about the details. "Haha, well looks like I got caught. So, uh, I went to the underground mall you showed me yesterday…"
He explained what he did earlier that day, including his money crisis and the high school he had visited. Yomikawa was a little surprised when he mentioned the name of that school.
"You went to the school that I teach at? How'd you like it?"
"It was great! A lot bigger than I expected and the teachers seemed nice! Oh, that reminds me," Izuku's mouth turned into a grin. "One of the teacher's, Komoe-sensei, told me to say hi to you!"
"Oh, you met Tsukuyomi?" Her eyebrows were raised in surprise. "I'm surprised that you managed to catch her, since she usually wraps up her remedial classes pretty quickly."
"Eh? Does she?" Honestly, he thought that she would be on the slower end, considering how hard of a time Komoe had with carrying the bag. "She… seemed like she would be on the slower end."
"Ah, was she carrying a heavy bag by herself?" Yomikawa somehow nailed what actually happened. Izuku nodded with wide eyes. "Heh, looks like all of the good teachers had already left."
"All the good teachers?" He asked with a tilted head.
A frown appeared on her face. "Not all of the teachers have the same viewpoint on teaching. I've had several arguments with some of them, and while Tsukuyomi doesn't actually argue, she tends to agree with my viewpoints."
Huh, I don't think that happens at UA. I think all of the teachers get along, although I have no idea what happens behind closed doors. Maybe it's because they're heroes, so they have to get along?
The tall woman continued. "Those teachers know it, so they tend to stay away from Tsukuyomi, even if she needs help. It doesn't really help that some of them tend to look down on her for her size."
"Really? I didn't think that teachers had problems with each other…"
Yomikawa gave Izuku a weak smile. "Unfortunately, that's the reality. But let's get back on topic. How did you meet Tsukuyomi?"
He went on to explain the rest of the day, which took only a couple of minutes. "And that's all that happened!"
"Sounds like you had a better day than I did," the tall woman joked. "Espers on summer break manage to get into some really stupid situations."
"What kind of situations?" Izuku asked curiously. What did espers do that got them into a 'stupid' situation?
Yomikawa groaned and closed her eyes. "Ugh, I don't think I can say. Even I don't quite get what happened. Maybe some other time I'll tell you."
"...It was that bad?"
"Yeah. Anti-Skill really should not have been called for that headache." She crossed her arms in frustration, before she suddenly remembered something. "Oh yeah, that reminds me, Midoriya. I'll have to take you to the station tomorrow."
"Eh? Why?!" Izuku was worried that he messed something up. Did he break a law on accident? Did he mess up something in the fight yesterday? Did he-
"Hey hey, relax." Yomikawa heard his panicked mumbling and placed a hand on his leg. "It's nothing like that. Since you were involved in the fight yesterday, I have to take you down for questioning. Normally we do it right away, but for some reason, I was told to wait until tomorrow."
"O-Oh. That makes sense." The police in his world had to do that too. Although, that did sound kind of strange that he had to wait. Oh, maybe the city interfered?
"Yeah, so get some good sleep tonight. Although, you did just take a nap…"
"Don't worry!" Izuku reassured her. "I'll definitely be asleep pretty early tonight." Even though he took a nap, it still did not recover his energy completely. There was still some time before he needed to sleep, so he could easily do something to make himself tired!
Meanwhile, in a dark corner of District 10, a meeting was just beginning. Inside an abandoned power plant, a group of espers were sitting around a dusty table that looked like it would fall apart any second.
"WHAT?!" A muscular man with short pitch-black hair slammed his hands on the table in shock. "Satoshi was caught?!"
"Yupp-ity Yup. Must have been stupid-ity enough to get caught-ity. Knew we shouldn't have trusted him-ity." One of the girl espers sitting across from him mockingly said. She had long brown hair and an arm wrapped in bandages.
"Now now, let's be fair." A hooded person sitting at the head of the table waved his arms to calm down the others. "Satoshi was in a difficult position. After all, District 7 is one of the more open districts. That said, Anti-Skill should have been occupied with the explosion… Perhaps the bomb failed?"
"No, sir." Next to the figure, a short boy with black hair and glasses spoke up. "The explosion was confirmed by our eyewitnesses and Satoshi was spotted walking away. Anti-Skill and Judgement were not nearby at the time either. However, he failed to show up at the meeting point."
