Chapter 44

.::Montage Thursday::.

When trapped in another dimension, one would expect every day to be fraught with tension and anxiety as one tried to figure out what the hell happened and how to get home.

After experiencing multiverse theory firsthand though, the students of Class 1-A could firmly debunk this.

"Yeesh, we only just got back to patrolling and we're already taking a day off," Denki muttered as he sprawled on his couch with his phone. He had no one around to listen to his quiet complaints, Jirou currently taking a shower in the bathroom. Had she been around to hear him she probably would have told him off, talk about how they needed to keep a low profile today, but... she wasn't here, so he could just ruminate to himself all he wanted.

Their encounter with that villain yesterday had been splashed all over the local news sites, and even a couple national ones. While they'd been steadily growing their reputation before, that fight had made their name skyrocket into mainstream awareness. Apparently Team Idaten had been trying to catch that woman for a while, so the fact that two vigilantes had taken her down had naturally caused a pretty big uproar.

Though he felt more than ready to go fight again, he knew they needed to tone down their appearances for a couple days. They'd made more than enough of a splash for their purposes, not to mention they'd been seen by Iida. None of the articles mentioned Iida beyond "a heroic bystander that rushed in to rescue the young child" but even that made him remember their final encounter with their class representative while fleeing.

Did Iida know him in this world? Would he recognize Denki's voice without the modifier? Whether he did or not, he at least knew that Denki was a teenager, which he would undoubtedly pass on to the actual Pros at Team Idaten. Would it be enough to make the connection? Would the fake alibi they'd so carefully crafted be enough to divert Pros from recognizing him? He didn't know.

He startled when the bathroom door opened, Jirou stepping out in a long t-shirt and shorts with a towel around her shoulders. She had her phone in hand, lazily tapping at the screen as she walked over to the armchair. "Yo, Taser, you check out this article yet?" she asked as she plopped down, and he frowned as his phone buzzed with a text from her containing a link.

"No, haven't seen that one," he said even as he opened it. When it loaded, it... didn't seem all that impressive, honestly. It was some smaller local news site he'd already seen, just a different article about the incident. He started scrolling the page haphazardly but didn't see anything noteworthy, and was about to exit out when he noticed a picture that made him freeze.

Dead-center was a photo of an EMT next to an ambulance not far from the battle, and what was very obviously a young child sitting on a gurney. The child's face had been blacked out for safety reasons, but Denki recognized the red coat as the toddler they'd seen yesterday. He turned his attention to the actual text with renewed focus, his heart pounding as he read.

Most of it he already knew from other articles. Near the height of the fight the kid had accidentally ended up near the battle thanks to something to do with their Quirk, and had to be saved by a brave bystander. Unlike all the other ones though, this article went into further detail about what happened during the fight.

"The child's mother had also been injured in the initial attack but was conscious, and had been helpless to do anything but watch. 'Those people risked their lives to get that villain away from my baby,' she said. 'Near the very end, when that woman sent that disc at my baby, one of them was standing right in front of him. If they had tried to dodge it would've killed him, but they didn't move an inch. They were ready to take that on and risk getting their legs cut off, just to protect him.

"'I don't know who they are,' she said while holding her child, 'but those two are our heroes.'"

As he read it he felt a swell of warmth, not even noticing the smile that had settled over his face. Those two are our heroes. The words seemed to echo in his soul, filling him with a surge of contentment and pride.

This. This was why he couldn't regret being a vigilante and risking their lives in this crazy world, even if they didn't know if anyone else was actually here to see it.

"We did good," he said quietly, and Jirou hummed in agreement.

Despite her best efforts, Momo found it hard to concentrate in class today as Akino-sensei droned on about weather patterns. Usually she enjoyed his classes, finding his laidback attitude refreshing compared to previous science teachers, but today she just couldn't focus. Her eyes kept straying to the empty desks dotted around the classroom, a familiar sight by now but the room feeling just a bit emptier.

Today everyone had been only able to talk about the big battle between the 1-A Vigilantes and the villainess from yesterday. Momo could only imagine their reactions if they found out the "heroic bystander" listed in so many articles was actually Iida. She herself only knew because he had called her yesterday after school to recount his encounter with the 1-A Vigilantes.

