Hey everyone! How are you readers? Welp, here comes another chapter from this crazy story. What can I say about it? Well, Toga Himiko is so insane I can't depict her madness in a proper way. That said, on with the chapter!
Scarlet Love Marks
His head hurt. His head hurt a lot. The pain wasn't as debilitating as breaking his arms and legs but it was constant and drowned his senses. Where was up? Where was down? What was this sound in the background? Why was so dark here? Oh, about that, he could try to open his eyes. Izuku did so but it didn't help much. The place, wherever it was, was pretty dark itself. His head was still spinning a bit so he had to wait until his dizziness passed. Once his senses came back to him, the teen tried to remember how exactly he ended like this, while he looked around searching for any clues of his current situation.
Izuku tried to move his arms, an instinctive reaction, but he found resistance. Then he noticed the shackles on his wrists, above his head and keeping him hung. Not only that, he was chained on the ankles, waist, and neck. Luckily he could breathe just fine since it wasn't too tight around his neck.
Speaking of breathing, wherever he was, it was a little bit cold here. It didn't help that he only had his shorts and a sleeveless shirt. He just came from the gym with Mina so…
"Right! I was going back to the dorms with Mina when Kirishima came to us and. He told me to meet Ochako on the running track. I went there and…" While his memories slowly became more clear, the sound of steps announced that someone was coming. The dots connected quickly on his head and Izuku braced himself, looking at the source of the noise. He heard a light laugh before a light flashed above him. It wasn't really bright but his eyes were used to the darkness so the sudden illumination forced his eyes to close a bit.
"You finally woke up!"
That voice. He didn't hear it a lot but he knew it pretty well. The mind registers sources of danger with much ease, and that voice triggered all the alarms on his head. As his vision adjusted, he watched in shock as a blond girl with a sailor uniform stepped into the small spotlight. Her cheeks were taken by a red blush and she held a wide fanged grin towards him. Her eyes seemed to glimmer as she stared at his face without averting her gaze a single moment.
"I was starting to worry that you wouldn't wake up"
"You are… Toga… Himiko" He did his best to not sound scared or intimidated. The last thing he needed was to let this villain know about his mental state. More than that, Izuku became aware of the condition of his body.
While the dizziness was gone and his senses were working again, there was a light and stubborn pain on his head. If his experience could tell him, he had at least a fracture on his skull. By the growing pain on his muscles, he was hung like this for some time. So she knocked him unconscious, dragged him somewhere and chained him like this. How long was this gap where he blacked out? Did anyone notice he was missing? Wait, he was inside the school so the alarms must have been triggered. That meant that the pro heroes should be already looking for him.
Still, he didn't know where he was or how long he had been here. Izuku had to discover these things before trying to break free. He could pretty much be in one of the hideouts of the League, which would lead to fights while he tried to escape. He would definitely be outnumbered and there were the villains with problematic Quirks, Compress and Kurogiri. Izuku had to get the maximum of information before he could plan his next moves.
Unfortunately, he would need to get them from the girl standing in front of him. Something about her made him feel uneasy after the way she attacked him back at the training camp. She had an intense gaze focused only on him, like right now. She had been just staring at him while his mind raced.
Speaking of her, she slowly brought her hands to cover her mouth, then jumped up in place with her arms wide open, squealing like a crazy fangirl.
"Yay! Yay! You remembered me! You can call me just Himiko, Izuku! We are so intimate already~" Toga said as she hugged him tightly. He was hung up in a way that she only managed to reach his midsection, so she buried her face on his chest while the bear hug around his abs made it pretty hard to breathe. She was surprisingly strong for someone of her size, but then again, Ochako was surprisingly strong too.
"Ochako! If I remember well, this girl can change her appearance. If she took Ochako's form… is she safe?! I have to get out of here fast"
"Izuku~ you are spacing out" She still held him but not tight. Her eyes were focused on his face. "Could it be that you're worried about Ochako?"
"How did she-"
"How do I know? Well, silly, I know you worry about your friends. But worry no more, Ochako is still at the dorms, if you need to know" For an instant, he felt relieved, but there were other things to worry about. For example, the objective of him being kidnapped thought the first thing that came to his mind was what All Might said about One for All. They could try to take it by force from him.
"I won't even give them the chance"
"Erm, Toga. What does the League of Villains plan by-"
"Himiko"
"... What?"
"Call me Himiko. Hi-mi-ko" She made a small pout. For now, he would play by her rules.
"Then… Himiko. What are the plains of the League of Villains with me being kidnapped?" He decided a straight question would be more effective.
"Huh? Who cares about Shigaraki? He's been doing so much boring things lately…"
Wait, so she wasn't under his orders? Then why on Earth would she have all this work, just to kidnap him? She invaded U.A, a complex with dozens of security systems and filled with pro heroes and experienced students. Coming to think of it, how did she accomplish that without being caught. There had to be much more than just disguising as Ochako.
"Toga, I mean, Himiko. How did you get inside U.A? The defense systems are pretty advanced and the place is full of pro heroes"
She perked up at the question with some interest.
"Oh, that? Well, it took me a lot of time to plan and at the end, I had to ask Malware-kun for some help"
"Malware?"
"Yes! He's pretty shy but he helped me out with some of his inventions. He looked so cute while he shook with my knife near his neck~" She said the last part with her hands cupping her cheeks, like a normal teenage girl. Her focus then shifted back to Izuku.
"But enough of these boring questions! Izuku~ We can finally be together" Toga approached him again.
"Together? What do you mean by that?" He didn't like the way she put it.
"Hmm, I guess they call it a 'date'. Yes! That's it! Our first date!" She jumped up and down, then moved from the spotlight and apparently pushed something. He heard the sound of chains, then gravity acted on his body and his feet met the ground. He almost fell due to the surprise move but Izuku quickly caught himself. His hands were still above his head thought. Back at the spotlight, Toga got really near his face as she spoke excitedly.
"So, aren't you excited to our first date?! I know I am. I had been planning this for so long and it never occurred to me this was a date! Silly me~"
Something was wrong with this girl, he was sure of it.
"Himiko… san, I don't think this is how a date goes"
"What do you mean? Don't we get to spend time with persons on dates?"
"Yes, but people do that with other persons they like"
She quirked her head to the side a little.
"So? Why are you saying that?"
"Huh? You are part of the League of Villains, right? And I am a student from the hero course. We are enemies"
"What about that? I like you, Izuku!"
His eyes went wide open in shock.
"Hah?!"