"So something happened between the explosion and the supposed time of the meetup?" The seat opposite to the head was occupied by a man with flat blonde hair. He had his arms crossed and his eyes closed in thought. "Any reports or ideas on that one?"
"Actually, we have a lead," the same short boy said. "A large fireball was fired out of an alleyway into the sky. As we are all aware, Satoshi has a Level 2 pyrokinesis ability and has been training it for years. Thus, I believe that he was the one who fired it."
"Was it perhaps a call for help?" The final person, a girl with short unkempt black hair, sat on the seat next to the blonde man. "He was aware that there were eyes on him, no?"
"We are uncertain." The short boy kept a serious face on. "We tried sending out our espers to find him, but we came up with nothing until the Anti-Skill report came in."
"If it was indeed a call for help," the blonde haired man spoke up. "Then who did he encounter?"
"Maybe-ity it was an off duty-ity officer. They tend to have-ity a reckless sense of justice-ity." The brown haired girl crossed her legs as she held a bored expression.
"A reasonable possibility. But I find it unlikely." The hooded man spoke up again. "Rather, how about a random bystander who found Satoshi suspicious and managed to catch him?"
"Ugh, one of the heroic types then. They're so annoying." The short black haired girl commented. "They would definitely step in if they saw someone carrying suspicious goods, no?"
"Then let's find that person!" The muscular man roared out. "I'll crush them to a heap for hurting Satoshi! How dare he-"
He was interrupted by a slap to the back of his head. "Don't be stupid-ity. Unless they start looking for us, searching-ity for the suspect would be a waste of time-ity."
The blonde haired man nodded. "She's right. Rather, we need to focus on getting those contents. I have an idea on how."
The sun had risen on the city. It was now July 31, three days after the arrival of Izuku Midoriya. Those days were filled with unexpected events and even some fighting. But overall, things were not that bad for him. He had a place to stay, and a good one at that.
He let out a yawn and dragged himself out of bed. Today he had to go with Yomikawa to the Anti-Skill station, as he needed to be questioned about his fight two days ago. Hopefully it won't be nerve wracking…
Just like the previous day, Izuku ate a well-made breakfast with the tall woman that owned the room, before putting on his clothes. Right after that, the two left the apartment building and entered Yomikawa's car.
Unlike the last time he was in the car, the atmosphere was not thick with tension. Likely because there were no fights to argue about. Still, it would be a stretch to say that it was full of cheer.
It did not take them very long before they reached the Anti-Skill station, the same one that Izuku went to right after leaving the hospital. Its size was as impressive as it was a few days ago, but he now knew that there were far more stunning buildings in the city.
"Well, here we are again," Yomikawa said as she stepped out of the car. "Hopefully this won't take very long." She walked into the large building, with Izuku close behind. He grabbed his backpack in determination.
The two went right past the security desk and into the main hallway. Unlike last time though, they entered an elevator and moved up to the third floor. They moved through the floor, twisting and turning through the hallways until they reached a room with a heavier looking door.
"This is the interrogation room for our not-so urgent witnesses," Yomikawa explained while she opened the door. "I'll walk in with you to explain things, but after that it'll be up to you."
The green haired teen nodded and entered the room. Inside were black covered walls with a window leading into a white room. It looked like a standard interrogation room from a police station in his own world. Sitting in the black room were several people dressed in Anti-Skill uniforms.
"Ah, ya finally arrived," one of them, a tough-looking man with short black hair commented. He stood up and greeted the pair. "Good to see ya again, Yomikawa. This is the kid?"
"Yup! I'm taking care of him right now, so don't do anything terrible, alright?" She gave a wink to the guy.
"Hahaha! Don't worry about it! I wouldn't dare piss ya off. I know what happens to those gym kids on a bad day!" The man turned to the teen next to her. "Well, nice to meet ya. Name's Taketa. Sorry, ya don't get to know my first name!"
Izuku was slightly intimidated by the man, but he ignored it. Rather, he bowed to the officer and shouted out his name. "Nice to meet you! My name is Midoriya Izuku!"
"Ah, a polite one, eh? Ya found a good one Yomikawa!" Taketa let out a hearty laugh. "Now let's get down to business, Broccoli Hair."
"Eh?! Broccoli Hair?!" The green haired teen could not help crying out. He got up from his bow with a shocked expression. Why did people always make fun of his hair?!
