"I don't want to."
"Izuku, please, you need this."
"So do you! You need it more!"
"It's not that simple."
"Why not?"
Hizashi sighed. Getting the kid to put his rose in the vase shouldn't have been this hard. He glanced at Shouta, and the man huffed before kneeling down in front of Izuku. He pulled the rose out of his own hair and held it in front of him.
"Kid, take a look at your rose, then take a look at mine. What differences do you see?"
Izuku took the rose out of his pocket and held it next to Aizawa's.
"Well, their different colors."
"Obviously. What else?"
Izuku's face scrunched up a bit as he looked between the two blossoms. "Yours looks bigger than mine."
"Exactly. My flower, and Hizashi's, have more petals than yours does."
"Which means that you losing petals is more dangerous than either of us losing petals. You can't afford to take as much damage as we can, which is why you need to use the vase before we leave." Hizashi concluded.
"I guess that makes sense..." Izuku admitted. "It's just...it feels wrong for me to take it when I only lost two and you lost four."
"Now don't your worry your fluffy little head about me." Hizashi said, ruffling Izuku's hair. The boy looked affronted, though if it was due to the action or the wording, Hizashi didn't know. In either case, the expression made Hizashi smile wider. "I'm sure we'll run into another vase, and I'll do my best to be careful until then."
With that, Izuku finally conceded to putting his green rose into the vase. His eyes went wide when the vase glowed and the water vanished.
"Do all the vases change colors? And where does the water go?"
"They do. Heck if I know." Shouta replied. Hizashi nodded. It was a valid question, but one that was rather low on the list compared to all the other questions they had. They didn't even know why the vase near where they found Izuku was different than the others, so they had to treat all vases like they were one use only.
Once that was done they all exited their temporary safe haven. The pros cast quick looks back the way they came, and were relieved to see no sign that the door had been opened or damaged. The three trooped down the next hall, one that was blessedly free of artwork, until they came to another door. They opened it, and Hizashi's eyebrows rose.
"We're gonna get through every color in the rainbow at this point."
The new area had violet walls and floors. There was a short flight of stairs in front of them, with a hallway going off to their left at the bottom. They went down, and peaked around the corner. The hallway was long and straight. The right wall was blank, while the left had a small opening followed by a large opening with rope line dividers separating it from the rest of the hall. At the very end the hallways turned left again.
"Let's go look at those ropes first, I wanna see what's up with those." Hizashi said. Shouta nodded, and they went forward, Izuku following behind. They didn't quite make it that far though.
When they came to the small opening, Shouta stopped and looked down it. There was a short narrow hallway that ended in a door, purple this time of course. Before he could take another step, something on the other side of the door knocked.
Izuku jumped and grabbed Hizashi's hand. The man gripped it back, and shared a look with Shouta. He nodded, and carefully approached the door.
"There's a peep hole to look through." Shouta reported.
"Don't look through it!" Izuku himself seemed startled by how loudly he said that. "I just mean, what if the knock was a trap and looking through it hurts your eye or something?"
"That could be." Hizashi admitted. "On the other hand, it could have been a clue that you need to look through it to figure something else out later."
Both of those possibilities had crossed Shouta's mind. He decided to compromise between the two.
"We'll leave it for now. If we run into a dead end later we can come back and look into it."
Hizashi nodded his agreement, and Izuku visibly relaxed. He kept holding on to Hizashi's hand as they went further down the hall, so he felt the boy tense again when they got to the roped off area. There was a maze of rope line dividers within the wide space, but Hizashi was willing to bet Izuku was more concerned about the three mannequins that were standing within the maze.
"They're not moving. That's a good first sign." Shouta noted.
"Do we have to go in? Or should we leave it alone like the door?" Izuku asked. Hizashi squeezed his hand.
"Well, first of all, I don't think we'd all have to go in to figure out whatever this things is. Secondly, it's not much of a maze since we can see where all the paths go and where all the statues are, so it probably won't be a big deal even if we do have to go in."
"Especially since we can easily go over the ropes. The statues haven't been big on jumping in the past, and trying to follow us anyway would get them tangled up."
"Also a good point, Shouta. On that note, there is one thing I want to check out here." Hizashi's eyes went to the small, out of place book shelf that was a little further down. It's wasn't too far from them, but he would have to jump two ropes to get to it.
