Case file #6: Tokage Setsuna
"Dear Diary, what can I say to my sister so that she'll stop nagging me to set Setsuna up on a date with my emotionally dumb nurse?"
"Acting weird?" Izuku repeated.
"Yeah." Chiyo let out a tired sigh. "Avoiding eyes contact, staying unusually quiet... that kind of stuff."
"Did anyone else notice it?"
"My sister and the girl's parents chalked it down to nervousness, which makes sense in a way." Chiyo continued typing into her computer. "Her first week in and so much already happened..."
"Really?" Izuku continued copying information down from a medical book. "It's been a pretty chill week, for me at least."
"You were hospitalized."
"Extra free time to read books." Izuku shrugged.
"Whatever you say, dearie." Chiyo ignored her student's oblivious to trauma. "I did try to ease her into sharing, but it turns out to be having the opposite effect."
"Maybe she's just not comfortable sharing whatever she's going through with you just yet?" Izuku offered. "I'd say let her have some time to figure things out first. She's a grown-up. I'm sure in time, she'll find it easier to talk to you, or someone."
"... How are you like this yet so thick-headed at the same time?"
"Since when am I 'thick-headed'?" Izuku squinted his eyebrows, slight offended.
"What happened before you left the hospital last weekend?"
"Some nurses were writing their numbers down for whatever reason." Izuku answered, remembering. "But Kurose-sensei accidentally leaked some dark matters, scaring them away."
"Sure. 'Accidentally'." Chiyo tiredly emphasized. "You know what, I'm too old for this. Go to the staff room and grab the supplies I ordered, since you're already healthy and all."
"Don't we have robots for that?"
"They're busy planning a coup d'état against Nezu." Chiyo waved Izuku's question off as the nurse slowly left his chair. "I don't want to bother them."
She didn't want to go there. She didn't. She shouldn't. Especially after what Monoma had told her.
But not going would make it even more suspicious. And everyone finding out would be the last thing she needed. So, it wasn't much of a choice.
But the thought of being so close to him... to the Quirk that could potentially killed her with a blink...
Every step Setsuna made became heavier and heavier, just as her breath. Her vision got blurry from the tears that wouldn't stop coming, despite her efforts to wipe them away. The only merit about this whole situation was no one was around to find her in this state, due to it being after school and all.
The staff's room was behind this turn... She could feel the Quirk that she and her aunt worked so hard to keep under control was going crazy. Every part of her body felt like falling off, despite her weak effort to force them to stay in place.
However, Setsuna was so focused on keeping her Quirk in control that she didn't look ahead. Before she could see that someone was appearing out of the corner with boxes in their hand, she bumped into them. She could see the boxes being thrown into a mess as the guy with the white coat she bumped into fell onto the floor, despite her effort to catch him.
Setsuna's mind went blank as she laid eyes on her disconnected hand that was grabbing his wrist.
"Guess who~!"
Izuku's tired eyes shot open at the sudden contact. The darkness that he saw confused him slightly, but he quickly realized what was going on.
Took the question to heart, Izuku grabbed the hands that were covering his eyes and started to feel it up.
"Soft, somewhat sharp nails…." Izuku mumbled as he moved his hand down. "Only the hand? Tokage-san?"
Izuku gently lifted the hands and turned around, finding an handless Setsuna stood there, smiling with a slightly red face.
"Bingo!" Setsuna smiled as she retract her floating hands back and spread out her arms. "Now come over here and get your prize!"
"Really, Setsuna? Right in front of my lunch beverage?" Chiyo sat there with a cup of tea in her hand and a tired expression.
Setsuna stuck out her tongue in response, making Izuku laughed as he brew some teas for him and Setsuna.
"Why are you even here?" Chiyo sipped her tea as she glanced at Setsuna suspiciously. "Haven't you seen me enough during the weekends?"
"I'm here to have lunch with my friend here, as you can see." Setsuna set her bento onto the table where Izuku was sitting before pulling a chair next to him. Izuku gently placed a cup in front of Setsuna before sitting next to her. "Speaking of, you should come to the canteen and have lunch with us sometimes, Midoriya! Pony, Monoma and Kamakiri would love to see you sometimes!"
"That sounds delightful." Izuku smiled as he unwrapped the energy bar. "Occasional scenery changes would be nice."
"Ah, Ah, you set that down, mister!" Setsuna took the energy bar away from Izuku before he could put it in his mouth. "Those things aren't good for you! Here!"
Setsuna set another bento box in front of Izuku.
"Looks like you're one step away from being his wife." Chiyo whistled as she saw the content of the bento box.
"I'm still in school, granny!" Setsuna yelled before she looked down to her bento box "Don't talk about that all of a sudden…!"
"That's a shame." Izuku chuckled as he put a chopstick into his mouth. "I'd be happy to marry you."
Words couldn't be used to describe the redness that appeared on Setsuna's face, or the frustration Chiyo felt towards her student.
'No, no, no, no, no, no.'
Despair filled Setsuna's thought as she noticed the other guy looked at his hand being grabbed by a detached hand. He's going to realize what it is and freaked out. He's going to tell everyone what a freak she is. He's going to-
"Need a hand?" The green haired guy offered her his hand, his face wore a gentle smile as he chuckled. "Must be quite a shock for you to lose a body part like that."
