It was getting to be relatively late out, which made Shigaraki wonder what was taking the two so long. He knew the hero brat was strong, but he had faith that his teammates could follow through.
"It's been quite a while since the party left, do you think something might have gone wrong?" Mr. Compress questioned. He was fiddling with one of his signature marbles while staring at the door with what Shigaraki assumed to be a forlorn look.
Attempting to hide the fact that he was becoming marginally worried, Shigaraki replied sarcastically, "Maybe, or they're just really slow."
Spinner, ever the voice of reason when it came to defending people within the League, said, "You never know the type of trouble they might've come across, boss."
"That's the understatement of the year."
Reverting to awkward silence, Shigaraki observed that the other League members seemed to be attempting to hide their anxious tics as well. Whenever Compress was nervous, he fiddled around with his marbles, his attention barely straying from the blue sphere. Spinner always focused on sharpening up his blades, which he usually decided to forego out of the habit of being lazy. Twice was pacing back and forth in silence, which was rare for the guy since he never stopped ranting on and on about things. Magne was busy shining her glasses, and Shigaraki briefly thought that it was rare to see her without them. Even Kurogiri, who had no outward reaction to the disappearance of Dabi and Toga, was sitting calmly behind the bar. Usually, he occupied his time with cleaning the wine glasses or dry wood, so when he was standing like a statue, you knew something had to be wrong.
"Shigaraki Tomura, shall I make a warpgate to Midoriya Izuku's house to retrieve those two?" Kurogiri asked respectfully, ultimately breaking the tension that had been simmering into the atmosphere.
"No, they should be able to do such an easy mission without royally screwing up." Even though he was worried, he figured it was important to have faith in his teammates' abilities to handle themselves. If he couldn't do at least that, then how could he trust them to watch his own back?
Shigaraki lifted himself on the bar stool, stalking towards the stairs. The anxious atmosphere was making him uncomfortable, and he would much rather be hiding away in his room playing video games. The moment he placed his foot on the first step, the bar door slammed open, leaving a small crack in the wooden frame upon where the doorknob made impact. Dabi and Toga barreled into the room panting like their lives depended on it. To Shigaraki, it looked like the two of them had run a marathon at full speed.
"Are you two okay? You look exhausted," Magne pointed out while getting out of her booth. She walked towards the pair and immediately began inspecting them for injuries.
"Don't worry Big Sis, we're fine. If you should be worried about anyone, it should be Izu-kun." Toga said in-between gasps.
"Why would we be worried about the Midoriya kid?" Mr. Compress asked
Toga's eyes speedily latched onto Mr. Compress before whipping back to her compatriot. An eager smile split across her face as she shook Dabi back and forth like a maraca. "Come on Dabi, explain everything to them!"
"Why the fuck do I have to do the explaining?" Dabi complained with a scowl. He looked five seconds from bolting back out the door.
"Because you're the one who found the evidence, now explain!"
"Fine. The first red flag of the night was the bad feeling the two of us were getting. The next was the fact that the door to the kid's house was already unlocked-"
"Hold up, I knew the green brat was an idiot, but I didn't know he was that bad," Shigaraki interrupted.
"Shut up asshole and let me finish."
"Then hurry the fuck up."
"As I was saying before I was so rudely interrupted, the two of us quietly walked into the house in case some other unknown party was in there. Luckily there wasn't, but the house was deadly silent. Toga checked out the main rooms while I continued to go down the hall to the bedrooms. It was easy to tell which room belonged to the Midoriya kid, since he had an All Might nameplate."
"Of course he did," Shigaraki muttered.
"Moving on, I was expecting to find the room filled to the brim with hero merch as well. And don't get me wrong, it was, but the way it was filled had me question a couple things."
"What do you mean by that?" Shigaraki questioned while scratching at his neck. It was taking an obscene amount of time for Dabi to get to the point, and it was sorely annoying him.
"Well, all of the hero merch was wrecked. All the All Might figurines were on the floor in pieces. The limbs and heads from multiple of the figures were skewed about the room, giving me the idea that the pieces were thrown about. And lastly, all the posters were ripped apart. To be honest, it didn't look like a fan boys' room to me," Dabi finished.
"So, what you're saying is you walked into the room, to find everything completely fucked up?" Shigaraki reiterated, wanting to make sure that he hadn't heard anything improperly. With the way Dabi was, he wouldn't be surprised if the guy had purposely left some details out or alluded to some other piece of information.
"Yep."
Shigaraki continued to scratch at his neck, trying to make sense of what he had just been informed of. Nothing Dabi had said made sense, and it was thoroughly getting on his nerves that the brat had gone outside his expectations.
"I was super shocked when I walked into the room too! The notebook on Izu-kun's desk only added to that!" Toga added while bouncing in her seat, a look of utter delight in her eyes.