"The placement on that is pretty suspicious." Shouta agreed. Hizashi clapped his hands together.
"Alright then, I'll go take a look at that and you guys keep an eye on those statues for me."
Despite his cheerfulness, he couldn't help flinching when he jumped over the first rope and a hiss immediately rang out. Izuku squeaked in fright, and slapped his hands over his mouth. Shouta's hand went to his scarf, but he didn't move more than that. Hizashi looked around, and relaxed slightly when he saw that only one statues was moving, and that it was at the other end of the area. Still, no point in dawdling.
He jumped the second rope. Thankfully nothing happened this time, and he quickly searched the shelf in front of him. Once again, there was only one book he could pull out; it looked like someone's journal.
"Diary,
It's said that spirits dwell in objects into which people put their feelings. I've always thought that, if that's true, then the same must be true of artwork. So today, I shall immerse myself in work, so as to impart my own spirit into my creations."
A chill ran up Hizashi's spine. Spirits dwelling in objects? Immersing oneself in work? It sounded uncomfortably close to what he and Shouta had talked about earlier; the idea that this was all happening because the gallery was haunted. Even Guertena's official cause of death sounded like it could have been him 'imparting his own spirit into his creations', leaving his own body...
"Hizashi." "M-mr. Mic."
Hizashi looked up, and cursed himself for getting too engrossed. The one statue that had woken up had wondered much closer. Not so much that he was in immediate danger, but close enough that he didn't want to stick around. He put the diary back and exited the area as quickly and silently as he could. They moved to the nearby corner before talking.
"Anything useful?" Shouta asked.
Hizashi thought quickly. There hadn't been anything on the journal to indicate it was supposed to belong to Guertena. And the haunting thing was still just a theory at this point. "Not really, at least, not immediately useful. The only thing I could pull out was some diary. It sounded like an artist writing about getting immersed in their work. The wording was kinda creepy, but that's pretty par for the course at this point."
Shouta grunted. "Well keep it mind, just in case."
The three continued down the hall, taking the left turn. There was almost no artwork in this part, which was kind of odd given how prevalent it was everywhere else. They ended up turning left again before they spotted another painting.
"It's all white." Izuku said, squinting at the small painting in confusion. "No, wait, it has some lines on it. They look kinda like puzzle pieces." Hizashi nodded.
"That makes sense given the title, it's called 'Milk Puzzle'. You ever heard of one of those?"
Izuku shook his head.
"Well, it's basically like a regular puzzle, except it's all one color."
"What's the point of a puzzle if you don't get a picture at the end of it?"
"Doing a puzzle all in one color is a lot harder than doing one of a picture. Some people like them just because their harder." Hizashi said with a shrug.
"They're less about the picture and more about the challenge." Aizawa agreed.
"I guess that makes sense." 'Kaachan would probably like milk puzzles then. He likes doing things to prove that he can.' Izuku mused.
The end of the hallway gave them more to work with. There was a mirror immediately on their right, a door partway down on their left, and another door at the very end on the right.
"It would be too easy if both of those doors were already open wouldn't it?" Shouta said with a sigh.
"Probably." Hizashi conceded. "Let's try them both, just to be sure."
Shouta tried the door on the right, which was locked. Hizashi tried the door on the left, and the knob turned easily. When he turned to tell Shouta this, he saw Izuku and smiled. The boy was looking at the mirror, testing out the two way mirror tricks Hizashi had just shown him.
"What's the verdict, Midoriya?"
Izuku stepped back and put his hand on his chin. "I'm pretty sure it's just a normal mirror."
"Assuming anything in here counts as normal." Shouta grumbled. He looked over to the door Hizashi was standing in front of. "The open door is just about the right place to connect to the first door we saw, right?"
Hizashi turned to look at the door in surprise. "Huh, I think your right. But with that turn we took a little ways back there's too much space between the hallways for it to be the same door we saw. There must be a room between this door and that first one."
"A room with something capable of knocking."