"It fits, doesn't it?" His caretaker piped up with a smirk. "He's just in denial about it."
"Hah! Learn to accept the truth and ya will find ya life to be much easier!" Taketa stomped over to the door leading into the interrogation room itself. "Head in here, Broccoli Hair. We'll get started when ya and I are ready. Oh, and make sure to take off ya backpack."
"Okay!" Izuku removed his backpack from his shoulders and placed it along the wall, before he entered the white walled room. There was a table and two chairs, one on each side. The window from the previous room could not be seen, which reminded him that one-way windows exist.
Taketa marched to the chair closer to the door. "Take a seat," he said, gesturing to the other chair. "We got some business to discuss."
The green haired teen obeyed and walked around the table, before sitting down in the metallic chair. He fidgeted his hands slightly, before he forced himself to stop.
"Alright kid, let's get started. Tell me, when did ya…"
The first set of questions were generic questions. Such as 'what were you doing at the time?' and 'what did you see?'. Once they went through those questions, however, Taketa moved onto something different.
"Does the name UNDER mean anything to ya?"
"H-Huh? That just means something being below something else, right? But you said name… so no?"
"...Ya don't seem to be lying. That's good." He crossed his arms with a serious expression. "That kiddo that ya fought was part of a group that went by that name."
"Wait, really?!" Izuku had to stop himself from standing up. "What do they do? Why did they do that?"
"Hahahaha, relax kid!" Taketa let out a laugh. "Don't forget who's asking the questions here!" After that, they moved onto some other various lines of questioning, including if he knew what the robber had taken.
"Kind of? I remember he cried out about a 'Level Upper', but I don't know what that is. I didn't really bother looking in the bag, since it wasn't mine…" the quirk user frowned. "Sorry, I can't help you more."
"It's no problem, Broccoli Hair!" Izuku's cheeks heated up slightly at the nickname. "We didn't expect ya to answer all of the questions. We're almost done anyway, so let's keep this going!"
It did not take them very long before the final question was asked. With the interrogation done, the two in the room stood up and stretched out their legs, before walking back into the other room.
"Good job Midoriya!" Yomikawa exclaimed with a grin. "For your first interrogation, you handled it well!"
"Thanks! Although, it wasn't really that difficult…" In one of their classes, they did have to practice explaining an incident to Aizawa as if he was a police officer. Compared to the other things they did, it was relatively boring for most of his classmates.
(Izuku found anything relating to heroics incredibly interesting. He enjoyed that class immensely.)
"Look at this kid! Bragging about having an easy interrogation!" Taketa exclaimed with a roar of laughter. "Maybe I should have dialed it up on ya!"
"Ah wait! That's not what I meant!" Izuku waved his arms back and forth while furiously shaking his head. It simply resulted in more laughter from the interrogator.
Yomikawa took a look at her watch and widened her eyes. "Wow, that was a lot shorter than I expected. Isn't there normally some bureaucracy we have to deal with?"
Taketa shrugged his arms. "Who knows? We had to hold off on the interrogation for two days, so I guess they could handle it beforehand. Still, it's a bit odd."
"...What does the city plan for Midoriya?" Izuku heard Yomikawa mumble under her breath. "First, how easy it was to get him cleared, then this…"
I hope she doesn't learn about the experiment. At least, not yet…
Taketa suddenly slapped the tall woman on the back, snapping her out of the mumbling. "Heh, don't worry about it. If the city plans on anything nefarious for Broccoli Hair, just do ya thing and he'll be alright."
Yomikawa raised an eyebrow at the comment, but slowly a grin appeared on her face. "My thing? Are you suggesting that I force the higher ups to go through a high school gym class when I'm pissed?"
"Anyone would be scared to go through that! I've seen what hell those kids go through when I visit the school!"
Izuku saw Taketa… shake from fear? How scary were those classes?
"Hmm, good to know. If I ever need practice, now I know who to call," the tall woman said with a mischievous smirk. "Anyways, let's go, Midoriya. We still need to stop at another room before we head out, so I'd rather get that done sooner."
Before she walked out of the room however, the green haired teen spoke up. "Er, um, can I ask a question to Taketa before we go?"
Yomikawa was simultaneously surprised and not surprised at the query. "Go ahead. If he's fine answering it, then it'll be ok."