-/-
U.A: 1-A Dorms
"Ribbit… Izuku…"
Tsuyu just floated on the pool with her head half immersed in the water. She thought about swimming to clear her thoughts a little but it didn't help in the slightest. What's worse, being here made her remember of the time she told him how she felt. Needless to say, she was devastated by the kidnapping of the green teen. All the girls were, though Mina and Ochako were on another level completely different. The frog girl also worried for her friends. Since that night Ochako hasn't been herself and a Mina seemed to have lost all her energy to do anything.
She just kept inside her room and more than once Tooru had to go there and drag the pinkette so she could eat. Not that Tooru or Tsuyu herself was any better. Only now Tsuyu noticed how much she relied on Izuku. Not that he did everything with her or any of the girls but his absence seemed to drain all happiness of the ambient. For the frog girl, the pool was one of the best places to spend time and whenever it was her day, she dragged him to swim, even on cloudy days. Now the pool felt empty. There was no one to swim with her, to help her if she got a cramp on her leg. No one to say how beautiful she looked when her skin shone in the sunlight, even if it made her look more like an actual frog. Despite the clear sky, clouds covered the pool.
Speaking of mood changes, Tooru was in a similar way to Tsuyu. The always energetic girl tried her best to keep the spirits of her friends up, but she was also losing her upbeat nature. She had been in a tough battle to make Mina crawl out of the hole she buried herself into but it seemed to be working the other way around. Not that Mina wanted to make the others feel sad, but depression can be as contagious as happiness.
Tooru tried to deal with her negative emotions the way she always faced everything: being open and trying to find the positive points in the situation. So far, she was sincere in saying she felt sad whenever someone asked and they didn't receive any threats or messages that could mean Izuku's life was at risk. The problem was that they didn't get any news yet, despite the efforts of the pro heroes and police. That left her with only one option, drow her sadness into a sea of her cute plushies, while she hugged her small doll version of the green haired teen. It used to be more effective. Being invisible, there were very few people that truly knew how she felt, and the most important one was missing.
If Mina chose to weep quietly and Tooru was open about what she felt, Kyoka chose to be the opposite of them both. Her answers to the ones who asked were pretty neutral, the concern you would expect from a classmate. However, for the first time at the 1-A dorms, the others started to listen to the sounds coming from Kyoka's room. Only one problem, it was soundproof. Her old man had raised her on the way of music and even with her desire to become a hero, she loved it nonetheless. She was taught that music was one of the greatest ways to express yourself, how you felt, and she had been doing this for some time now.
The notes and riffs came one after another at a fast pace, so fast that it sounded almost desperate. The distortion on the guitar and the volume turned to the max made the sound dirty and confused, a mess that would be fitting a show of heavy or death metal in a wide open stadium, but definitely not the closed room she was now. No one came to tell her that maybe it would do some harm to her ears or something. No one asked if she was working on something specific neither if they could hear her. Not that she wanted to be the center of attention here. She only wanted to get the attention of a certain person and he wasn't here.
Another person tried to be creative while dealing with this problem, Momo. Being one of the top students, Momo focused on what she did best, studying. During this week she borrowed at least ten books from the library, not counting the ones she already had to read for the classes. The titles were diverse and most of the time she found a good reason to read them. How to bake in easy steps; Creating a balanced diet; Advanced Chemistry; A thousand and one unique contraptions; Reading corporal expressions; The art of deceiving; A quick guide to the Art of War; Dealing with decisions. One could say she was just focusing on her training but those closest to her noticed that Momo was looking for anything that could keep her mind occupied.
If she was to allow herself to think about him, even for a second, in a more personal way, the tears would come nonstop. She had to hide in the farther sections of the library once because she just couldn't hold them back. Along with the sadness came a huge sense of loss, a void that was eating the place where her heart used to be as the time passed. She was aware this was a selfish and mildly possessive feeling, but she lost what was most important for her. Someone took something that was hers, and she was currently powerless to do anything about it.
On another side of the school, the Development Studio, a pinkette exploded yet another invention. It wasn't a spectacular and destructive blast, just a quite loud sound and a big cloud of smoke. Two things made the teacher and her classmates worry about it. One, it took four failed attempts for Mei to make some significant progress on her projects. Two, if she wasn't making any progress, she just kicked the defective invention on her pile of 'work in progress'. Neither of these things happened and that was the eleventh time she got a boring cloud of smoke to her face. What was worse, from what Power Loader sensei could tell, this project was pretty simple by her standards, so he was specifically worried. You could say he was lacking the explosions a little but he was more than glad they had stopped. The teacher only wished that these catastrophes didn't have any direct connection with the development of one of his best students.
With the pink haired girl, she didn't feel like working hard on her babies. More than that, the fountain of ideas just became dry and she only had lame and repetitive designs and functions in mind. Not that she was making these projects work, anyways. What good would do making them work if she couldn't share them with anyone? Most of her classmates avoided her testing stages due to the danger of explosion, but she found someone that really appreciated what she did, even if it didn't work at first. Even if it was a complete failure! The same someone that she learned to love and spent so much time sharing her ideas and opinions, and hearing his theories and analysis of pro heroes. The same someone that had a passion like her. If he was gone, how could she have any motivation to work?
-/-
"You… like me? As in, really like…?" He must have been misunderstood things. Maybe the hit on his head was affecting his hearing. Toga just giggled at his face of disbelief.
"Yes, silly! Since the first time I saw you, I knew you were special. Ah, is this what is called love on first sight?~" She cupped her cheeks and let out a sigh of a person lost in love. Her yellow eyes then turned to him, filled with a menacing intention that made Izuku shake internally. This couldn't be a good sign for him.
"Ne, Izuku, do you have someone you like…?" She slowly got closer to him. Izuku felt a chill run down his spine. Something told him that if he didn't get out of here fast, he wouldn't have another chance.
"Someone I like?"
"Yes, someone you admire. When we like someone, we want to be like them, right?" She stood right in front of him, inching closer to her chest touched his. Her hands slowly reached under his shirt, lifting it and exposing some of his abs. Her nails scratched his skin very lightly, making him shudder a bit. She wasn't going to do what he thought she would, right? This definitely was the worst moment and the worst person in the worst scenario possible. Yet, when she said that, Izuku's mind wandered to All Might. He surely admired him and wanted to be just like him. Could it be that this girl wasn't so bad at all? Maybe she was just on the wrong side and-
"I like persons covered in blood, so I want to be covered in it too!" She kept staring right into his eyes, her face mere centimeters away from his, holding a psychotic look that seemed to freeze him. Izuku felt her breath hitting his face and had a coppery, faint smell of blood mixed with a sweet scent of strawberries.
"I want to taste your sweet blood, Izuku~ We were made for each other. You can say we're soulmates! I'll make you perfect… perfectly covered in your sweet blood, and we'll be together forever on my heart! Don't this make your heart race?!" Yes, his heartbeat was as fast as it could be. As he understood his situation, Izuku couldn't stop his body from shaking in fear. This girl wasn't following orders from the League of Villains or any occult organization. What she did and what she planned to do were purely out of her own psychosis, and she had him right where she wanted him.
