Chapter twenty-two - The new old-fashioned way
"That's what I got from Midoriya." said Naomasa. He had just finished sharing the answers he got from the interview with Izuku to the rest of the congregation. He hadn't told them about his face, funnily enough, as that would come later. He told them everything he got from Izuku and the reaction he got was quite shocking. Many teachers rubbed their temples and furrowed their eyebrows. Some nodded, as if they had been expecting this. The remainder just didn't say anything. It was ultimately shocking that when the young villain was threatened with Tartarus, he scoffed! Some may have thought Izuku was bluffing or being an idiot, some thought he had seen it all. Everyone was deep in their own opinions and thoughts. But All Might..All Might was close to tears. Aizawa wanted more answers.
"Hm. I see. Thank you for that, Detective." said Nezu. He was contemplating about something that would yield a mass of controversy.
"I could enroll the kid..I could. But I need to hear more… or at least have a reason to let him here." thought Nezu.
Naomasa was debating whether or not to talk about the bandages on Izuku's arms. Was it trivial? Was it vital? Well, it wouldn't hurt to try. Better safe than sorry, goes the saying.
"Another thing.." said Naomasa. Nezu listened carefully. "I don't know whether or not this is important but as Midoriya was leaving, I saw bandages bound around both of his forearms. As in, the whole of his forearms. I don't what they are and I would personally like to know."
"Bandages..that's true. He always had them on every time I saw him. What ever could they mean? Maybe it's part of the outfit- no.." thought All Might. He was worried about whether or not they were battle scars from his previous fights or something common like that. All might wasn't completely wrong, though. The scars Izuku had were from the battle of a hard life. Bakugou inflicted them.
"That is true. Maybe they're part of the outfit? Villains do love to be dramatic." said Vlad King. He found Izuku to be quite strange, quite evil and honestly annoying. Why do good if you're a villain? That would just confuse people and warp the ideas of villains and heroes in this society. Heroes are heroes and villains are villains. So, everyone should just stick to their own roles to play.
"While I know only a scarce amount of information on Midoriya," said Aizawa with his legs crossed. "He doesn't seem like the type to do that. He seems like a simple person with simple bandages. Nothing more, nothing less." Oh, how wrong he was.
The teachers discussed amongst themselves until All Might stood up.
"Naomasa.. Could I- we, I mean, go and see Midoriya. We have all been talking about the villain but have never seen his face." said All Might, eagerly. He wanted to rescue the boy from the abyss of depression he was in, so he had to see the boy's face, at least.
Naomasa's eyes enlarged and he cleared his throat. He half wanted to show them Izuku, half didn't. The boy might have a panic attack, throw a fit, attack everyone, cry or just do nothing.. They were all possible scenarios and Naomasa didn't like the sound of any of them.
"I really don't want to..but I don't have the authority to decided that. Christ.." thought Naomasa.
"Okay, let's go." said Naomasa reluctantly. All Might looked to Aizawa, who didn't reciprocate the look, but looked ahead in his usual bored expression. The teachers and heroes were discussing amongst themselves what 'Faceless' would look like. Midnight thought that Izuku would have a contorted face and large build. She had never seen or heard Faceless before so her guess was to be expected. She, and everyone else, would be in for a surprise.
Naomasa guided them to the police station and when he approached the large metal door, he clenched the keys in his hands and two beads of sweat were forming from his brow. He just stared at the door and the teachers were getting impatient a little nervous.
"Detective, is there an issue opening the door?" asked Nezu in a friendly tone. "If there is I can-"
"I-I'm fine! I'm okay I can do it." said Naomasa in an almost shouty tone. That made everyone jump with surprise. Nezu frowned at Naomasa's reaction. It wasn't like him to get so agitated. What was the issue with this one villain? Naomasa slowly inserted the keys into the hole and unlocked the door. One could say that Naomasa was like a bird letting its chicks leave the nest. He didn't like it, but he knew it was for the best.
