The cool breeze brushing through his hair is the only thing that reminds him of his physical presence. The whir from the ceiling fan is the only thing that reminds him of his ability to still hear properly. His senses are in such a state of disarray that they each lock onto the spin above him, his eyes dizzying with his mind. He hadn't experienced such a state since the time he killed and devoured his mother. He feels lost in a strange place that he doesn't belong. Back then, it had been the wilderness as a child without his mom's embrace. Now, it's an equally hostile environment without the limbs of his Kagune to shield him.
Absent-mindedly, Akatani digs a fingernail into the bar counter in front of him. Like a claw, he grinds the wood so that it chips and splinters. The surface already has its fair share of scratches anyways that he doesn't particularly feel bad about adding more. The distraction is somehow comforting that he wouldn't want to stop even if he did. Each time he scrapes away a piece of the counter, he feels like he's carving out his problems. The shavings start to collect to the point of formulating a pile, so he brushes them off and they fall to the floor.
Then, something gets slid towards him. He pauses his newfound wood carving hobby to glance up at it. A small rectangular package rests on the unscathed part of the bar counter, wrapped in what appears to be butcher paper. Akatani raises his head a little more to see who placed it there. The purple wisp of smoke dressed in elegant clothing stares back at the boy. Akatani asks the smokey man, "What's this?"
He remembers the villain's name is Kurogiri. Kurogiri doesn't divert his attention, stoic and stiff as ever while addressing Akatani. "You're looking rather pale. Consider it a complimentary meal.", though one of his hands does gesture in reference to the miniature package.
Akatani grits his teeth together, blaming his discoloration on his newly appointed Sensei. Just thinking of the devil's personification makes him shudder and sweat. When his mind returns to the present and no longer lingers on that dark room which may as well had been hell, he sees Kurogiri waiting patiently. Akatani clears his throat and starts to deny the food offering, "I don't have any money-"
"It's on the house.", but gets interrupted as politely as possible. Even Kurogiri's tone sounds sympathetically considerate.
Akatani eyes the bartender warily, not buying into the act. He's not forgetting the man is a villain that works under the employ of someone far worse. Besides, he has a valid reason for denying the food. "My diet isn't like others.", he tries pushing the packaged meal away.
But Kugogiri blocks his attempt by resting his own hand on the parcel too. "We at the League Of Villains took that into account.", he pushes back as gently as possible. Akatani allows the bartender to slide it more into his space out of curiosity.
When the package is in front of him, Akatani unwraps the thin butcher paper that's been quadripply layered. He catches a whiff of a familiar scent before his eyes recognize the meat inside as human flesh. Muscle fibers and tendons have been sliced like cold cuts for his convenience. Akatani can't suppress the saliva that starts to fill up in his mouth, so he mumbles a, "Thanks..", and digs in.
Kurogiri momentarily watches the boy eat before asking, "Would you care for a cup of coffee as well?"
Akatani pauses as he considers the question. He's in a bar, but he's underage. Aside from water, he supposes there isn't much else the bartender would offer. Though it does creep him out to think his new Sensei could already know all there is to know about him. He eventually decides to ignore his paranoia and gives in with a nod.
Kurogiri returns the gesture with a single nod of his own before brewing a cup. He fusses behind the counter a little bit before grabbing a glass container full of brown squares and asking, "Sugar?"
Akatani starts to deny the offer with an explanation, "My taste palate-"
"These aren't ordinary sugarcubes.", but gets cut off. Akatani indicates Kurogiri to continue with a curious tilt of his head. "Infused brain matter. Designed specifically for you.", the explanation has Akatani recalling the humanoid creatures called Nomu that he had fought in Hosu. The Nomu had their brains exposed, which means the validity of that statement in terms of what organs are or aren't hard to come by must be true.
Akatani eyes the small brown blocks with a sneaking suspicion. His nose tells him that they aren't drugged or poisoned, so he trusts in his senses. "Sure. I'll try it.", he figures there's nothing to lose if it'll help quench his appetite.