Given that reminder, they decided to err on the side of caution. Izuku stood out of sight while Aizawa stood at the ready. Hizashi quickly opened the door, and Aizawa's scarf lashed out. When all was quiet, Izuku came out of hiding. Peering around the backs of the adults, he could see a small square room, and a black statue with Aizawa's capture tape around it. The strange part was that the statue seemed to remain just that, a statue.
"That must be what knocked before, right? So why isn't it moving now?" Izuku wondered aloud.
"Not sure, but I'll keep it under wraps, to be on the safe side." Aizawa declared.
"Guess that leaves me to do the searching." Hizashi said, striding into the room. Izuku moved to follow him, but Aizawa held out an arm to stop him.
"The rooms small, Hizashi won't need any help searching it, and I don't want you in there if that things comes to life."
Izuku thought that was a little excessive, since the statue was already tied up, but didn't get to argue that point.
"Not much to see in here." Hizashi called back. "The only thing I can find is some kind of pull cord, like some light fixtures have for turning them on and off. I'm gonna pull it and see what happens."
A moment later Izuku heard a click, but it didn't sound like it came from the room. It almost sounded like it came from behind him. He turned and looked around, and his eyes landed on the door at the end of the hall. There was something different about it now...
"Nothing changed in here." Hizashi called out again.
"There's something by the other door now." Izuku said, pointing at it. Aizawa glanced that way, then called for Hizashi. When the man exited the room, Aizawa quickly retracted his capture weapon and shut the door. Then he joined them at the end of the hallway.
The thing by the left door turned out to be writing on the wall, and another place where a password could be entered.
"What is the title of the large floor painting in Guertena's exhibit?"
Aizawa frowned in thought after Hizashi read the question. "Does it mean that water painting with the eel? The one we fell into to get here?"
"I think so." Hizashi said, scratching the side of his head. "That could be a problem though. I remember reading the name, but I only remember the full name in Japanese and it wants the English version. I mean, I read the name in English, can remember part of it, but I know that the titles didn't directly translate to one another. I'm sure we can figure it out though. It was...'of the deep' the title was 'something of the deep'. I don't suppose you remember it?" He lowered his hand and looked to Shouta, who shrugged.
"I didn't even look at the English name."
"Da-, uh, darn. What was it..."
"Mr. Mic?"
Hizashi turned to look down at Izuku.
"What's up little listener?"
"Well, I don't know if it will help, but I think I know the painting you mean, and it made me wonder if the paintings were in alphabetical order."
"Alphabetical order?"
"Yeah, because it was the first painting I saw in the gallery, and I saw that the first word of the English name started with an 'A'."
"The letter 'A', huh? Let me think..." Hizashi folded his arms and looked up at the ceiling. After a few moments, Izuku noticed that the hero's lips were moving slightly, like he was muttering but doing it without making any noise. He wondered if the hero would be able to teach him how to do that. Izuku was snapped out of this thought by Hizashi snapping his fingers.
"Abyss! That was it, 'Abyss of the Deep'." He gave Izuku a grateful smile. "Thanks for the tip, little listener."
Izuku returned the smile, and kept smiling while Hizashi entered in the painting's title. The door clicked when he finished, signaling that he had remembered correctly.
The room they entered was spacious and rectangular. Two bookshelves lined the back walls, and were separated by a large red and black painting.
They all knew the drill pretty well by this point. A search of the room revealed no keys or anything else of interest, so they moved on to the bookshelves. Aizawa found a book that allowed itself to be pulled off the shelf, and opened it.
"The women here love playing Loves Me, Loves Me Not."
"As if I needed reminding." Aizawa grumbled to himself.
"Hey little listener, what did you find?"
Aizawa looked up when he heard Hizashi's voice. Midoriya was sitting on the floor on the other side of the room, giving the book in his hands a perplexed look. Hizashi was leaning down next to him, his hands on his knees.
"I don't know. It sounds like it's talking about a man and a lady doing something, but I don't know what. I don't know a lot of these words."
"Let me take a look." Hizashi held out a hand and Izuku passed him the book. Hizashi straightened as he adjusted his grip and started reading. Almost immediately, the man's face turned bright red. He quickly slammed the book shut and put it back on the shelf.
"What was it?" Izuku asked.