Listening to his account had been simply horrifying. She still got chills as she remembered when he described dashing out to save that child and shoved the vigilante out of the way. How close that energy disc had come to hitting him, only managing to dodge it by the barest of margins. His pants had a rip in the leg, the fabric only just loose enough to leave space between it and his skin while he'd been in motion. That's how close he had come to getting hit.

She couldn't imagine the courage it had taken. Though both of them had been given a chance to be groomed into heroes early on, she hadn't been able to take the final plunge into full training after middle school. The pressure and risk had just been too much, too heavy for her to make the full decision. She hadn't abandoned her childhood dreams completely yet, still kept up some training, but the thought of charging into danger headfirst made her stomach churn anxiously.

But more than that though, she couldn't stop thinking of the one Iida had heard.

A teenage boy. "Taser Brain" was a teenage boy, his voice's pitch on the higher end of the spectrum from what Iida said. Her eyes flitted to the newest desk to be occupied by only a nametag, mouth thinning as Kaminari Denki's face flashed through her mind. Though no one knew Taser Brain's Quirk for sure, he seemed to have a proclivity to electricity-based attacks. And everyone knew Kaminari had one.

Word had already spread that he'd been saved by the 1-A Vigilantes just that very Tuesday. One of their classmates had a parent working for the police, and had been more than eager to pass on this tidbit of information. Apparently there was evidence of them together in the form of security footage, eliminating any doubts that Kaminari might be one of them, but Momo still couldn't help but wonder what if.

Up until now, Momo hadn't really paid much attention to the rumors about the vigilante duo. She had other things to worry about, but after what happened yesterday the few photos of them had been plastered all over the news. It had been the first time she had actually seen them, the first time she paid attention, and the other one—the one who still hadn't been named, the female—her costume...

It made her think of Kyouka.

It felt crazy, but the more she stared at it, the more it felt like something Kyouka would wear. Momo and Kyouka had been friends for a few years now, and of course they'd both talked about what they would do if they ever became Pro Heroes. Kyouka had never gone as far as to draw up a costume design, but she'd talked about her ideas a couple times.

"Something punk-rock," she'd said. "Not too flashy, no skin-tight suits or high heels or anything like that. Maybe just a leather jacket, and obviously headphones for ear protection. I'd need a speaker somewhere to plug my earphone jacks and blast my heartbeat, too, but I don't want it to be too clunky or anything. Maybe on the boots."

The boots.

That had been all Momo could think about when she looked at the photos of the unnamed vigilante, her gaze trained on those chunky-looking boots. No one knew her Quirk just yet, she seemed to have a bit more variety than Taser Brain, but she seemed to have a preference for sound-based attacks. People reported loud electronic screeching from her boots, and other times they reported feeling a blast of what felt like sonic waves from her. It could just be support gear, just like all the other reported effects, but...

Her frown grew, gaze unfocused as she stared at Kyouka's empty desk.

Three weeks ago, Kyouka suddenly stopped coming to class and responding to her text messages. Around the same time, Kaminari Denki missed school for a few days and then showed up acting strange even by his standards. And since then, two vigilantes had suddenly appeared with what seemed like a variety of Quirks on hand, but each having one which closely matched one of the absent teens.

It could be a coincidence, it could just be desperate thinking because she was so worried about her best friend. But Momo couldn't shake the feeling that there was a connection, and she had no idea how to proceed from here.

Snow fell lightly over the streets of Odawara as Todoroki Shouto walked down the street, scarf tugged over his mouth. Today he had Monoma and Ojiro shadowing him, the duo relieving the more temperature-sensitive Asui and Mongoose so they could rest somewhere warm. It was a cold day that had most people seeking shelter, and there was no doubt they'd call off the search soon.

Until then though, Shouji Mezou determined to follow them at a distance, keeping a wary eye on the Todoroki boy. He stood on the rooftop of a strip mall watching them walk below, crouched near a sign so he could easily duck out of sight if they happened to look up. Beside him he could hear Tsuburaba's teeth lightly chattering, rubbing his gloved hands to keep them warm.

"Parasyte, can we please go inside?" he asked softly. "I'm sure Lee and Kaitou can handle themselves fine. They've actually got some training and experience."

"They probably can," Mezou agreed. "But they'll have even better luck if we're there to help." Tsuburaba groaned but didn't try to protest, just kept trying to warm himself. Mezou had no obligation to watch over Todoroki, but he had gotten the call from Nakamura filling him in on the situation. For some reason Todoroki wanted to look for a villain, which naturally unnerved him.