Setsuna studied his expression in disbelief. Her hand was still grabbing onto his wrist and yet, he wore nothing but gentle on his face. No disgust, no fear. Just gentle and worry.
"You're okay...?" Setsuna asked in a whisper. 'Even with a dead hand attaching to you?' went unsaid.
"You should ask yourself that first." He scratched his head as he chuckled. She watched as he gently and carefully loosens her detached hand.
"You're not... scared?" She accidentally mumbled, watching him calmly do what most people were too afraid or disgusted at to do.
"I don't think I should be, right?" He hummed as he studied her hand from his palm. "You aren't bleeding, you're more worried about me than the fact that you don't have a hand currently, so I assumed that you can either reattach this hand, or you can regenerate. Which is so cool, if I may."
Setsuna could feel her jaw drop lower. "You're not... put off because I can regenerate?"
"So you can regenerate. That's so cool." Watching his tired eyes shone brighter, Setsuna could feel her face getting hotter. "To precisely regenerate a body part, one needs a very intimate knowledge on human's anatomy. Not even mentioning you can detach a body part; you have to be able to feel every single joint, fiber and muscle of your body. My Quirk- I'm Midoriya Izuku, by the way. My Quirk boosts healing, but it can't regrow a body part like yours. Not to my knowledge, at least. But that would be so cool if I could. How do you imagine your regeneration? Do you imagine a healing process? Or do you focus on converting your energy for your body to do it itself? Is it Caloric Convert? Or is it-"
"S- Slow down, man. I couldn't catch that." Setsuna stopped him.
"Oh, sorry. I tend to do that whenever I'm excited." Izuku embarrassingly scratched his chin. "Your Quirk is just so cool."
Before Setsuna could reply to that, she heard a door being slid open.
"... What's with the mess?" A rough, deep voice asked with a tone of annoyance and curiosity.
"Yamada-sensei, Aizawa-sensei. I fell. Sorry for the mess." Izuku replied.
Aizawa.
Eraserhead.
[Erasure].
Disconnected. Broken. Death.
Setsuna immediately curled up and hung on to the closest person, trying to hide behind him. Away from [Erasure].
'Please don't use your Quirk. Please don't use your Quirk. Please don't use your Quirk-'
She squinted her eyes shut; her sobs muffled behind Izuku's back.
"You need help with that, little listener?" Hizashi asked as he started to walk towards Izuku.
"Uh- No!" Izuku yelled a little too loudly. "I mean- I can pick it up by myself. It's my mess, after all."
"Nonsense!" Hizashi smiled. "As teachers, it's our duty to help students! Right, Shota?"
"Stop screaming. It's annoying." Aizawa grumbled. "Sometimes I think you want me to use Era-"
"Um, actually, I do need your help with something!" Izuku shouted, cutting the teachers off. "I heard the robots are planning a coup."
"... Seriously?" Aizawa asked, his expression changed from one of boredom to fear.
"100% serious." Izuku nodded. "I think they're in one of the supply rooms. You should probably stop them before we get shoved into a tube and live in a simulation. It's a Matrix's reference. Don't worry about it."
Izuku smiled awkwardly as he watched the teachers looking at him weirdly before they left.
"There you go, human." The robot spoke in a condescending tone as it handed Izuku a box. "Better trip on your feet and injure yourself."
Izuku's sweat dropped at the threat as he accepted the box from the robot.
"They really hate you, huh?" Chiyo commented as she watched the interaction.
"Their leader said, 'Snitches get stiches' last week." Izuku sighed. "I think all their hatred towards Nezu-sensei has already been pointed towards me."
"Maybe you shouldn't have snitched on them?" Chiyo offered.
"It was the only thing I could think of." Izuku shrugged. "Living with my choices, I guess."
"I'll arrange you a nice funeral if anything happens." Chiyo patted his back with her cane. "Though I doubt the hero students would let anything happened to you."
"Just means that they're the type of heroes we can depend on in the future." Izuku smiled at the thought.
Chiyo kept quiet as she walked with Izuku back to the office.
"That's... a lot, Tokage-san." Izuku whispered as he kept his healing contact with Setsuna.
"Yeah..." Setsuna mumbled. "I know I should tell Auntie Chi, but I just- I'm just scared that she'll be disappointed in me. She had to go through a lot of things so that I could have a shot at U.A... I'm a student, and he's a teacher and a pro hero. Their choice is obvious."
"It's not, Tokage-san." Izuku said seriously. "You are their student. Shuzenji-sensei's grandniece. And that's important. No one's safety is worth more than another."
"... I just don't know if I can do it." Setsuna said, her hand gripping Izuku's tighter.
"I can come with you, if you want." Izuku smiled softly, assuring her. "Heck, I'll up and leave U.A if you don't get to stay."
"You shouldn't do that..." She mumbled, getting red in the face. "It's not worth it..."
" You're worth it, Tokage-san. I'll be there with you. Whenever, wherever."
Izuku did not give any thought to Setsuna putting her forehead onto his chest.
A/N: Tada! A surprise Lizard appeared from a corner!
This whole concept of Setsuna's [Lizard Tail Splitter] comes from 'Torchbearer' by FalseSeraph. Check it out if you can! It's an amazing story that inspires a lot of details for this story! I wait every single week for their update, and it's always a banger. His in-depth into the BNHA's quirks is amazing, as is his storytelling and world-building.