"It, uh, it was, well, nothing. It was nothing important, and it was definitely NOT something you should read at your age." With that, Hizashi quickly walked away, leaving a very confused child in his wake. His face was still red when he caught sight of Shouta smirking at him. "Not a word."
"Hm, so loud yet still so bashful." Shouta mused.
"I said not a word!"
While Hizashi hissed and Shouta snickered, Izuku pushed himself off the floor and went to get a closer look at the room's painting. Not too close of course, he remembered what the pros said, but just close enough to get a better idea of what it was. Squinting at it, Izuku came to the conclusion that it looked like dead tree branches against a blood red background. He didn't think it was a nice painting.
"Mr. Mic, can you tell me what this one says instead?"
Present Mic looked back at him warily, but relaxed a bit when he saw Izuku wasn't holding another book.
"Looks like it's called 'Separation'."
"But it's not separating anything."
"Sometimes art titles are more symbolic than literal." Aizawa said. "Or they describe something about what the artist was thinking or feeling at the time rather than what the painting actually looks like."
"Aw, babe, I knew you were paying attention when I gave you that spiel!" Hizashi teased. Aizawa huffed in amusement, and looked back at the painting, which made Hizashi look at it too.
There was a brief moment in which every person in the room had their eyes on the painting. The next moment, everything went black.
Izuku's breath caught in his throat. 'What happened? Where did the light go? Did I get transported again?!' "M-mr. Mic? Mr. Aiz-zawa?" Izuku called out shakily, trying not to sound as panicked as he felt.
"We're right here!" "You okay, kid?"
At the sound of their voices, Izuku let out the breath he'd been holding. The release of tension made his voice steadier. "I'm okay, just really confused. What just happened?"
"That's what we're trying to figure out." Aizawa's voice audible above the sound of rustling fabric.
"We'll think of something. Just stay where you are for now." Present Mic ordered.
"Okay."
Izuku stood still, waiting as patiently as he could while the pros talked. He didn't have to wait long.
There was a small grunt. Izuku couldn't tell who made it but Mr. Aizawa was the one to say "found it" just after. Next there was a small metallic 'clink' and a small flame sparked to life, making Izuku jump. He relaxed when he saw that the flame came from a silver lighter, which was being held by Mr. Aizawa, illuminating his face and outlining Mr. Mic.
That was all Izuku had time to see before a high pitched screech made him jump again. The pros jumped too, the movement just barely visible in the low light. The regular lights suddenly came back on, and that should have been a comfort. In fact, Izuku did start to relax before he saw the looks on the pro heroes' faces. Mr. Mic was staring at the walls, and Mr. Aizawa was looking at the floor. Izuku followed Mr. Mic's gaze, and felt the hairs on the back of his neck stand up.
The wall was covered in writing. Izuku had no idea how anyone or anything could have managed it so fast, but it was like someone had come in with a bunch of spray paint and put graffiti everywhere. He looked down, and jumped back when he realized he was standing on top of bright green lettering.
STOP
That's what the letters spelled out. Izuku looked around slowly, reading the pink and blue and red letters.
NO
HeLP
DoN't kiLL mE
"Well...apparently something in here really doesn't like fire." Mr. Mic said, breaking the silence.
"We'll have to keep that in mind then." Mr. Aizawa's fingers pressed along the edge of the, now closed, silver lighter. "Let's get out of here, see if anything else has changed."
Izuku nodded. He certainly didn't want to spend any more time in here than he had to. They exited the room, but stopped just outside the door when they came face to face with more letters. These ones weren't quite as frightening, at least not in appearance. They were a bright red, but they were also neat and orderly. They didn't give off the same hasty, desperate feeling that the last ones did.
"Notice to all visitors." Mr. Mic translated aloud. "There is a strict ban on fire-starting implements in the gallery. We request that you please report the use of matches, lighters or the like. Should the use of such implements be reported the the staff..." Mr. Mic frowned.
"What?" Aizawa asked.
"It doesn't say, it just stops there. Gotta admit, I don't like the implications of that. Maybe we should consider the lighter a last resort, just in case using it again causes something to happen."
"Right. Plus it's not exactly an easy to use 'weapon'."
"Um, Mr. Aizawa? Why do you have a lighter anyway? I thought only people who smoked carried those around, and most pro heroes don't smoke and stuff because they say they want to set a good example." Izuku questioned as they made their way down the hall.