Izuku nodded and turned to the Anti-Skill officer, who held a curious expression. "Um… I don't know if I'm allowed to know this, but can you tell me more about that UNDER group you mentioned earlier?"
"Ah, ya want to know about that? Well, sorry kid, but I won't tell ya anything." Taketa's expression changed from curious to serious in an instant. "Children like ya shouldn't be getting ya hands dirty."
"O-Oh... But what if-"
"Don't worry kid, we'll deal with them if they try anything." He interrupted with a thumbs up. "I'll let Yomikawa know if they get taken down."
"...Okay." That did not satisfy him much, but what could he do about it? It was not his city anyways, so why did he care so much?
...I just don't want people to be worried about restaurants exploding.
"Is that everything Midoriya?" Yomikawa asked. Izuku nodded. "Alright, let's go now. I'll see you soon Taketa." She said with a wave.
"Aye. See ya later."
The two left the room and headed towards the elevator. On the way, the green haired teen was stewing in his thoughts, wondering about what UNDER was.
Is it like a gang? Or is it sort of like a Yakuza group? Or maybe it's a terrorist organization! But I barely know anything about it...
His caretaker noticed that Izuku seemed to be stuck in his thoughts, but she did not interfere. It may have only been a few days, but she already had a feeling that he would do something. She wanted to keep him out of any trouble, especially since he was in a new world, but considering his tendencies, that was unlikely.
But then what should she do? Should she keep him in the dark? That would be the best choice for making sure he would stay out of trouble, especially since he was still a child. And yet, something told her that it would not work.
Agh, what should she do?!
They eventually reached the elevator and entered it. Yomikawa selected the first floor, before she turned to Izuku.
"By the way, I need to stop off at another room," she said, snapping the quirk user out of his thoughts. "Do you mind if you wait by the entrance for me?"
"No, I'm fine with doing that!" He nodded as the elevator moved down. A few seconds later, the door opened and the two stepped out.
"The room's over here." She jabbed a thumb to the left. "It shouldn't take that long, so I'll see you soon."
"Okay!" Izuku gave a short wave that Yomikawa returned before she headed off. He moved his hand down and once again grasped the backpack straps. He walked to the main entrance lobby, sinking back into his thoughts about UNDER.
I need more information. But it doesn't seem like Anti-Skill will give me any… What to do?
He sat in a chair that was right next to the entrance door with his head tilted down. His backpack was still resting on his back and the straps were being held by Izuku's hands. During the entire time that Yomikawa was gone, he was thinking of what to do next. By the time she was done with her errand, he had a course of action planned.
She arrived and greeted the green haired teen, in which he gave a smile back. The two walked out of the building and headed towards the car. But before she could unlock the door, Izuku spoke up.
"Hey, um, Yomikawa? I was wondering if you'd let me go look around the city a bit more?"
The woman raised an eyebrow in confusion, before her mind realized what he meant.
"...I don't have any issues with that." Yet, she let the boy go ahead. There was no point in keeping him holed up at the apartment. "All I ask is that you stay safe. And maybe give me a call every once in a while?"
Izuku nodded in agreement. That was more than fair. No point in making his caretaker worry about him. He gave her a wave, before he walked away from the car.
The quirk user barely knew anything about the group, aside from that they were willing to blow up establishments. Which meant he needed to seek out more information. But where would that information come from?
Simple: alleyways and/or secluded buildings.
(It sounded extremely cliche, but where else would he look? He still knew very little about the city, so it was a start.)
He first walked a ways away from the Anti-skill station, since any criminals would clearly not be working near the literal police station. Well, police station equivalent.
Once he was satisfied with the distance, Izuku began discretely searching the alleyways for any suspicious behavior. Although, it was admittedly kind of difficult doing that in broad daylight.
He had no idea how much time passed when his phone suddenly began buzzing. Confused, he pulled it out and flipped it open to see that Yomikawa was calling him. Oh, right, I said I would call her every once in a while. Has it really been that long? He pressed the answer button and brought the phone up to his ear.
"Hey Midoriya!" her voice came through the cell phone. "You doing okay?"
"Yeah. I've just been.. walking around the city. It's just so cool to look around!" He continued to walk forward, only taking a passing glance at the alleyways.
"That's good to hear! Are you going to be back to the apartment in time for lunch?"