As best as they could guess, Todoroki had been placed under the influence of a Quirk to compel him to look for Gentle Criminal and his sidekick. Mezou had no idea why those two would be the targets. Gentle Criminal had no connection to any villainous organizations that they knew of, and though he'd never met the man, he doubted he would seek Todoroki himself. It just didn't fit with his MO.

The odds of his involvement seemed even lower now that Gentle Criminal and Phantom Shadow had moved on to Hosu. Everyone had been on edge since spying the news footage of the villainous duo fleeing Ingenium yesterday. If he was involved in whatever was happening with Todoroki, it would have been more reasonable to stay in Odawara rather than move. So far Todoroki had yet to find out about the villains' departure, and they'd prefer to keep it that way.

Mezou sighed quietly to himself as the trio turned around a corner, heading to the edge of the roof while gesturing to Tsuburaba that they needed to move. The smaller boy nodded as he followed and breathed out a puff of air over the edge, forming a clear, circular platform in the space between the two buildings. The two hopped on top of it and jumped onto the next building, Tsuburaba taking lead so he could create a path.

As they walked along Mezou let himself stew in his thoughts. He just couldn't stop thinking about why Todoroki had the compulsion to seek out Gentle Criminal specifically. Clearly, they lacked details, but Mezou still felt like there was something... missing, even beyond the general lack of information.

Almost like Nakamura had left out some details while talking to him and only given him the bare bones of the situation.

He didn't know why the older teen would hold something back, but he couldn't get the nagging thought out of his head. It irked him because he had no reason to doubt his senior and he knew that. In the end he couldn't tell if he was just being paranoid which only served to further irritate him, not that he let it show. The only explanation he could think of for his weird mood and doubts was that Todoroki's presence served as some sort of trigger, digging up those memories he'd only just begin to move past.

Had meeting that man really changed him so much?

Ultimately he shelved the thought, focusing his attention on the trio of teens as they came into sight once more. Mezou couldn't explain why this stuck out to him, but for now all he could do was trust his instincts and focus on his task.

Through some miracle, they had done it.

They had finally talked Shittyraki into letting Hijack out of his cell.

Katsuki remained largely quiet as Mr. Compress led him and Eyebags on a second round on of his grand tour, exactly as he'd predicted. Hijack craned his head to look at each door he pointed out, looking like some kind of curious kitten or something. The vigilante still had a muzzle and still needed to be supervised by a villain (and no, Toga did not count, which thank fuck), but fuck if this wasn't a major improvement. Between being in the hallway and the fact he was carrying that dumb cat, Eyebags almost seemed relaxed. Almost.

Katsuki tuned out most of the tour since he'd already heard all this shit before, instead thinking about Deku. Deku had joined them for the first leg of the tour, but while going through the hall with Eraserhead's cell he'd just stared at the door really hard before excusing himself. The nerd probably wanted to go visit him, and Katsuki wouldn't blame him. He needed to earn that guy's trust, and fast.

Like the nerd had started rambling last night, their next step would probably be to convince the villains to let Katsuki and the Purple Wonder join in on the visits to him. No way would they convince the villains to let them remove Hijack's fucking muzzle anytime soon, and they still had no fucking clue on how to remove the fucking bombs strapped to their ankles. Meeting this Eraserhead guy and getting his trust was the only thing they really could do right now. Maybe he'd have some ideas on what to do next.

Either way, as much as he hated it, right now he and Hijack just couldn't do shit towards escaping. They had too many eyes on them, all they could do was act as a soundboard for Deku or suggest stuff for him and that Uraraka chick to look into. Their only ally outside of this shithole was some girl Deku knew that Katsuki had never heard of, and who knew how useful she'd actually be.

Just, the odds were stacked against them, and he knew it. They all knew it.

They had a muzzled vigilante who couldn't use his Quirk, a partial "amnesic" and formerly Quirkless kid who magically developed a fucking strength Quirk that could apparently break his bones, a Pro Hero who had a broken leg and probably PTSD from whatever hellhole he'd been stuck in before getting dragged here, a girl with some weird anti-gravity Quirk or some shit who had JUST run away from home and who only Deku knew, and then Katsuki, who was a fucking badass, thank you very much, but still an untrained teenager.

Oh, and a cat. A plain old useless cat that they now needed to get out too.