Judging by the upturn of the bartender's yellow slants for eyes, Akatani assumes Kurogiri is smiling. "You won't regret it.", he adds the cubes to the coffee concoction before placing the cup in front of the boy.
Akatani blows on the steaming drink before taking a sip. To his surprise, it tastes better than any other coffee he's had prior. It also helps to sober him to his surroundings and clear the fog in his mind. Glancing around the bar, he questions the first thing that he failed to notice until now, "Where's Himiko and Dabi?"
Kurogiri grabs a rag and busies himself with cleaning a shot glass as he answers, "With Tomura. Like you, they were re-evaluated and welcomed into the fold."
Remembering Tomura's hostility when first meeting his friends, that explanation doesn't do much to allay Akatani's concerns about their absence. "But WHERE?", he stresses the emphasis of his inquiry to get a better answer.
Taking note of Akatani's worries, Kurogiri pauses his cleaning to assure the boy, "They're safe. We have no intention of harming our own allies." And then elaborates on their whereabouts per request, "You have a residence here as well. They're being shown their rooms."
At that, Akatani raises his eyebrows in a combination of confusion and interest. "Food and bed? Is this a hotel or a bar?", he tries to play it off as a joke but can't help but imagine what he and Himiko would have done otherwise. Part of him wonders if Dabi would have let them stay with him, if he even has a place of his own. The money he saved from working at Anteiku wouldn't have got them further than a few weeks.
"Are you not grateful?", Kurogiri resumes wiping down glasses now that the mood has shifted to something more lighthearted.
Though, that doesn't last very long. Akatani doesn't want to owe a debt to the league. He doesn't want to be shown hospitality by villains. He may be deterred by Sensei momentarily, but he refuses to forget his goal. Kurogiri and Tomura are still his targets. He'll kill them. Not today. Nor tomorrow. But eventually. So he answers Kurogiri with a curt, "No. I'm not."
Meanwhile, Akatani's yesterday catches up with him. There's no outrunning his past when a certain rat is running the maze. After class hours, Aizawa enters Nezu's office for a discussion that he'd been dreading the entire teaching day. He's filled with even more despair when he finds Detective Tsukauchi also there with one of his students.
"Bakugo. It's after school hours. Shouldn't you be at home?", Aizawa fixes his focus on the spikey haired blonde first.
Though Nezu is quick to confirm the teacher's suspicion of the boy's presence, "Actually Aizawa, Mister Bakugo is here per my request.", much to his dismay.
Aizawa sighs before also taking a seat, getting settled in for the long haul of what he's sure ought to be a headache inducing conversation, "..And why is one of my students present for this?"
"You'll never guess the coincidence.", Tsukauchi glances over at the underground hero before nodding towards Nezu. The principal returns the gesture before turning the computer screen on his desk to face the other way.
On the monitor is a green haired boy with a face full of freckles, "Meet Izuku Midoriya." Bakugo frowns. Tsukauchi stares at Aizawa from the corner of his eye. Aizawa finds the face familiar but can't quite place it until Nezu reveals the identity for him, "Or as you may have come to know him: Akatani Mikumo."
Aizawa's eyes broaden when he places the features. The outdated picture shows an extreme evolution occurred but the kid is undeniably one and the same. "What's Bakugo got to do with him?", Aizawa redirects his attention as he tries to think of a correlation.
Bakugo meets his teacher's gaze as he explains, "I grew up with the nerd. I knew him before he-" The pause has Aizawa raise a brow. "Before he ran away.", Bakugo averts his eyes.
The avoidance of eye contact has Aizawa asking, "Ran away?"
Bakugo nods. When he realizes his teacher is waiting on a verbal answer, he elaborates, "After his mom died, he just vanished."
"His mother.. ?", Aizawa's breath hitches as he starts to learn about Akatani- Izuku Midoriya's past.