He looked at the current time and thought about it for a moment, before he gave his reply. "Um, I'm not sure? Are you on duty right now?"
"I am, but that's not something you should worry about. I can pick you up if you need it."
"Nono, that's fine!" Izuku shook his head, even though the caller would not have been able to see it. "I'll be okay for now. But thank you for checking in!"
"It's no problem. Just don't get yourself into any fights! Stay safe!" And with those parting words, Yomikawa ended the call, leaving the quirk user to his own devices once again.
It was good timing too, because he thought he heard quiet voices coming out of an alleyway that he just passed by. At first, he thought it was his imagination, but no, there definitely was something. He backtracked to the alleyway and peeked in.
Huh? There's no one here? And yet, the voices were definitely there. Before his brain could start thinking of any crazy possibilities, he realized that the alleyway made a sharp turn to the right.
With quiet steps, he discreetly entered the alleyway. As he approached the sharp turn, the voices got louder. Eventually, right before the turn, Izuku was able to pick out what the voices were saying. He leaned against the wall and listened in.
"Are they serious?!" A deep voice shouted out.
"It looks like it. Apparently one of the others screwed up their material retrieval." That came from a… normal voice? "That concerns me, because I thought Anti-Skill was stupid enough to overlook the suspect."
"I dunno about that one." The third speaker also had a deep voice, but it was not as deep as the first. "According to Otani, it was likely an off-duty Anti-Skill or a random bystander. You know, the ones with a hero complex?"
Izuku made sure to stay quiet, but that sentence seriously felt like it was aimed at him. The question was: Who was Otani?
"Damn it! Those people are the worst! Why do they not give a crap about themselves?!"
"We're not here to talk about that. The important thing is that we need to retrieve the materials. And considering that they're inside the Anti-Skill station, we'll have some difficulties getting them. Any ideas?"
Wow, he timed that really well. I'm seriously listening to a secret plan as it is being developed? But is this UNDER?
A sigh was let out from the third speaker. "As much as we all hate Level 4s, they are possible threats to our existence. We'd have to gather several of the other Level 3s to defeat the stronger ones. But as long as a Level 5 doesn't interfere, I think it'll be doable."
"Huh? Why are you concerned about them?" The first speaker asked. "There's nothing wrong with a Level 5. Hell, we'd follow their orders immediately!"
"Even so, do you think they care if we follow them? They probably have plenty enough already. But that's not relevant right now. I do have an idea that would keep Anti-Skill away."
"Oh? They're already incompent enough, so what would make them stay away?" The normal voice sneered.
"I wouldn't underestimate Anti-Skill, Okubo. They can be a very formidable enemy." The third speaker said. "Which is why I have a plan."
"Well, go ahead! I want to crush them!" The first voice shouted out.
The quirk user could tell each of their personalities just from listening to them. He was slightly tempted to pull out his notebook and write it down, but that had the risk of making sound that they would hear, so he abstained from doing that.
"Here's the plan: Either one or two groups of espers go out and cause a large commotion. At night would be preferable. Then, a third group breaks into the station whilst Anti-Skill is busy. That group would have to include Konda, as her esper ability would be helpful in this."
There were sounds of agreement and murmuring, before the normal voice spoke up. "Sounds great and all, except that sounds really generic. And as incompetent as Anti-Skill is, they aren't stupid enough to leave behind no officers."
"I considered that. Thus, I have something that would stop them: bringing a hostage."
At those words, the blood sank out of Izuku's face. According to the many interviews heroes gave back in his world, hostage situations were one of the worst problems they had to deal with. Making sure that the hostage did not die while finding a way to stop the villain was not an easy task at all.
"Ooh, that sounds fun! Being able to crush them in front of the 'Hero' as he watches in despair would make my year!"
"Not a bad idea Mori. But what hostage would make them hesitate enough to allow us to grab the materials?"
For some reason, Izuku had the feeling that the speaker made an evil smirk as he said the next words.
"Oh, there's plenty. There are two in mind. One is the head-officer's daughter. We don't know a lot about them, but she's apparently well known by the Anti-Skills."
There was a pause. "...That could work. What about the other?"
"You know Yomikawa? One of the most competent officers in the whole workforce? Even several of the higher ups fear her."
And suddenly, the quirk user knew exactly what they were going to say next.