As terrifying as it was, at least that meant she was alone, which made his escape much easier. So Izuku forced his mind out of its shock state and focused. He'd need to act quickly, summoning One for All on Full Cowl shoving Tiga aside. He could break these chains without breaking his limbs but suspected he would have a short amount of time to get free before she could try something. Getting mentally ready, Izuku out the image of the microwave on his like always and… nothing?
"Huh? What's going on? I don't feel One for All coming"
He tensed his body more, trying to harness his power, but to no avail. Then Toga started to laugh lightly.
"Are you thinking why you can't use your powerful Quirk, Izuku?~"
Dread took over him. Did she already manage to steal One for All? But she wasn't with the League on this. Did she lie to him? And how did she take it since he didn't intend to pass the torch?
"This is a small prize we got from that Yakuza guy. What was his name…? Well, who cares? As long as this is in place," Izuku felt a sharp pain near his ribcage, on his left side. Apparently, Toga was sticking her finger inside a hole he didn't notice before. Until now the area was kinda numb. Most important, he felt an object intruding on his flesh. It seemed to have a pointed end. "your Quirk will be shut down. Shigaraki doesn't know I took one of his Quirk erasing darts so this will be our-se-cret~". Toga winked and licked the blood on her slender finger. Terror took over his body and features as the blonde giggled like a mad woman and took off his shirt.
"So… where should I start?~"
-/-
U.A: Teacher's Room
Principal Nedzu scanned the lines of the reports he got so far with his beady black eyes. His impressive intellect lead him to some conclusions and he didn't like them a single bit. After pondering over the possibilities with a cup of tea, he summoned all the teachers involved in the case.
"Well then, as you know, by now Midoriya Izuku has been missing for 9 days. This surpasses by a far the period of time one of our students has been kidnapped and honestly, I hate these statistics with all my heart. That said, after checking all the dependencies of the school and the surrounding area, Ectoplasm and Hound Dog confirmed that there wasn't any invasion on the buildings, except for the running track, as Kirishima-kun has told us. What worries me more, they found some devices left behind at the point where the breach might have occurred. According to Hound Dog, he only detected a faint unique smell, almost completely masked. This leads me to conclude that, one: whoever it was, the enemy didn't bother to get rid of the proofs of invasion, but was cautious enough to hide any traces of where it could be. This person doesn't plan to be found. Two: it was a premeditated act, based on heavy plotting, meticulous calculation, and observation. Three: the few clues we have points to the terrifying fact that this person acted alone. It scares me that one person on her own invaded a school full of pro heroes and heroes in potential and managed to execute her plan"
His words hit like a truck at high speeds.
"But I refuse to think that we failed our students, at least completely. Only if we don't recover Midoriya-kun, I'll accept defeat, and I believe you all share this mindset"
"Absolutely correct, Principal. I have to ask, though, what is our next step. The patrols can only have a certain level of efficiency" All Might was really serious.
"I sense you made your own search, All Might"
"Yes. Once again I came to confront the former mentor of the League, All for One. Despite his sarcasm and cynicism, he told me that this could be a possible move of Shigaraki Tomura, but he doubted it would be the case. I also think that this is an isolated case"
"Based only on the opinion of a locked up villain?" Aizawa entered the conversation.
"No. This young boy, Shigaraki, this is like a game for him. He wouldn't act in a way that he didn't find interesting. Unfortunately, he's learning with every defeat, and by now he would already put his plans in motion if they included kidnapping Young Midoriya. Just think of how he fast he acted when they captured Young Bakugo"
"If what you say is true then we're even farther from finding him. We have info on possible hideouts and persons of interest of the League, but if this an isolated and unknown agent, things will be much harder"
"Can't Hound Dog track them by the smell?" Midnight spoke, trying not to sound desperate.
"Unfortunately, he said the smell was masked, even Midoriya's. The surveillance system has been hacked so we don't have any clues of how the kidnapper looked like" Nedzu added. Nemuri tightened her fists in frustration.
"How did he managed that, anyway? The security system is almost state of the art" Snipe questioned the principal.
"We indeed invested a lot on security recently. The technological artifacts we found are under the police custody and being analyzed by specialists, but they didn't get to understand how they were made neither the fabricant. We might be dealing with an individual full of resources"
The room became silent for a minute before the white mouse spoke again.
"Until we find at least a lead to the whereabouts of Midoriya-kun, we'll intensify the patrols. I again don't feel comfortable with this but the students might help. At least this will keep them from chasing trouble, right, Aizawa-sensei?"
Aizawa just nodded with a tired expression. More than usual.
"Yes. Class 1-A in special had made really strong bonds. Such strong feelings always affect the decisions they make. Personally, it isn't entirely a bad thing but they tend to go too far for each other"
"Isn't that what we're pursuing? Going beyond the expectations and your own limits to help others?" Toshinori questioned the black haired skinny man.
"Yes, but not in a borderline suicidal manner. Not everyone has been gifted with the power to level cities like you, you know"
"But still-"
"Hey, hey, let's not get too heated up here. Save that for the kidnapper" Mic decided to intervene before this discussion went any further. Both Aizawa and Toshinori were very proud of that class, but their visions and methods were pretty divergent.
"Speaking of 1-A, Midnight, you came to check on them on the night Midoriya had been kidnapped. How were things there?" Vlad asked. Nemuri chewed on her cheek a bit before she said anything, a habit she had whenever she felt frustrated.
"Not good. One of them tried to get out and chase Midoriya all by herself while the other seemed to have a mental break down. I had to put the two to sleep…" Deep inside she was crying, both for Izuku being missing and the state of the girls.
"I didn't check on them again but they seem to be handling this the best they can"
Nemuri got word from Tsuyu and Tooru about Ochako and Mina, the most worrying cases, but they didn't sound any better for her. She also overheard from Power Loader that Mei was really strange. Nemuri herself was a wreck, and she also had to worry about Yu. Since the principal started with the patrols, Mt. Lady was the first to offer herself to the task. She didn't ask for payment or anything. Nemuri never saw the blonde get so motivated to do something related to work, so much that it was dangerous.
They both chose to work hard instead of weeping and drowning their sadness in drinks, but Yu took the caffeine as a substitute as she drank cup after cup in order to keep up. She made the largest turns on patrols, searching around the city all night long, just to glue on the news once the morning came. Her room was full of journals and reports scattered all over the place and she kept searching for something, anything, on the internet, any hint that could lead them to the green haired teen. At this pace, she would collapse before they could find Izuku.
-/-
"Good morning, sweetie~ Did you sleep well?"