The creak of the door opening shook everyone in anticipation, as they were expecting to look at a large grunt with tattoos and scars. What they saw was flabbergasting. One teacher even dropped to their knees. When Naomasa opened the door, everyone saw Izuku innocently reading a complex novel titled, 'Beyond Good and Evil' by Friedrich Nietzsche. He sat at the edge of his mattress with his left hand rested on his cheek, so the right side of his face was towards them. It was quite early in the morning, so the light from the sun hit Izuku's face so perfectly that he looked like an angel. In the light, his eyes looked like a luminous soft green and his skin looked like a celestial pale. His black hair looked like obsidian and his lips were still. His legs were crossed and he had a nonchalant expression on his face. He was unfazed by the creak of the door and the silence that came from them.
"What the fuck." exclaimed President Mic, holding his head in disbelief. Aizawa had to squint his eyes to make sure his eyes were working correctly and All Might shook his head like there was no tomorrow. He was responsible for how Izuku had become. He was the one who had robbed Izuku of his smiles and joy. It was all too much.
Nezu just stared at Izuku. Not as if Izuku was an ugly spider at the end of his bed, but like Izuku was some kind of fallen angel..or some kind of tainted diamond. Something clean that had gotten soaked in tar.
"The world is a cruel place." thought Nezu before sighing.
"You have some visitors, Midoriya." said Naomasa. He glanced at Izuku's bandages. He really wanted to know the story behind them.
Izuku said nothing but he offhandedly glanced to see the mass of teachers gawking at him and just flipped the page of his book.
"How celestial..are you sure this is Faceless? Detective?" said Midnight in a desperate tone. She was usually the one bewitching people, but Izuku had just bewitched her.
"I can assure you that this is the real deal, Midnight." said Naomasa.
"Fucking All Might. Are you trying to provoke me, Detective?" thought Izuku, he slammed his book closed and though he didn't look at anyone nor say anything, the deadliness of his aura increased rapidly. That made half the teachers back away in fear. Aizawa activated his quirk, he wasn't taking any chances. Izuku smirked and scoffed.
"How foolish." whispered Izuku. President Mic gasped and covered his mouth. Nobody else could hear Izuku's voice because of how quiet he was being but President Mic heard.
"No, man..this is too sad. He sounds like a student that attends high school. A damn high schooler villain! Unbelievable." said President Mic while buoyantly flinging his arms about.
"Eraserhead, your quirk won't work on Midoriya. He's quirkless." said Naomasa. He said Izuku was quirkless before, but nobody seemed to believe it.
"But Faceless kept up with All Might's speed! Surely, that's impossible!" said a hero. Teachers nodded their heads and left strange expressions on their faces. Faceless was a kid. A quirkless one. What kind of mindfuck was that..?
Izuku was becoming a ticking time bomb and was getting irritated at the sight of All Might. He clicked his tongue and glared at the teachers in a venomous manner that caused All Might and Vlad King to flinch in the shoes. Naomasa was unaffected by this. He walked up to Izuku like he was an old friend and plopped himself on Izuku's bed. Kind of like how Tezobi did when he was in the League.
"He has some nerve.." thought Izuku.
"Midoriya, what are those bandages? They look quite old and worn." Naomasa burned a stare at Izuku's forearms with curiosity. At first, Izuku didn't want to say anything about them because they weren't anyone's business but his own and maybe Bakugou's. Then he thought again.
"They are gonna find out one way or another..Lord have mercy on my soul." Thought Izuku.
Izuku's eyes, for a nanosecond, looked over to Naomasa's with a look of gloom and melancholy, like he was begging to be pulled out of whatever sea of despair he was trapped in. Izuku quickly regained his composure. He was quick with his eyes, but Naomasa was quicker this time around.
"What a sad, sad kid. I'll help you. I swear on my life, Izuku." thought Naomasa. He was going to try and do whatever he could to help Izuku.
"Whatever." said Izuku, loud for everyone to hear. He rubbed his forearms and undid the bindings of wrapped cloth from his arms. As he pulled at them, they twirled off his arms and formed a meandering path of thin cloth on the floor. Under the bandages, there were gruesome brown, purple and black scars and burns painted across his forearms like tattoos from a brutal war story. Izuku showed them his scars. Those were burns from Bakugou and he kept them as a momentum from the world to heaven, or hell, when he tried to take his life for the first time before. Sweet, ol' memories, those were.