"Shit got really fucked. His quirk manifested and he bit me. Then he stopped coming to school. Then his mom, she was..", the details of Bakugo's recollection start to come fast but end on a more somber note, "He fucking ate Auntie Inko."
It suddenly makes sense to Aizawa why the boy was so intent on covering up his past. The disdain for his own quirk and how he had to cope with its effects. He's only a child and he had reformatted his whole identity to accommodate for the danger he saw in himself. All Aizawa can manage to say instead of a swear word is, "Christ.."
"Detective Tsukauchi and I had similar reactions, but I'm afraid you're a little late to receiving that information for us to dwell too long on it.", Nezu unsympathetically brushes it aside in order to move on with his other findings.
But Aizawa is still processing the travesty for him to be as eager, "The kid ate his own mother!"
"Let's just calm down. Please, Aizawa, have a seat.", Tsukauchi rests a hand on the underground hero's shoulder to keep him from standing up.
Nezu also makes an attempt to de-escalate the situation, "Would you like a cup of tea?"
Though all the principal's suggestion does is earn another glare from Aizawa, "No. I would not."
"Suit yourself.", Nezu easily shrugs it off. He continues with his casual demeanor to type into the system and pull up a new file, "While Mister Midoriya's mother is no longer with us, we shouldn't neglect the boy's father."
"Auntie Inko always said the deadbeat bastard worked overseas.", Bakugo provides his relatively helpful input about the matter from the sidelines.
And Tsukauchi bounces off of it to also explain, "Which is why it'll be difficult to get ahold of him for questioning." Aizawa doesn't like the sounds of that, but waits to hear more before asking anything.
The computer screen switches to a new photo ID, this one a splitting image of Izuku if he were aged up by twenty to thirty years. "Hisashi Midoriya. Nothing too abnormal about his record. Although, I do find the lack of concern for his wife or son rather odd. He never left America for her funeral, nor did he bother to search for Young Midoriya.", Nezu provides a rundown of the information he's gathered on the man.
But Aizawa doesn't find any of it the least bit helpful, "That doesn't mean he'd have anything to offer if we could speak with him. That just means he's an asshole."
"My thoughts exactly.", Nezu beams with a smile like the lack of a lead is a good thing.
Tsukauchi draws everyone's attention to him when he voices that problem outloud, "Despite learning more about the kid, we're not left with many leads." Though not without a small caveat towards Aizawa, "Nezu and I were hoping you might be able to get something out of this."
The underground hero recoils at the implication. He figured the rat would have some delusional gimmick in mind for solving the investigation, but he hadn't expected it from Tsukauchi. "Me?", he wonders just what exactly they have in mind.
"They thought you'd be able to 'get through to me' or whatever.", Bakugo's grumbled answer from the corner wasn't what Aizawa had been expecting either. The blonde crosses his arms as he continues to growl, "It's not about 'opening up'. If I knew something about the nerd, I'd tell you. I seriously haven't seen him since he ran off."
Suddenly, Aizawa has an epiphany. The connection with Bakugo reminds him that there are other students in his class who may also have ties with Midoriya. Todoroki had been mentioned by Eri, as well as Shinso who he had taken under his wing ever since the Sports Festival. "Actually.. Bakugo isn't the only student under my tutelage with a connection to Aka- Midoriya.", he starts to find the intel from the meeting all the more insightful now that he's actually got more leads.
Bakugo shakes his head in dismissal of the possibility, "The nerd didn't have any other friends besides me growing up."
But Aizawa shakes his head too, "These are more recent.", having all the more reason to be hopeful of these potential leads.
"They might know where to find him..", Tsukauchi starts to catch on and agrees that they could make or break the case.
Nezu folds his paws neatly, leaning back in his chair with as chipper an attitude as ever. "Well, let's invite them in for some tea, shall we?", his tiny grin implies that he sees more of an opportunity than they do.