"The notebook? Whatever do you mean?" Compress asked in interest.
"Dabi has it!"
"Well, what the fuck are you waiting for! Withholding information like that," Shigaraki whipped around to yell at Dabi with an agitated tone to his voice. He knew the fucker had been hiding something, and it was only serving to make his mood worsen.
"Calm your ass down, I was waiting for Toga to stop her talk show with Compress," Dabi replied in kind.
"Hey!"
"Okay, this is what was written in the notebook:
Dear whoever finds this notebook first,
If you're wondering, yes, I was the one who did this to my own room. And yes, I know it was hero merch and All Might merch. Putting that aside, let's get to the main point. I'm guessing that none of you really care about me that much, so I'm not really expecting anyone to see this. I have more faith that a villain will find this first…but I'm getting sidetracked again. What I was trying to say was I'm tired, and I'm taking a break. If any of you care you'll look, but if I'm right, I'll probably be left alone for a while. Not that I care anyway. See you when I see you.
Sincerely,
Izuku Midoriya
P.S. - if anyone cares, for another excerpt, go into the basement." Dabi read off.
The moment Dabi's voice died off; Shigaraki snorted in confusion. "That doesn't make any sense, he's a hero. Of course people would care about him. Especially with his fuckin flashy quirk."
"That's what I thought," Dabi begrudgingly grounds out. "Which is exactly why Toga and I went down to the basement to see if there was another note like it said."
"This is weird. Totally normal!" Twice said while crossing his arms.
"I know, right!? That's why Dabi and I went down to the basement!" Toga jumped up in excitement while talking animatedly to Twice. Shigaraki didn't know how so much energy was contained within such a small body.
"I find it fascinating that the first thing he addressed was the fact that he was the one to leave his room in such a state. What do you think Shigaraki?" Mr. Compress questioned while shifting his body towards the boss.
Shigaraki didn't know how to respond. His brain was a jumbled mess as a result of him trying to decipher the meaning of what the brat had meant. Why would no one care about him? And better yet, why would he run away from a life full of love and lavishness? The only thing he could voice in response to Compress's question was, "It's really weird."
"Maybe he realized that heroes are fake and only care about fame," Spinner suggested, piggybacking off what Shigaraki had said.
Toga smiled. "That's a good idea! Maybe since he ran into Mr. Stainy, he had a change of heart!"
While everyone was conversing over the first note, Dabi noticed that Shigaraki was shockingly quiet. His features portrayed many different emotions, but the most prominent ones were confusion, curiosity, and worry.
To be fair, Dabi felt the same, and if the two black heart people of the League were concerned, then it was a given that the others were worried about the situation as well.
"Dabi, Toga said there was another note. Read it," Shigaraki ordered, briefly coming out of his silent stupor.
Dabi just rolled his eyes in response, not deigning to start another fight at the moment. "Sure. This note was in the basement, embedded into the wall with a knife."
"That was the best part!" Toga chimed in.
"Shut the fuck up and let me finish, crazy. This note said:
To whoever finds this note first,
Wow, I wasn't expecting anyone to come down here even if they read the first , since you did, I'll tell you something. I'm tired of everyone's expectations of me, and I'm tired of trying to become something I will never become. All Might's always saying you'll make a great new Symbol of Peace, well guess what? That's not what I want. It's not like anyone actually cares about that though, especially since All Might has never once asked me what I wanted. Well, that's enough for this excerpt, and if you want to find out more then you'll have to find me first.
Sincerely,
Izuku Midoriya"
"That's very concerning. I don't care at all," Twice said.
"Twice is correct, it seems we're missing some valuable pieces of our play," Mr. Compress stated.
"We're definitely missing something here, but what I can make out is that he definitely hates All Might now. He wrote that he was tired of people's expectations of him, which also means it's not just All Might that he holds in that regard," Shigaraki explained, trying his best to make the most of the information they had garnered. Considering there wasn't a hefty amount, he believed that he had done an excellent job deducing that much from what was written.
"I've been thinking about that aspect of the note ever since I read it, and the only other people I could come up with were his classmates and teachers," Dabi added while moving to take a seat at the bar. Considering he had been standing for quite a while, it was only natural.
"Ooh Dabi, I think you're onto something! I remember seeing his classmates look super expectant of him when we attacked the camp!" Toga agreed easily while flashing her canines.
Mr. Compress also nodded in assent. "Ah yes, I remember seeing you down there with the lot of them when I swiped those two kids. What did it look like they were expecting of him?"
"It kinda looked like they were expecting him to charge straight at me," Toga started off slowly as she attempted to recount her memories. As their attack on the hero students camp had been quite a while ago, it was taking her a smidge longer for her to remember the exact details. The moment she remembered, her eyes lit up and she looked outwards with enthusiasm once more. "It wasn't just one person either, it was all of them! I even noticed that when Ochako-chan saw Izu-kun her eyes brightened up with a little bit of hope!"