"As they should, and I don't use cigarettes either. Though I sometimes keep a pack on me, as part of my cover."
"You're cover?"
"Shouta's hero costume is about as far from flashy as you can get." Hizashi explained. "It helps him get around unnoticed. Which is important for an underground hero."
"But how does a lighter help with that?"
"My costume makes it so villains don't immediately see me, and they don't recognize me as a hero if they do. If they are trying to be stealthy about their villainy, like most of my targets, then looking like a disheveled civilian-"
"A random hobo, in other words."
"Shut it Hizashi. Looking like that makes it so I can get closer to the villains without them panicking and trying to fight me. Asking for a cigarette, or a light for a cigarette, gives me an excuse to get really close without them getting suspicions."
"And then when you get close you can surprise them and take them down really fast?" Izuku asked eagerly. Aizawa nodded, and Izuku's eyes sparkled. "That's really clever! That way you don't risk people getting hurt or property getting damaged from a big fight."
"That's the idea."
Izuku would have gone on to ask questions about what other methods he had for surprising villains, but the whole group was brought up short when they spotted another change. They had gotten about three quarters of the way down the hall, and out of nowhere there were shoe prints. They looked like someone had stepped in bright red paint, and then gone walking down the center of the hall. Following the prints brought them around the corner and to a purple door that hadn't been there before.
"Well, this doesn't scream trap or anything." Mr. Mic said sarcastically.
"Can't tell much from the prints themselves." Aizawa noted. There was no visible tread, just two solid stamps of paint that made shapes for the heel and toe of a shoe. They weren't very small or very large either. "Though getting clues from them would assume someone actually made them rather than the gallery just making them appear in order to direct us."
They checked the rest of the area quickly, but nothing else had changed. Despite the obvious leading making them suspicious, there didn't seem to be any other way forward. So, expecting the worst, they went back to the new door.
Once again, Izuku stood back while Mr. Mic put his hand on the knob and Aizawa stood at the ready. The door was yanked open, and Aizawa's capture weapon shot through the opening.
"Ahhh!"
Izuku perked up when he heard the cry. That didn't sound like angry artwork. It sounded a lot more...human.
"Hey hey, what's this?"
Izuku peaked around Aizawa's back when he heard Mr. Mic speak. He could see the hallway that the new door lead into, and the figure that sat in the center of it. It was a girl. She looked to be about Izuku's age, with pale skin and long hair that was as yellow as Mr. Mic's. Her upper body was wrapped in capture tape, but Izuku could see a green skirt covering her legs. Mr. Mic stepped closer to her.
"Be careful." Aizawa said.
"You've got a good grip, it'll be fine." Mr. Mic said over his shoulder, then he turned to the girl and knelt down. She cringed away from him.
"What is-who-?" She stammered in English. Hearing this, Mr. Mic switched over to speaking English too.
"It's okay, we don't mean to hurt you. I know you're all tied up and this is probably scary, but we've been running from a lot of stuff for a while now, so we just had to be sure..." Mr. Mic leaned in closer, looking into the girl's eyes. "Are, are you one of the visitors from the gallery?"
The girl's eyes widened. "You...you're from the gallery?"
"Yep, we sure are. This place is pretty crazy huh? Me and Shouta have been together from the start, fell into that big floor painting on the lower level. We found Midoriya here a while back, and now we're all trying to make our way out." Mr. Mic smiled at her softly. "I'll bet that's what you've been doing too huh?"
"I...I wanted to get out...so I was looking around for people." The girl said, bowing her head a bit.
"Well, it's a good thing you ran into us then." Mr. Mic said, now grinning. He gestured between himself and Aizawa. "We're pro-heroes, so we're gonna make sure you get out of here safe and sound."
The girl barely blinked at the mention of them being pros, which Izuku found very odd. Pretty much every kid he knew would have been super exited to hear that a pro was rescuing them, but this girl just nodded a bit. She was looking down at the capture weapon still curled around her though, so maybe she was just too distracted by that.
Mr. Mic gave Aizawa a look. He looked back for a couple of seconds, then released his hold and brought the capture weapon back around his neck. That allowed Mr. Mic to offer her a hand up, and she took it.
