5. COLD

"Nomunomuuu!" Deku leaped onto the monster's neck, "Let's play!"

The monster and the child began walking away to somewhere, probably a more spacious area to mess around so they won't crash into any tables with Noumu's huge size, but Shigaraki couldn't help worrying about how strange the situation was-

"So, what's that?" Kurogiri asked Sensei.

"I'm planning on giving it to Deku as a pet." was Sensei's simple and stoic reply.

Kurogiri stopped. "Uh, that's literally a weaponized, artificial human that's designed to kill people-"

"Well, I think it's taken a liking to Deku. It's being pretty docile." Shigaraki mumbled, removing the hand on his face to drink his coffee.

Meanwhile, Nomunomu was being fed some cookies Deku had gotten from Kurogiri. Deku was giggling in glee, adorably enjoying his new friend and excited as to what came next.

"What about the Sludge?" Kurogiri decided to ask, turning away from the two artificial quirk users, "Who do we send?"

"Did Deku acquire a good amount of information?" Sensei questioned.

"He told us the usage and application of the quirk." Kurogiri said, "And a way to deal with him."

Sensei smirked, "That's a good sign." he said, amused and satisfied and proud of his creation. "It was a good choice to make him, after all."

"But there are limits to what we can do if he's mentally a baby." Shigaraki mumbled.

"Shigaraki, you're mentally not much older." Kurogiri blurted out but was ignored, "But that's true. There's still a limit if we keep holed up in here, because updated information won't be taken in."

"It's a little soon, but we shall move on to the next step." Sensei grinned maliciously, his poisonous intent spilling thickly like honey out of his mouth, "I will make Deku the perfect Noumu."

"So, you really have no idea where he may have went after your quarrel?" Tsukauchi asked the boy once again.

Katsuki was terribly annoyed now. "Yeah." he said, swallowing all the frustration down, "I've got no idea."

Tsukauchi sighed, "I see, sorry about that."

Katsuki sighed too, "That stupid Deku probably got kidnapped or something. Isn't there a villain round here that would kidnap weak-looking beansprouts like him and do experi-"

Immediately, Katsuki was met with a smack to the head, courtesy of Mitsuki. "Why are you so obsessively negative?!" Mitsuki snapped at her child.

"It's the truth, dammit! What else can possibly freaking happen to that-" Katsuki tried to speak again but a sharp 'be quiet, you munchkin' from his mother shut him up instantly.

How often does Bakugou Mitsuki show raw anger, again?

But it was mainly because Mitsuki knew why her son said those words. Her son was a selfish, prideful brat that would never admit his wrongdoings. However, the pain of guilt spares no one. Unable to cope, this was how Katsuki repents. He does things he never meant to and says things he doesn't want to- all to drive himself into a corner and bury himself into the depths of hate and blame.

That may be an exaggeration, Mitsuki sighed to herself. Really this boy, he takes after his father in the worst possible places!Tsukauchi eyed the sight before him. He really doubts the fact that the boy did not care for his friend, but he didn't miss the clue Bakugou Katsuki slipped in.

Isn't there a villain around here that captures weak-looking beansprouts like him?

In fact, there were plenty. What kind of villain would be able to capture a child before he left school grounds, with no one able to locate when or where he even disappeared? His first suspicions was that the culprit lurked around school, but he had performed a search and skim of the whole school and its staff members, nothing coming up fruitful enough to even give any sign of the boy's whereabouts.

"A new Quirk?" Deku questioned the subject curiously, "I don't mind at all, but why?"

"It's to build up your efficiency and usefulness." Sensei explained, "Think about it."

Deku believed was here to be Sensei's archive of hero knowledge, so why would he need more quirks? He wouldn't need many strength-based quirks, in his opinions, because it would lower the amount of focus he can pour into information gathering. It would also be a waste of a great quirk as Deku disliked and did not have the physical capabilities and experience to cope with long battles. Oh, but defense-based quirks or quirks that boost his information gathering abilities might help him gather more information. Maybe something like an indestructible shell he can hide in while thinking about counterattacks; or a quirk that allows him to see far distances so he can gather data from great distances away.

"It sounds interesting." he agreed with Sensei's decision. "Actually, I'm Sensei's property, so Sensei doesn't need my approval to do anything." he also mentioned, giving a cheeky grin. "If Sensei wants to do something, I'm completely fine! I'd even die for Sensei!"

Death, huh. Since he's already dead, dying another time or two for the man that gave him life was a choice he wouldn't think twice about.

"Just remember." Sensei warned, "I've never tried implementing more than one quirk into someone without them losing their minds." And sure enough, Sensei was almost afraid that he would lose this valuable, once-in-a lifetime success he had gotten. He feared that he would lose Deku, what he had believed to be entirely vital to his plans, because he was impatient.

"I'll be okay!" Deku beamed, "I trust in Sensei!"

And for one, Sensei hoped he trusted himself.

Several Months after Midoriya Izuku's Disappearance.

Midoriya Izuku

Time of disappearance: 5.31 p.m. (approx.)

Date of disappearance: X-th April XX-X

Tsukauchi Naomasa looked at the case file several months later, barely looking at the first two lines. He turned to the face of the missing boy, and pondered of how young he was and how unfortunate this case had ended up. He had truly wanted to solve the case, but there was nothing he could do now.

Months of effort, but the crime was too perfectly concluded. Not a single soul had a final glimpse of the boy- no one except Bakugou Katsuki. Not a single hint of the boy's belongings were left behind on school grounds, not a single soul had spoken to him after school that day.

Regretfully, Tsukauchi Naomasa closed the file, and placed the file next to the other cases no one would look at for another number of years where time would help to miraculously sprout evidence. The case of missing boy Midoriya Izuku had not been declared a cold case yet- it was far to early to say so. His higher-ups often dubbed these case as gone stale. No one bothered about them anymore.

The most difficult thing he had to do was tell Midoriya Inko of the news. She had broken down crying, wailing and sobbing for, (as Tsukauchi had heard later), the next week, staying mostly in her son's room to cope. She had finally picked herself up a month later, being positive that her son was safe and that she had to keep smiling and made sure the house was in order if her son was to come back soon.

The next most difficult thing was to see how Bakugou Mitsuki looked disappointed, but had a hint of pity on her face. She had definitely understood how hard jobs in this hero-filled world was for a policeman, and she was offering understanding looks that tried to assure him it was okay and he did his best. It seemed to have the opposite effect, though.

And then it was Bakugou Katsuki, who, although had held up a fiercely indifferent farce the whole time, freeze with a shocked look on his face as he demanded an explanation, blamed his uselessness, and had to be stopped from destroying anything other than the vase.

Tsukauchi walked home solemnly.

The police are useless, he sighed. We hope to redeem ourselves from the discrimination of the heroes, but most of the time, we can't do anything to salvage how helpless we are.