Izuku woke up with a strong smell of coffee invading his nostrils. His eyes tiredly opened and he raised his head so he could look at his captor. Toga held the cup in front of him and she was just like yesterday. She still had that sailor uniform that seemed quite warm, that wide fanged smile, and that blush that seemed permanent in her cheeks. On the other hand, Izuku felt cold, from the lack of clothes covering his upper body in this refrigerated room. His expression was one of exhaustion and he gritted his teeth while he looked at her. He had to keep himself together while the pro heroes searched for him. Speaking of which, one day had passed? She did say good morning, but she could be saying that just because she felt like. He lost the track of time.
Since he kept staring at her, Toga got tired of waiting and put the cup she was holding on a table, walking to where some chains hung from the ceiling. She pulled them and Izuku was forced to straighten his back since his neck was being pulled. His arms were tired of being held open to the sides and his feet were dormant. Toga then cupped his cheeks with some strength and forced the hot drink on his mouth.
"AHG! Hot!" Izuku spun his head as he felt the very hot liquid burning his tongue and mouth, letting some of it spill on his jaw.
"Aww, you made me spill it. How will you be awake if you don't have your breakfast? Isn't it the most important meal of the day?" She said in a way so natural that it made him feel sick. Like she cared for him a single bit. "Well, let's not put that to waste"
Toga then held his cheeks again and started to lick his jaw and neck where the coffee had spilled. After that, she took a big piece of bread and force-fed Izuku, almost choking him. While he struggled to chew on the bread and swallow it, she blew the hot coffee and once again forced it on his mouth. Now at a more suitable temperature, Izuku had to feel the absurdly sweet taste of the drink, so much that he thought he would throw up.
"Ugh… too sweet. How many spoons did you put in that?"
"Just one cup of sugar. I want your blood to keep that sweet taste~" She said innocently, but for the past hours, before he fell asleep out of tiredness, Toga had been slowly drawing cut marks on his body with a surgical knife. She carefully cut his skin deep enough only to draw some drops of blood. And it wasn't the worst part. After breakfast, the true test would continue. She kept switching from shoving bread on his mouth and forcing him to drink the extremely sweet drink until she felt satisfied, which didn't exactly match his level of hunger. Izuku really felt he would throw up now.
"So, shall we resume our date?"
The blonde girl said as she reached for another sharp tool in the table. It was a small kitchen knife. She tested the blade by cutting a piece of paper.
"Hm-hmm. Don't you love to see a blade so sharp?~"
She stepped closer to him, resting one hand on his shoulder and trailing with her fingers all along his arm until she reached the hand, where she carefully felt the scars Izuku had. He tried to resist and move away but his power never came, no matter how much he focused not even one percent. By instinct, his eyes closed when he felt the cold blade cutting his skin again. It wasn't a debilitating pain but it stung, and she did it in such a way that he felt every second it as if his senses were heightened.
Then came the worst part. After making a cut, Toga would always suck the first drops of blood she got out of the small wound. It didn't hurt, but it made Izuku deeply disturbed. Whenever she made this, almost in the form of a ritual, Toga let out a lot of noises, as if his blood was the best thing in the world. Yesterday she cut half of his right arm. Now she was catching up from where she stopped.
"Hmm… there's some dry blood here… I shouldn't do this since I like it fresh but… I can't get enough of you~"
And then she slowly licked his arm, sticking her tongue out like a cat. Some of the cuts opened up again and Izuku felt his blood getting out of his body again, only to be taken by her as she made his arm wet. It made Izuku sick to no tomorrow, but there was nothing he could do. No, he could resist. Aizawa once told the class that many villains try to break the mind and the body of their targets. As long as the mind keeps intact, there were much greater chances of escaping, even in complicated situations like this. So Izuku did his best to ignore her, drowning his senses as he focused on something else.
That's right, he had to come back in one piece to them. The girls must be worried sick about him. Keeping them in mind would give Izuku the strength necessary to endure anything Toga could throw at him.
Unfortunately, she didn't like the way her soulmate spaced out. Was she doing something wrong? Maybe she wasn't making him bleed enough. Well, that could be fixed.
Izuku kept his eyes closed, imagining his objectives when he felt a hand land on his shoulder. When did she stop to cut-
"Aaaagh!"
Izuku screamed as he felt a huge pain on his other shoulder. Slowly turning around and with one eye open, he was the knife with about a quarter of the blade sunk at his flesh. He didn't have time to think about it because Toga twisted if a little, making him feel more pain.
"Izuku~ What is going on your head? You spaced out a bit. Can I have your attention now?~"
He looked at her with water filling his eyes. His arm shook and it hurt whenever he moved it.
"Thank you, dear. Now, let's play a little game. If I think you are not paying attention to me, I stab you like this again. If you keep focusing on lil me, then I can cut you like before. Nice, clean and slowly. What do you think?"
He didn't answer, gritting his teeth to hold back the scream.
"Hmm? Am I being ignored?" She slowly twisted the knife, making Izuku wince in pain.
"Okay! Okay! I'll look only at you! You have all my attention!" He didn't want to sound desperate but the pain was too much. If his only options were feeling a small constant pain and a huge pain that could potentially kill him, he would choose the former. The grin on her mouth widened as she removed the knife from his shoulder, making him wince again. Izuku felt the blood slowly running down the side of his torso, while his open stung in contact with the cold air.
"Aah~ You make such a cute face when you are in pain~"
-/-
"Are you sure about that, Kayama?" Hizashi went after the woman as she walked hastily to the entrance of the school.
"I have to try, Mic. She said she could discover where they came from"
"Yeah, she said that, but are you really going to stop the police's work because a student said she could find the fabricant?"
Nemuri stopped for a second.
"Yes, I trust her" And with that, she left.
Midnight drove to the location where the Hi-Tech devices were being stored and studied. They didn't make any progress and he was missing for almost two weeks. She couldn't wait any longer. Nemuri argued with the officials and managed to get at least one of the devices. Back at U.A, she went straight to the 1-H dorms, where Mei waited anxiously for her. Once she opened the door, Mei shot up and hurried to take the device from her hands, already examining it as she walked to her workbench. Nemuri locked the door behind her and followed the pinkette.
"So, do you think you can find who made this?"
Mei looked up at her with a serious face.
"Whoever made this must really like to invent things. This signal scrambler was clearly manually assembled, but the work is pretty well done. This means that he probably left his signature somewhere. If I find it, you can try to use the name and search into these underground networks of parts"
"Ahem, and may I know how do you know about said networks?"
"Umm, I… heard about them in a forum?"
"I don't have to say that you should be more careful, right?"