Escaping in one piece would be a fucking miracle. No matter what happened, how well they planned, he knew something would go wrong. They were the classic ragtag group of teens going up against a whole organization of villains, and they didn't even know just who they were up against. Deku couldn't remember all the members, they had no idea how that Aiko chick would react, and they had no idea what the fuck Seiko knew or what side she was on—

He had to stop thinking about it now before he started exploding something. Katsuki clenched his jaw and shoved the thoughts away as Magic Man twirled in front of another door. "And this is the bar!" he announced, pushing it open to reveal the bar.

Neither he nor Hijack made any move to pass through the door, just eying the space warily. A whole horde of villains sat around the tables and counter, the air thick with cigarette smoke that made Katsuki's eyes water. He didn't know if it was better or worse that Shigaraki wasn't among them. More than a few shifty-eyed leers turned their way, making him grit his teeth as he glared right back at them.

After several seconds Mr. Compress closed the door with a grandiose shrug as he added, "But of course, you two probably won't ever go there. We know not to hurt you since you're dear Midoriya-kun's friends, but the bar's patronage is a bit more... diverse, I should say, and not all of them quite as amenable to the Alliance's rules. Kurogiri can only keep an eye on so much in the bar, so no need to bog him down with more people."

That suited Katsuki fine. He'd rather not step foot into that fucking cesspool of villain filth and smoke and alcohol, his skin crawled just thinking about it. Hijack didn't say as much obviously but he probably agreed, given how he actually edged a little closer to Katsuki and seemed to hold Sushi tighter. Fuck, Katsuki really hoped none of those freaks recognized him, he didn't know enough about Hijack's career to know.

"Moving on, our tour is almost done, so let's continue!" Discount Magician declared, and basically flounced down the hallway as they followed in silence. At least one good thing had come from the tour: he now knew they absolutely would not be escaping through the bar exit. That was small and obvious, but it was something.

The odds might be stacked against them, but that wouldn't be enough to keep Bakugou Katsuki down.

Going to school without Mina felt strange and quiet.

Kumiko felt weirdly out of her element as she walked into the lunchroom, her best friend's absence more noticeable than ever. She crossed the cafeteria and went straight to their usual table, slipping into her seat with a sigh. Anjou had already sat at her own spot on the other side of the table, busy looking at her phone as always. For a few seconds neither of them spoke, just sat there.

Then Kumiko slumped in her chair with a drawn-out groan, letting her head fall onto the table next to her bento box. "This sucks," she mumbled, and Anjou snorted.

"Missing Ashido already?" she asked.

"Yes," Kumiko groaned.

Don't get her wrong, if Mina was there Kumiko would probably be giving her the silent treatment for being so stupid last Friday. But instead, the girl had actually done it. She had actually up and run away from Kamino, quite possibly never to return. And Kumiko had actually helped her do it, even if it mostly just amounted to not telling anyone everything she'd heard and playing errand girl for Anjou.

All day, other kids at school had been shooting her weird looks, not outright avoiding her or anything but still clearly staring. Gossip spread fast here at Sakakura. Everyone knew about Mina and Kirishima's big vigilante moment before the weekend ended, and it felt like their big escape act became common knowledge before classes even started today. As Mina's best friend, it made sense she'd get a lot of attention.

Kumiko was surprised none of her classmates had asked her anything yet, but also kinda not? It was one of those things that felt weirdly taboo to talk about. That, and what do you say to someone whose best friend ran away? It was just awkward all around.

The police didn't have those reservations though, so she'd spent a good chunk of yesterday after school at the station being questioned. She had followed Anjou's advice as close as she could, never outright lying to the police but not telling the full truth either. No, she had no idea where Mina and Kirishima might have gone. Yes, Mina had been acting a bit weird lately, but it hadn't been a radical change. She did seem really antsy about being stuck inside on house arrest, and also bored.

No, she had no idea why Mina would leave a note saying "my people need me" but that had been such a Mina thing she couldn't help but burst into laughter after hearing about it.

Kumiko definitely wasn't laughing now though. She lifted her head just enough to pool her arms under her chin, looking at Anjou almost blearily. "You're not even gonna talk?" she grumbled irritably, and Anjou shrugged.

"I'm more of a 'deadpan quip to stupid things' kind of girl."