"You can call me Present Mic, or just Mic, and this is Aizawa and Midoriya."
Aizawa nodded at her, and Izuku finally stepped all the way into the hallway. He hadn't understood every word that Mr. Mic and the girl had said, since it was in English and all, but he understood enough to get the gist of what was going on. They'd found another person who got lost from the gallery and were introducing themselves. Good thing that was one of the first things his English class taught.
"My name is Izuku Midoriya. It's nice to meet you." he held out his hand.
Mary's barely looked at Aizawa before zeroing in on Izuku. When she heard him talk she giggled, and Izuku worried he'd said it wrong, but then she took his hand and shook it.
"It's nice to meet you too, Izuku. My name is Mary."
Izuku's face felt warm. He'd never really talked to a girl before, and this one jumped right into using his first name. It was probably because she didn't know how familiar she was being, but still...
"You a tourist, kid?" Aizawa asked, looking her up and down. His voice sounded kinda different when he spoke English.
"Tourist?" Mary parroted.
"Are you visiting Japan sight seeing? Where are you from?" He pressed.
"Oh, well, my father is German." Mary supplied. "I came here because of my dad's work. I don't know how long we'll be here."
Izuku nodded slowly. He did recognize the country name, and thought it made sense. Mary certainly looked like she could have come from somewhere in Europe, now that he got a closer look at her. He also saw that she wasn't just wearing a green skirt, it was a long sleeved green dress.
"Well, maybe in the quieter moments on the way out I can give you a few language lessons." Mr. Mic offered. "But first we- aha!"
Mr. Mic suddenly ran down the hall. In the corner between their passage and one turning left, sat a flower vase filled with water.
"See Midoriya, I told you it would be alright." Mr. Mic said once all three of them had caught up with him. He reached up to take the rose out of his hair, but stopped and looked down at Mary.
"Hey Mary, we each got a rose when we got lost in here. Do you have one too?"
"Oh yeah, I have a yellow rose." Mary said. She pulled a blooming rose out of her pocket; it matched her hair almost exactly.
"Is it missing any petals? Wait, do you know what happens when the rose loses petals?"
"Yeah, I've known for a while, and mine is fine."
She didn't sound very distressed about the situation. Maybe she hadn't had any close brushes like they'd had yet, that might explain it. Plus her rose did seem to be a bit bigger than Izuku's own. Why was that? He thought his was smaller because he was a kid but Mary was a kid too so why would she have more? She was a bit taller than him, did that have something to do with it? Maybe-
"Watcha sayin'?"
Mary was suddenly right in his face and he jumped back.
"Ah! Um, I, sorry about that. I know it's weird." Izuku rushed to explain. He didn't need this girl treating him like his classmates did. She only stared at him though, and it took him a minute to realize he'd spoken in Japanese. He repeated himself, to the best of his ability, in English. He saw understanding light up her clear, blue eyes.
"I'm not mad. I just wanted to know." Her eyes flicked over to Mr. Mic, and her face suddenly split into a grin. "You're orange rose is so pretty!"
"Just remember kid, these things are more than just pretty, your life and ours depends on them. You should really find a better place to keep yours and-"
"I like pink flowers too, and blue of course! You all have pretty colors too though! Izuku, your green is so bright, and it compliments your hair. Aizawa's isn't exactly pretty, but I've never seen a black rose before so that's cool."
Huh, maybe she didn't mind his rambling because she did it too.
"Well, I suppose we got lucky with Midoriya listening so well." Hizashi said, now back to speaking Japanese. They had started walking again, Hizashi had insisted on it after Shouta's eye started twitching after Mary ignored him talking to her. Hizashi made sure she stored her rose safely before urging them on. (she'd been delighted at the suggestion of braiding it into her hair, but had insisted on doing the braiding herself)
The two kids were walking just a little ways behind them. Mary was still talking, and Midoriya was doing more nodding then speaking. Hizashi figured he should keep an ear on their conversation, just to make sure there were no misunderstandings with the language barrier.
"Guess we'll have to keep an even closer eye on this one, huh Shouta?"
Shouta only nodded. However, Hizashi could tell from his pressed lips and furrowed brow, that his husband was thinking the exact same thing.