"No… Anyway, let's see what we have here"
And then Mei spent the rest of the night dismantling the round device that was found near the walls of the school. It apparently has been used to cut the video feed and the alarms when the kidnapper invaded. After long hours of work, Mei found something, waking up Nemuri, who ended falling asleep on the teen's bed.
"Nemuri-san, I found something"
"Uh…? Oh, did you get the signature?"
"No, but it'll work just fine. Here"
Mei handed her a really small object that looked like a mini power cell, with a glowing blue stripe in the middle.
"This component is very expensive and hard to get, so I bet only a few people would have access to it. If you find the source, they'll probably know who bought it and then you can find the fabricant"
"Impressive. Why didn't the specialists found this before?"
"Well, the entire thing is wrapped in a self-destruction system. Once you try to open this, the circuitry and all the components are heavily damaged. This person didn't want to be found. It took me three hours and a baby I made some time ago to bypass this system"
"Thank you, Mei. You just put us a step closer to him" Nemuri said and made her leave, but she stopped when the girl called her.
"Ne, Nemuri-san. You will bring him back, won't you? He'll be fine in the end. Right…?"
The older woman tightened her fists but gave Mei a reassuring smile.
"Yes, we'll definitely bring him back"
-/-
"I have to get out somehow, but before anything… this damn thing stuck on my side..."
Izuku tried to form a plan to get out, once again scanning the room for anything he could use. His eyes were used to the darkness now that Toga turned the lights off. The room was as cold as usual and he could see the table where she kept a painfully big collection of different blades and sharp objects. If nothing, he could use this to defend himself, though Izuku didn't have any experience in combat with weapons of any kind. He always fought with his fists and legs.
He wriggled again, trying to find how deep on his flash the annulling dart was. By the way it stung him, it wasn't so deep that he couldn't remove it but he was worried about the size of the thing. Now, he had to somehow convince Toga to let him free and alone at least for a brief period of time. Izuku though about trying to pull an act and fake that he was in love with her, like, in the same psychotic level. While this could work pretty well, there was a chance she would only feel more motivated to make him bleed, plus, even if faking, he felt completely disgusted with the idea.
So, what other choices he had? The last one would be the last option for sure. maybe something more on the side of a need?
"Well, that could work"
So he waited until the blonde came to the room again. He heard a door opening and just a bit of light come from a corridor, then steps. The light above him got turned on and after his eyes adjust to the brightness, he saw her, same blush on the cheeks, same fanged grin, same psychotic eyes.
"Oh, hi Toga, I mean, Himiko-san"
"Izuku! You shouldn't wait for me awake"
"Ahh… I kinda… wanted to see you"
Her eyes lit up.
"Really?! Why did you want to see me?"
"Well, I need to ask you something. It's a little urgent"
"Huh? What do you want to ask me?"
"I… I have to… I have to go, you know..."
"I'm not understanding. You are on a date with me. Where would you need to go?"
He took a deep breath before saying. No matter his current situation, it was embarrassing.
"I need to go to the bathroom…"
She seemed to understand now.
"Ohh, why didn't you say it before, dear? Of course you can. There's one right here"
Toga said that and quickly walked to his back, unlocking the shackles holding him. Izuku had some trouble keeping himself up, probably due to the blood loss, but the girl held him and helped him get up. She even waked him to the door he was before, opening it and getting him inside the small bathroom.
"Umm, Himiko?"
"Yes?"
"I can't go if you are here..."
"You can't?"
"I can't do it if you keep looking, its… kinda embarrassing"
"Ohh, don't be so shy~ Well, I'll outside then"
He did it. Izuku got free of the chains and alone, just as he planned. Now he had to get rid of the dart and break his way out of here. His body was a bit tense from being held for a long period but he was sure he could use Full Cowl without problems.
Izuku sat and rested his head on the wall. Feeling under his ribs with his fingers, he found the spot where the dart was lodged, and as he feared, the hole wasn't very large. While it was good because he wasn't losing a lot of blood, but getting this damn thing out would be a huge pain.
Izuku held his breath and gritted his teeth, then slowly slid two fingers inside the wound. As he expected, it hurt a lot, but he couldn't make any noises. He had to open the wound so his fingers could reach the dart, but the pain was making it almost impossible not to scream. He wanted to scream, as it seemed the only way to vent off the pain he was going through. Why he had to pass through this? Tears started to roll over his cheeks. Just a little bit further.
"Izuku? Are you alright? You are in there for some time now"
"What?! It didn't pass five minutes, you psycho! Shit! This hurts! Come on! Get out!"
"Izuku, what's happening? If you have a stomach ache I can get the medicine". She pushed the door. Izuku then hit his foot on the door to hold it close.
"Aagh! Respect other's privacy! Just a little more..."
"Izuku! Open that door! Open it now!"
It was now or never. izuku forced the wound open with one hand and used the other to almost dig the dart out, but by doing this he couldn't hold any longer and started to scream. Between the pain and holding the door, he was barely keeping himself conscious, as his vision started to get a little foggy. He could feel the foreign object inside the wound. It was at the tip of his fingers. He just had to hold it and pull out, and all his problems would be solved. He only needed ten more seconds, five maybe.
The door burst open and Toga jumped in, hitting Izuku square in the jaw. She held his wrists and tossed him out of the bathroom, pinning Izuku on the ground and sticking her fingers inside his wound. She had a furious look n her face.
"So you were planning to escape?! After all that I did for you?! That's how you repay me?! With cheating?!"
"Aaaagh! Cheating?!"
"You were going to see her, wouldn't you?! You were going after Ochako!"
She got up and dragged him back to the spot where the chains were, locking his neck and pulling the chain so his feet were barely touching the floor. Izuku tried to hold his body up but the reopened wound and the pain drained his strength. It was getting hard to breathe. Damn it, he was so close. His vision was fading to black when he looked at her face one more time. Toga had… tears on her eyes?
"How long have I been here…? I can't remember well. Four days, maybe six? I lost count of how many times Himiko said good morning. No, wait. She could be lying. But I guess she likes to say it whenever I wake up. She likes my sleepy face. She likes the face I make when I'm in pain too…"
His mind was foggy. It was hard to think straight. Izuku couldn't focus because of the overload of information flooding his senses. He got used to the ambient and noticed some things. There was a couch on the other side of the room. Sometimes she slept there. It was kinda soothing, seeing her sleeping peacefully over there. When she was sleeping, she wasn't stabbing him. There on the table, many things neatly organized on it. He confirmed it was her collection of blades and sharp things, unfortunately by the worst way. The small door in another wall, this was the bathroom, where she took him when he had to go, but the shackle on his neck was always present, and she cuffed his wrists. Sometimes she would keep the door open, just to be sure. She liked to keep him clean. The only thing allowed to cover his body was his blood, his sweet blood.