"I got some information that she recently took in a teenager. Yesterday, I was walking around when I saw the kid. They certainly had a good muscle structure, but Yoshino here could probably take him on. And the expression on his face? I could tell that he holds zero esper abilities."
...What?
Apparently Okubo was a bit confused too, because he spoke up. "Are you seriously judging people's esper abilities based on their expression? Unless you have a secret power you never told us about, I refuse to go in assuming they do not have an ability."
"...Yes, you might be correct. I apologize for that. Still, something tells me that he doesn't have an ability. It would be simple for us to use him."
To tell the truth, Izuku was sorely tempted to let out a laugh. What kind of situation was this? He was literally listening to people planning a hostage plan with him as the hostage! What kind of coincidence was this?!
"Interesting… But how do you suppose we find their locations? And once we get them, we'd have to execute the plan very quickly."
"Obviously." The quirk user imagined that Mori rolled his eyes. "This isn't my first time doing something like this. All we need to do is find Yomikawa and the head-officer's residences. The targets would be living at their respective places."
"Oh yeah! Send me to deal with that teenager!" Yoshino suddenly shouted. "Something about that guy pisses me off! I'll crush him!"
"Now now, relax." Okubo said in a voice that had a hint of excitement. "I understand how you feel, but we'll have to discuss a proper plan of action. The younger they are, the easier it will be to make them go along with us. Let's hope for that."
"Agreed. That should end our discussion for today." Sounds of shuffling signified that the group stood up. "Let's head out now. We'll need to inform the higher ups."
The footsteps were getting louder. The three of them were about to round the corner and spot Izuku. He was now faced with a decision: Should he let them go, or should he take them out right here, right now?
Two voices entered his head as he was quickly thinking of a course of action. One was Sir Nighteye, the hero he worked with on his work study. Letting the criminals go would be smarter, then go to Anti-Skill and warn them of the plan. Catching them in the act with plenty of backup would be more ideal.
The other voice was Yomikawa, telling him to not get into any fights. A lot less convoluted than Nighteye's words, yet for some reason, it felt like it had a greater impact. Looks like he wasn't willingly going to fight today.
The quirk user quickly looked up and noticed a convenient fire escape above him. He pumped One For All into his legs and jumped into the sky. He jumped above the platform and fell neatly onto it. Thankfully, it seemed to be sturdy.
Below him, the three future kidnappers walked into where Izuku was a moment ago. He noticed that one of them frowned and looked around.
"Did you guys just feel a burst of wind?" The one he identified as Mori asked.
"Hm? I think it's just the weather. Don't worry about it," Okubo replied, not stopping for a second. "Cmon, we need to get to base."
The three of them walked out of the alleyway, not having suspected that someone was listening in. Once they were out of sight, Izuku jumped down from the fire escape, still having One For All activated. He was planning on calling Yomikawa and telling Anti-Skill about their plan, but then their words stopped him.
They're going to their base? It was the perfect opportunity for him to follow them. All he had to do was not get into fights and he will be okay!
He ran out of the alleyway and searched in all directions, before he spotted them to his left. It was a good thing he got a glimpse of them earlier, otherwise he would have no idea what they looked like.
Izuku started walking in the same direction, keeping his eyes trained on them. Of course, he made sure he was inconspicuous and unable to be caught in the act. While doing this, he pulled out his phone and called Yomikawa. It only took a few rings before she picked up.
"This is Yomikawa."
"Um, hi! It's me, Midoriya."
"Huh? Didn't we just talk not that long ago? Oh well, what's up?"
"I, er, just wanted to let you know that… It may be a while before I'm back. I found this cool thing that I want to check out, but there's a lot of people here."
Yomikawa took a little while to respond. "...Okay, that's fine. Thanks for letting me know. Remember, no fights!"
"Don't worry, I don't plan on it." I sounded kind of cool there! "I'll see you later!"
"Stay safe!" And with that, the phone was hung up. Izuku put on a focused expression as he located the three criminals again. He grasped his backpack straps in determination. Time to become a spy.
When the call ended, Yomikawa let out a sigh. It might be a bit early to say, but she suspected that Midoriya found something with that group. She debated whether to tell him to stop or let him go, but ultimately decided to do the latter.