"Midoriya...what..h-" All Might tried to finish his sentence but found himself letting a tear escape the corner of his eyes in guilt and despondency.
"Pretty, aren't they." thought Izuku. Aizawa eyes were burning because of how he hadn't blinked in a minute of staring at Izuku's wounds. There were alot where those came from, too. Nezu had to take a few steps forward to gaze at the height of destruction that had taken refuge on Izuku's arms.
"What monster did this to you, Midoriya…?" said Nezu, thinking aloud. His cheeks were stretched downwards in desolation. "You're still a minor, whoever did this to you. When I find out who ever did this to you. I'll..I'll…" Nezu was boiling with anger, as if Izuku was his student.
"No, you won't. Kacchan did it. Ask 1-A of it." said Midoriya in a hollow laugh. The teachers present were confused at this statement. Didn't this kid want justice? Why 1-A? 'Kacchan'? Izuku hated the way he was treated in the past but he didn't particularly care about 'justice' anymore. At the end of the day, it was the same old, same old. You can't change the past. That's the bitter truth.
"I seriously don't like the way Midoriya is talking. He's like a broken lightbulb." thought Aizawa, crossing his arms.
Then Izuku gave a sickly sweet smile and tilted his head.
"Wanna hear a story?"
"Is this some sick joke?" thought one teacher. Nobody said anything but Naomasa and someone else nodded.
"Well, my mother came to me twice in a dream not long after she died. I saw her face but couldn't hear her voice. Now, if she's in my dreams I can hear her voice but I never see her face, just her body and the back or blocked side of her face but never the front." said Izuku with a soft smile. "I've been told the first two dreams were her speaking to me in a language we living aren't allowed to hear. And..I can't see her face in the other dreams because in 'Heaven', you're perfect. I daresay with my unworthiest tongue this, but she recently showed me what she looks like now and it's nothing I could ever imagine. Absolutely seraphic."
The room was silent. Nobody knew what to say, or rather whether or not they should say anything at all. It was so..surreal?
All Might coughed because of how much he was croaking, trying to get some words out of his mouth. He couldn't muster anything up.
"Why..why would you share something so precious with us?" said Midnight, who felt like she, herself, would collapse any second.
"Yeah..why.." said Vlad King.
"Think nothing of it. I mean, at some point, Night Eye would probably come to me while I'm sleeping and look into my memories. He'd see what my mother looked like in her angelic form and I'd probably kill him." said Izuku quietly.
Under normal circumstances, the teachers would have threatened him with a lot of horrible things and warnings but in this situation, they did nothing. They kind of understood where Izuku was coming from.
Izuku then rested his knuckles lightly on his chin and slyly looked at the teachers with a small sneer.
"I suggest you all leave now before I break someone." said Izuku softly, side-eyeing All Might. All Might shuddered and hung his head low and gestured everyone to walk out of the cell.
Everyone left the cell, feeling completely different to when they first walked into the cell. Maybe it was a revelation, enlightenment, perhaps? No, no. Izuku was evil. But they couldn't help but sympathise with him. They all walked out but Aizawa just looked at the boy again for a few seconds in bewilderment. That was very uncommon for him.
"Interesting." said Aizawa in a dead tone, then walking out.
Izuku flung himself on his bed and thought about the League. He wondered how things were going, with Sensei in Tartarus and all. Tezobi was probably still being an annoying big sister, Tomura was being a whiny little bitch and Kurogiri was just being Kurogiri. Izuku sighed and put his forearm over his eyes. He truly and honestly didn't care for the League they were none of his business and he didn't give a shit whether or not the organisation dissolved or not. But..Izuku had a strong connection with them and the underworld in general.
Would he rather be in a cell or with them? In a cell or in Hades?
"Take me to Hades..anywhere but here. I feel like something bad will happen and it will involve me.." mumbled Izuku to himself, curling into a ball before drifting off to sleep. Before his eyes shut, a vivid pang of the future was pictured in his mind. It showed him in front of a bunch of people his age and Aizawa next to him.
Shit.