Izuku wondered. Did his blood really taste sweet? She had been feeding him with so much sugar filled food lately that he thought it was really starting to have a sweet taste. One thing was for sure, the smell of blood was pretty marked on his mind.
Another thing stopping him from thinking straight was his muscles in general. Being hung like this for so long made his whole body feel sore, tensed up. Recently, Himiko adjusted the chain on his waist so it was the main support of his weight. Thought it hurt a bit, at least it was easier to stand up. Keeping his head up was another challenge as every time he lowered it he felt choked by the iron belt around his neck.
Izuku was tired, exhausted. Himiko didn't stop cutting him. By now most of his upper body had been cut. From head to waist, he had thin scarlet lines all over his skin, which let small vertical lines of red, flowing slowly from the cuts. Some of them were closed, but it took just some licks or a smaller blade to reopen the tiny veils. He preferred when she liked him. It didn't hurt like the blades. Silly girl, she wanted to see him covered in blood but she kept licking it. This way she would never finish her work, this date would never end, and he would never leave.
"Leave…? When did… I stopped trying…?"
"About three days ago. You finally fell in love with me, didn't you, sweetie?~"
Himiko made her way from the darkness and stepped on the dim light. She still had the blush crossing her cheeks.
"Love…? I love them… the girls, they are special… hey, did you know? I have a harem full of beautiful… and lovely girls… I'm so lucky, right…?"
What was he talking about with her? Did the blood loss affect his head?
"Tsk, tsk, Izuku… why do you force me to do this? You know I have to finish my work with you, so help me out here" As she said that, Izuku felt something piercing his left leg.
"AAAAAGH!"
"Now, let's try again. Who is your soulmate?"
"~gasp pant~ you…"
"Huh? I didn't hear"
"You are… Himiko…"
"That's right! And who loves you the most?~"
"... Hi- Himiko…"
"Yes! I love you the most! And who do you love the most, Izuku?~"
"I… I…" His mind was racing. He knew the answer. They were waiting for him to return, but if he said that, Himiko would be mad. And when she got mad, that meant more stabbing. Stabbing wasn't good, it hurt too much. If she was in a good mood, she would just cut him. With a bit of luck, she would clean some of the dry blood and sweat that crawled in his skin and made him feel so sick and dirty. It hurt him but he had to say it, or else he would get hurt more.
"I love Himiko…"
"Yay! Glad we have that clarified. You don't need them anymore, Izuku. You only need me. You only have to be here by side and get all covered in your sweet blood~"
She picked up another blade from the table.
"Oh, the special one…"
"This one is special" She held it like a treasure. "Stain used her before he got caught. You don't have any idea of how hard it was to get her! Well, I have a little surprise you~"
Oh no, not a surprise, he didn't like surprises. Surprises were bad. Himiko slowly got closer to him, held him by one of the shoulders and started to make a cut on his chest. He wanted to look away but he couldn't. She would stab him if he looked away. From time to time she looked at his eyes, her yellow ones meeting his greens. After some painful minutes, she started to clean some of the blood, with her tongue, of course, and then stepped back a little, flashing her fanged to him.
"So, what do you think?~"
Looking down at his chest, she made a heart and the letters 'I + H' inside it. He knew what he had to do.
"I… loved it, Himiko…"
-/-
Ochako finished changing her clothes. The hero costume was on her backpack and she used more discreet clothes. Putting the dark shades and covering her face some more with the hat, she parted to her destination. Sometime before Nemuri said anything, she was already making her own research, trying to find any clue about Izuku. When the older woman said she might have a lead, the first thing she did was to get ready to follow her. Ochako knew Nemuri wouldn't allow her to go with her since she was still a student, but she had to make this with her own hands.
She reached the alley just in time and used her Quirk to float up and hide in a secure place on one of the walls. She waited for a while until two figures appeared, one cloaked and the other wearing a thick scarf and a hat. With the hot weather of today? This person might be the target, from what she heard. She did well in spying on the teachers and on the police. The device Momo made helped a lot.
The two figures talked for some minutes, then the man with a scarf handed a large case. The cloaked one opened it, revealing an insane amount of money. After that, he took of his pocket a small box. The one with the scarf examined the contents of the box and then shoved it on his pocket. The two figures then parted ways and Ochako followed the one with a scarf. The person went inside a parking lot and got into a car, leaving the place. Thanks to Momo again, she had a small tracking device with her. Ochako had a lot of trouble to get her to create this, but she convinced Momo that they should do something about this situation. Her friend didn't want to just stand and watch while Izuku was missing, so as long as Ochako didn't do anything dangerous, when would be willing to help.
It took her more time than she expected but she got to the place the car went. It was a two-store old warehouse far from the center. Few people passing by and low surveillance from the police, really a good spot to hide. The brunette used her Quirk to float up and enter through a window on the second floor. Once inside, she tried to find the suspicious person she saw before, but it was nowhere to be found. The warehouse was empty, save for some dusty crates here and there. The device pointed to this place so where this person could be? Ochako saw some stairs and went to the first floor. There had to be some clues around here. But once she stepped on the floor, a click made her freeze in place, then came a terrible feeling of something cylindrical touching the back of her neck.
"Well, what do we have here? I don't remember ever being popular with girls, even more with the pretty ones like you" A voice came from behind her. It sounded a little deep, though she was sure this person was young. "Now, why don't you turn around so I can see your pretty curious eyes, huh?"
She didn't have an option. Ochako raised her hands and slowly turned around to face the man with a scarf she saw before. He covered his face almost completely, along with the hat he used.
"Oh, you have a really cute face. Now, what does a beauty like you want with me? Spying on others personal business and tracking their moves? Are you from some secret kids division of the government-"
"A name"
"Huh?"
Ochako had a gun pointed at her face but she couldn't let this wave her resolve. She had to discover who took Izuku from her.
"Some time ago… you made some devices to break security systems, didn't you? I want to know the name of the person who bought them"
His eyes squinted a bit and he let out a tired sigh.
"It's the second time a young girl comes to me asking for difficult things… listen here, if you had all this work to find me, then you might have an idea of what I do and how do I do my job. I don't ask questions, I just deliver the order and take the payment"
"But you saw who it was. Tell me at least that" She could not give up now, but being threatened like this was surely a test to her nerves. One wrong move and it would be the end of her. Ochako had to be absolutely sure of her actions in the next seconds. No room to hesitation, so she started to take deep breaths, increasing her focus.
"Oi, oi, are you deaf or something? Let me tell you something, in my line of work squealers always end on the river or in a dirty alley with their brains scattered on the floor. Mine is more valuable than you can imagine, so it's obvious I won't do anything that can put me in danger"
"Then why work like this? Wouldn't it be better if you just sold your inventions to enterprises legally?"