"That is certainly interesting, honey," Magne stated.
"I know right, Big Sis Mags! That's why I think Dabi's onto something! Of course, we won't know the truth till we find Izu-kun, but it doesn't hurt to try and guess!" Toga said while amicably moving her hands around.
While the others continued to debate about what the brat could've meant, Shigaraki continued to stew at the bar in silence while ignoring the brief glances Dabi was sending him. What was supposed to be a brief kidnapping mission had turned into the League trying to solve this mighty puzzle. And maybe sue him, because against his chagrin, he was thoroughly invested. It just didn't click in his mind how a major fan boy could go from worshiping the ground heroes walked on, to going apeshit on all his merch.
Even in the notes that he wrote, he kept repeating that people didn't care about him. What was that even supposed to mean? If his classmates expected things from him, then why wouldn't they like him? Even when they attacked it looked like the brat was trying to protect his friends from everything that was happening.
The entire situation was confusing Shigaraki, and it was irritating him to no end. He had originally believed Midoriya to be an insignificant NPC that he needed to overcome, but it seemed his level was higher than expected.
It also concerned him that the brat expected villains to find his notes first. It's not like he was wrong, but that just made the situation even more depressing.
Even if the League did attempt to find the kid, they had nothing to run off. They would just be blindly walking around Japan, hoping to stumble across him. Would the others even wanna look for the kid? Considering their expressions and reactions, he didn't think any of them would be against it. The only thing Shigaraki had to do now was ask the League their opinions on the matter.
"What do you guys think? If you guys want to know more about what he meant, we'll have to find him."
"Shiggy, are you saying that if we all want to, we can try and find Izu-kun!?" Toga said while jumping out of her seat in excitement.
Shigaraki just rolled his eyes at the act. "Yes, that's exactly what I'm saying. So, what are your guys' opinions on the matter?"
"I'm interested! I want to find Izu-kun right away!" Toga declared. A righteous look had taken up her eyes, and Shigaraki knew that nothing now would be able to sway her. Once a certain amount of determination overcame her, there was no stopping the monster she became.
"Yeah, what Toga said. I don't want to find the kid at all," Twice agreed.
"I think it would be cool to find the hero Stain deemed worthy," Spinner said while fantasizing about Stain.
"If Toga wants to, I guess I could as well," Magne added.
"Aw, thanks Big Sis!"
"No problem honey."
"I don't mind, I think it'll make for a nice show," Mr. Compress said while fiddling with one of his marbles. If anyone had been able to see under his mask, they would've been greeted with a slight smirk.
"Whatever you want to do, Shigaraki Tomura," Kurogiri said before going back to cleaning the bar.
"Dabi, come on! You're the last one that needs to agree!" Toga yelled amply while trying to stab Dabi.
"Alright alright, chill the fuck out. I don't really care what we do."
"You totally wanna find him Dabi~" Toga teased.
Dabi slanted his eyes. "Shut the hell up crazy."
"Oh, so you admit it huh?"
Dabi just rolled his eyes before ignoring her. "Moving on. Now that everyone's answered, how the fuck are we supposed to find him?"
"That's the part I'm trying to figure out. Of course the brat couldn't have left any clues," Shigaraki muttered in annoyance. Nothing could ever be easy for them.
"Izu-kun probably did that because he wanted to see if they actually cared about him," Toga reasoned, trying to defend Midoriya.
"Yeah, I guess."
"What about consulting Giran to see if he can come up with anything?" Mr. Compress suggested.
Shigaraki's eyes lit up at the wondrous idea. With Giran at their beck and call, they would find the brat in no time flat. "That's a good idea. Kurogiri, does Giran owe us any favors?"
"He does," Kurogiri replied.
Shigaraki smiled cruelly in excitement. "Perfect. Twice, I need you to get in contact with Giran and ask him to look around. Here's a picture of the brat that you could show him as well."
"You got it boss! I hate this job," Twice cheered as he swiped the picture from Shigaraki's hand.
"Yo crusty, what are we gonna do if we end up finding the kid?" Dabi questioned. The question had been nagging at him for quite some time now. It was great and all that they were curious and wanted to find the brat, but what would they do if they found him? After all, he was a hero, and they were villains. The two just didn't mix.
"I know I want answers, so that's what I intend to get. I'm assuming you all want the same?" Shigaraki stated simply, not appearing to care too much about the scenario.
A chorus of "Yeps," and "Yeahs," filled the bar.
This was great. With Giran on the search, their access to other options became a lot more vast. And with his help, they would be able to ascertain the answers they were desperately seeking. Even better, maybe they actually had the chance of getting the hero brat to join the League.
Shigaraki couldn't help but let his eyes dance in amusement as he thought, this is gonna be fun.