Sure, he might be a child, but he was apparently trained to do… whatever a 'hero' did. Something like this was likely up his alley. She hated to admit it, but right now, he was the best bet for getting information on the group. That said, she absolutely refused to accept him fighting.
Honestly, she expected Midoriya to nervously agree to not fight, but in a way that meant "No promises". So she was surprised when he confidently said that he would not fight. And that did put a small smile on her face. It seemed like a repeat of two days ago would not occur.
While Yomikawa was still uncomfortable with letting him go, at least she felt reassured that whatever the kid did, it would not hurt him. At least, I hope so. We'll see what happens by the end of the day. Please return home safely.
Hope you at least enjoyed that! This was probably the shortest chapter (Excluding Chapter 1) so far. I debated adding another event, but decided to leave that for Chapter 8.
Wow! We hit 200 followers! Thank you! It feels good to know that many people want to see more of the story!
I think at this point, you can tell what this arc is focused on. It'll probably be maybe 3-5 chapters long. In addition, it'll be pretty heavily OC focused, since UNDER technically doesn't exist in canon. Hopefully you won't hate it!
(I get the feeling people who binge this in the future are going to skip this arc lol)
This chapter was pretty difficult to write at first (Had 3.5k words by June 1), but then yesterday I speed typed and got a large bulk of this done. Then I finished this today and now here we are.
Now, chapter explanation. There's only a few today.
One, Yomikawa. I hate to say it, but to me, I feel like she was kind of out of character towards the end. Kind of weird for me to say, but that's just what I think. It's a necessary evil though.
Two, OC characters. Man, not going to lie, I had a ton of fun writing their dialogues (Especially Taketa). OC characters are a lot easier to write than canon characters because I don't have to worry about making sure they stay in-character. I hope you liked them as much as I did! You'll see what I do with them in the future.
That's really it honestly. So, review time!
ANYONE WHO ANSWERED MY QUESTION LAST TIME - Thank you for clarifying Touma's year level. It'll make some things in the future a little easier. Your reviews will be remembered!
Trado - Wow, you honestly made me feel better about Chapter 6. You make some very good points about it not being filler. Thank you for the great review, and I hope you liked this chapter too!
craytherlay - ...Eh, he has a verbal tick?! Man, the wiki really needs to make that clearer. I technically started the story BEFORE I read NT, but yeah, in-universe the magic gods cannot reach Izuku's universe (Magic does not exist there). As for about keeping him alive? That's actually a good point, I didn't think about that. He is, after all, evidence that other worlds exist (World rejector doesn't exist yet, unless I'm completely missing something).
theneed4beer - Fair enough. I get what you mean. Hope that you find something good to read soon. (Or if you're still reading, then I guess you'll have to wait!)
Kamijou Touma1 - Hmm... I can't say for sure about that. I'll admit that previous chapters definitely had him stutter too much (I'll fix it later), but he still has a stutter somewhat. And if not a stutter, it's mainly "um" or "uh". Without those key words, it doesn't really feel like Izuku (Unless it's fighting or heroics, then there ain't no stuttering for him).
Vasto-Lorde-Ash-Ketchum - I sent you a dm regarding your review. Hoping that you read it!
KingJGamer - Honestly, same! Izuku needs to be praised more!
F.B.100 - That's actually a pretty good idea. I like it! Maybe I'll implement it in the future.
TrainerRed164 - Thanks for the review! That addition was very much last minute, so I'm glad you liked that! And I'm glad that you like that line. So many people would be dumb enough to do that.
Kisame Hoshigaki - ...She drives in Index-tan? That sounds... I don't even know (I haven't watched Index-tan before). But I'm glad you liked the Saten interaction. She will definitely show up again in the future.
blackberry1773- Well, I hope you thought this was exciting! (Maybe not the chapter itself, but this arc overall should be exciting)
Steelrain66 - Good point! He really does stick out, huh?
Guest - Er... I don't like giving spoilers, but I'll say it here. It's unlikely Touma will show up in this arc. That could change, but not likely. Sorry about that...
That's all of the reviews! Now an announcement not related to this story, but either today or tomorrow, I plan on publishing a new story! It's not A Certain Magical Index I'm afraid, but maybe you'll still like it! If you don't, that's okay! It's a completely different type of story compared to this one, so I'm not expecting a ton of overlap.
Well, see you next time!
(These long ass author notes are a bruh moment to the word count, but oh well.)