He let out a light laugh.
"That's what I expect of someone who probably had been raised into a wealthy house. Do you think I work in the dirt? Let me tell you something, beauty, the business are way more dirty and ugly. I'm not going to waste my talent with these greedy sharks"
"So you chose to waste it with robbers and assassins?"
"Well, it's a way of living, you can't blame me. I don't take any responsibility for the uses of my creations, as long as they pay me" She could practically see the smile on his face under that scarf.
"... Is that so?" It infuriated her. She had to keep her head cool what this man just said… Because of his work, someone managed to take Izuku from her. He didn't take any responsibility? He took it the moment he accepted the job, and anyone involved in this, no matter how much, was guilty at her eyes.
"Oho? Beauty, you have some pretty bad looks on these eyes of yours. Seriously, what's up with young girls these days? Do you all have this scary look?"
"A young girl? What would a girl want with Izuku- no… could it be-?!"
"Sorry about that, Beauty. Since you found me with that cheap tracking device I can't let you go like this. In my line of work, the fewer people know about my existence, less dangerous is for me. You get where I'm trying to get?"
"Yes, I get it…"
"Nothing personal, trust me" He put his finger on the trigger.
"Nothing personal, huh…?"
It took three seconds. There were a flash and a loud sound of gunfire, and then a body hit the floor. Everything happened so fast there was no time to react at all. On one moment you are standing up and on the other, you are looking at the ceiling. Seriously, the man was confused. When did that happen?
Well, he would have to worry about it later because as soon as his back hit the floor, hard, his body was spun and he felt his arm in great pain. It was being bent into a position it definitely should not be. He would scream if the air hasn't been taken from his lungs, thanks to the fall. Just what was this girl?
She had a gun at point blank range, in her face, and yet she moved so quick he almost didn't see it. The moment he pulled the trigger, no, when he thought about doing it, she dodged to the side and grabbed him by the arm. He fired the gun by reflex. She held on his shirt and spun, tossing him over her shoulder and slamming his backs on the floor. A girl, almost half his height and probably less than half his weight, threw him at the ground with so much strength that the air left him. And if it wasn't enough, she immediately put him in a painful armlock, putting an insane amount of strength in that, way too much for a girl like her. But maybe the scariest thing was the glimpse he got of her eyes. A girl with a pretty face like her shouldn't have menacing eyes like that, though it wasn't the first time he saw something so unfitting like this. In fact, it has been almost three weeks since that.
"The name"
Was this girl for real? This whole situation seemed a joke of some kind.
"The name"
He snickered. He was surprised for sure, but she was pretty naive, wasn't she? As if he would spill the beans just because he got a little girl holding his arm with an unexpected amount of force.
"Are you kidding me? Like you would get anywhere with just that? So, you look really young but I bet you're some kind of investigator. Let me tell you, I lost the count on how many times I made the police look like an idiot and- ~crack~ AAAARGH! WHAT THE-"
"I think you got me wrong"
"Huh?!"
The man made an effort and looked back at her, the pain on his right shoulder making things a lot harder. Oh, he wished he didn't look. What he saw was the cute face of a girl, serenity plastered on it like the didn't care about his disjointed shoulder. No, it was more like apathy, as if she couldn't care less about him, a facade of tranquility that served to hide a killing intent. Her gaze was so calm and yet so intense, that he felt like the worthless pile of trash in the world, the last and insignificant part of the food chain.
"You see, I'm a student. Someone made me really mad because it took something important for me, something really important, and I won't measure efforts until I have it back" She said that with a sweet voice that didn't match a single bit with the dark and heavy content of her words.
"Alright, now that we got this out of the way, about that name… can you tell me?"
She held a warm smile on her lips and it only increased the sensation of fear inside him. He still chose the silence, defying her. She was just a girl, right? A student. She probably had a policeman for father or was involved with some troublesome people, nothing he couldn't deal with after some calls. He even managed to flash a grin in the corner of his mouth, despite the pain. Her smile widened a bit.
"Hmm, quite stubborn, aren't we?~ Well, why don't we do something about it?~"
Another crack and his elbow also bent in an unhealthy way. He let out another scream.
"Nothing personal, trust me, but I really want to know that name. And your arm looks so breakable… You get where I'm trying to get?~"
Her eyes were staring at his face as he tried to resist the pain. She was… despising him?
"What's up with persons from the underground these days? Do you all have this pathetic look?~ Hey, don't go shit your pants, you have a girl in the room" Crack.
"AAAAARGH! MY WRIST! YOU DIDN'T EVEN ASK YET!"
"Sorry about that, how impolite of me. So, before I ask, do you prefer your fingers or should I break the other arm to keep things symmetrical-"
"OKAY, OKAY! I'LL TELL YOU THE NAME!"
"Oho? See? You just needed an encouragement~"
"But I'll warn you. You don't want to mess with her"
"Her?"
"Yeah. She's quite hard to find, an urban legend, you could say. A blond little girl that can carry any assassination you can imagine"
"Oh, so we have a big fish here…" Her tone was more serious now.
"You bet, and it gets better. I heard she joined that group of idiots, the League of Villains. They are as powerful and dangerous as they are stupid, so don't ever think about underestimating them. So, still want the name?"
"Why are you talking so much? I asked you a simple question. Would you get to the point if I broke your legs too?"
"Ei, cut that shit! I'll tell you! Her name is Toga. Toga Himiko. She came around about three weeks and asked if I could make something to hack the security system of a max security prison"
"A max security prison?"
"Yeah. It's the same system they use at that famous school, U.A. I guessed it was her target, given who she teamed up with. There, I told you all I know. I don't ask a lot of questions. Let me go now, okay? Hey!"
He looked up again and then felt the temperature drop. Or it was just himself who imagined it. Her eyes looked menacing before, behind that cute mask she held, but now there wasn't any faking. He didn't know who the hell this girl was but he felt sorry for whoever got her mad like this. Her eyes were devoid of any emotion, yet she emanated some kind of aura, an aura of pure and absolute anger. Someone with that cute round face should not make this kind of face. Luckily, he wasn't her target. So he thought.
Her tiny hands made its way to hold his head. After having his arm disjointed in three places, he knew what would come from this and it would end really, really bad for him. She was shaking in place, maybe out of anger.
"... Ne, you said you didn't take any responsibility, right...? Well, I have news for you, we have responsibility for all our actions… You chose to make things illegally, you chose to help this girl… you chose to help her take him from me… So you're as guilty as her. Then you have to pay. Quite simple, right…?"
"W-wait up! I told you all I know! You are from U.A, if I understood. I can tell your teachers and the police a lot of things! Names, places, I got a lot of favors!"
"I asked you a simple question. Why are you still talking…"
"Come on! I just did my job! You don't have to do this!"
"Yes, I don't have to do this"
She stopped and he let out a sigh of relief.
"You didn't have to accept this job either…"
His eyes widened in terror. That was it, his end would come by the hands of a cute girl with terrifying eyes, while she looked at him like he was the most pathetic thing she'd ever seen.
"Alright, that's enough!" Sounded the voice of a woman.
"Oh great, now what?!" The man thought in desperation.
Right before Ochako could twist his neck like a damp rag, Nemuri held her and pulled the teen from the fallen man, putting her on a headlock. Ochako struggled a bit until she noticed it was someone she knew.
"Eh?! N-Nemuri?!"
"Don't come with 'eh?!' to me, what the hell do you think you are doing?!"
"I, uh, how… how did you get here?!"
"The same way as you did. Momo warned me that you might get out of hand, so I decided to keep an eye on you, and look where I got"
"So you…"
"Yes, I let you follow me around. What, did you think I wouldn't notice? You have a long way to go if you want to follow this path, though I strongly advise you should not"
"Is this serious? The hero Midnight?! So this girl really is from U.A… What the hell do they teach at that place?!"
"You heard everything, didn't you? She got him. Toga… Himiko…"
"Tone down the killing intent, girl. We don't do things like this"
"You were searching for this guy, right?"
"Yes, with the lead Mei gave me"
"Then how would you get the answers, then?"
"Normally I would just hand him to the police and let them to the work, but after a little survey, I think the method would be kinda different. To be honest, at my state, I would start asking after seriously beating this bastard"
"What's up with these women?! What could make them that mad?! And how did I get involved in this?! At least I told them what they wanted to know…"
"So… mister Malware, I presume" He flinched upon hearing his codename. "You just told my young friend here some interesting things"
Midnight spun him on the floor and then forced his shoulder back in place. It hurt as much as disjointing it. She pulled him by his scarf and brought her face close enough so he could only look at her face.
"Since you seem to have a lot of connections, and so many people owe you favors, I was thinking if you couldn't help me out a little. What do you think?"
Malware felt his spine chill again. These women and their killing intent… he didn't get paid enough to deal with it.
Wearing her costume again, Ochako walked with Midnight, returning to U.A.
"What do we do now?" Asked the short brunette.
"We have to check the points Malware gave us. Once we make sure Izuku is in there, we invade and rescue him"
One would expect her to feel happy that they were so close to rescuing Izuku, but Ochako had an even darker expression in her face.
"~sigh~ Finally. Once I get my hands in her I'll-"
"You'll focus on taking him to a safe place and only after that we think about capturing Toga"
"Capturing? Do you think I'll let her go with just that?"
At that moment Nemuri held Ochako bu her wrist and made the girl face her.
"What the hell are you saying? Are you even listening to yourself, Ochako?!"
"What do you know?! All this time we had been worrying sick about him and I didn't see you drop a single tear!"
"That's because no one is supposed to know about us! Did you forget already?!"
Ochako forced Nemuri to let go of her arm.
"Whatever. Do what you want, but when I see that blond bitch I'll wipe that blush from her face with my bare hands"
"You'll keep your shit together and act as the hero you're supposed to be. Or do you really think Izuku will look at you the same way he used to after doing something like that?"
Ochako tightened her fists, but faced away from Nemuri, lowering her tone.
"Tsk. I don't want to hear that from someone who needs so bad to hide how she really feels"
"How I really feel…?" She was a grown up woman already. There was no point in keeping this argue with Ochako. Everyone was on the edge, and the brunette was doing what she could. Nemuri took a deep breath in. "Listen here…"
The taller woman held Ochako by her costume and brought the girl to her eye level, almost touching their foreheads. Nemuri looked visibly distressed now.
"What right do you have to say this about me…? Is it because you were the first one…? Because you are his first crush, huh? Just so you know…" Hot tears started to flow from her eyes. "I have been looking for clues everywhere. Since Mei gave me that lead I didn't get three hours of straight sleep. Yu isn't any better. She has been glued on the news for an entire week! Hide how I really feel? Yes, I have to because unlike you, young and lucky lady… I am MUCH older than him! What do you think will happen if someone discovers about me and Izuku?! Huh?! Do you think you have a problem with your harem? Try being at my place! So don't- don't you dare to say I don't care, don't even think about that, because I love as much as you do, Ochako. As much as any of you do! Do you hear me?! Get that in your thick head, you are not the only one suffering!"
She didn't want to vent off her frustration on Ochako, but she couldn't stop now.
"Did you know Mina is devastated?! She was the last person to see him! I get that you are angry because Toga used your face but you're not the only one! Momo is drowning herself in books, Yu isn't sleeping, even Tooru is trying her best to not let this situation take her down, so don't think for a moment that you're any worse than us! ~sob~ I had to hold myself at the teacher's room while they discussed what they could and could not do… Did you know miss Midoriya wasn't informed yet about her son…? You know who suggested that…? Me. Why? Because until we find him, I can't bring myself to let her suffer. I can't even imagine the damage it would do to her health, both physical and mental… What if she decided to take Izuku from U.A…? It is selfish of me but… I don't want him to leave. Yu doesn't want him to leave, either Mei, Tsu, Momo, Kyoka, Tooru… and you too, Ochako… We have to bring him back… but we have to do this the right way. If I just let myself go with my emotions, I… I don't know what I would do… So please listen to me, you stubborn round face. Don't do anything that will make you regret it later"
The guilt weighted on Ochako like a dozen ships.
"I… I really love him. Strange as it is, Izuku was the one to really care about me, and not only my body. He was the first to make me feel truly loved. I felt like someone ripped my heart from my chest when I discovered he was gone… but I had to keep myself together, otherwise, I wouldn't be able to help him… I had to hold back my emotions because that's what I was supposed to do as a hero. He needs a hero right now… and I swear to myself I'll be there, I'll save him as one of the heroes he admires so much"
Still crying, she let go of Ochako. Nemuri tried to wipe the tears but more came to roll free over her cheeks.
"Sorry about that burst, Ochako. I didn't… I didn't mean to-"
Her words were cut by the brunette giving her a tight hug.
"I'm sorry, Nemuri. I did and said a lot, didn't I? I'm really sorry I said those things to you. I just… I can't imagine myself without him, and I got so desperate to find him that… no, that's not an excuse. You're right, I have to act as the hero I'm training to be" She looked up and found the watery eyes of the black haired woman. "We'll save him, right? All of us?"
Nemuri slowly returned the hug, slowly smiling despite the still flowing tears.
"Yes, that's a promise"
End of Chapter
There, all up and done. Oh man, I feel so embarrassed when I write these stories. Anyway, as usual, leave your comments if you feel like. See ya later!