"It's just so weird and quiet!" Kumiko whined, letting her face fall back down into her arms. "It even feels weird that Kiri's not here, and he's only been sitting with us for, like, a week." Anjou just hummed, and if Kumiko didn't know any better she'd say the other girl was just pretending to listen. She did know better though. Despite always being on her phone, Anjou was always paying attention.

That was why Kumiko had decided to go along with this. Anjou wasn't the type of person to impulsively buy into something. She was a cynic through and through, always questioning stuff before making any sort of judgment. If she felt that Mina's ridiculous story might be true enough to develop that whole escape plan, then there had to be something concrete behind her reasoning. Even if she wouldn't tell them anything.

Kumiko pitched her voice her voice low, eyes flitting around the cafeteria to make sure no one was close enough to overhear. "Well, do you think you're still going on that trip tomorrow?" she asked. "The police won't, like, call you in for questioning or something?"

Anjou nodded as she picked at her food, spearing a bit of sushi with her chopsticks. "Yeah, I'm still going. I mentioned it last night and they said I'd be good to go. Hard to tell a poor foster kid she has to cancel her first visit with her estranged older brother since summer break," she added with an eye roll, and popped the sushi into her mouth while Kumiko rolled her own eyes. Yeah, hard to argue with that.

A thought occurred to Kumiko then that had her sitting upright. "Hold on, do you think Mina knows you have a brother?" she asked curiously. Their Mina knew, but whether she actually came from another dimension or not, this one didn't even remember Anjou was a foster kid.

Anjou just smirked, an amused glint to her eye. "Nope," she said, popping the 'p,' and then popped in another piece of sushi.

Kuroe had questions.

He had serious questions for Ran about why two of her friends had to run away from home and hide in his house.

It hadn't been the first time she'd directed runaways to him, but usually kids ran away because they were in danger, or they placed their families in danger. These two though? They had a Pro Hero guarding them full-time. More than that, they had Oracle guarding them, which apparently meant... something.

"He got really close to catching me," his companion sighed over the phone. "I didn't expect HIM to be there. I could've used the warning, I almost had a heart attack."

Kuroe just hummed, phone pressed to his ear as he absently scrolled through programming sites on his laptop. "I didn't know who was watching them," he countered. "Ran didn't give me much details beyond 'some underground hero.' But even then, would he really be able to do anything? His Quirk's what, some sort of future sight?"

"Precognitive reflexes," she corrected almost absently. "Honestly, the name Oracle's always felt a bit much to me. His ability's no where near as impressive as that name makes it sound. Pretty sure he only chose it as a reference to... well, not my place to tell you," she settled, vague as ever. "But it's not that that's got me worked up. He knows me, Kuroe. He'd recognize me in a heartbeat if we fought."

"Even dressed as a guy with green hair?" he replied, lips twitching upwards in a smirk.

"Honestly? Yeah, probably. I don't know, even if he somehow didn't recognize the fighting style, I think... I think my Quirk kinda cancels out his?" She sounded almost frustrated now, uneasy and uncertain. "Like, I don't know. I only realized this in more recent years, you know that, but some Quirks don't work on me the way they should, especially mentalist ones. Some gives us both migraines, some just... work weird, but in his case, it just... never worked. At all. He could never react or predict me."

"How interesting," he drawled half-heartedly. He couldn't really relate, seeing as he had no Quirk, but the bitterness over that had long since faded into apathy. Which was for the better, considering who he was talking to. "Just to double-check, you're talking about your natural one, right?"

"...Yes, I am," she sighed, and muttered almost too quietly for the phone to pick up, "I hate that that's a valid question." Kuroe just snorted and rolled his eyes.

"Anyways, thanks for the help on short notice, even if it turned out to be a bigger risk than you expected."

"Don't mention it, it was fun to use my chemistry knowledge again for once, even if it was just making overpowered smoke bombs." She sounded a bit more chipper now, clearly satisfied. Maybe he'd made a mistake enabling her love of chemistry again, since with this one he knew it was a slippery slope, but hey, it made her happy, which was good enough. "Those kids made it to Odawara safe, right?"

"Yeah, they did," he confirmed, leaning back in his chair so he could glance into the living room. He could see them both sitting in front of his TV, passionately playing a game console he'd bought at a thrift shop on a whim and never really touched. Ashido let out a disappointed wail as Kirishima gave a loud whoop, his sharp teeth on full display as he grinned at the screen. "I think they're trying to murder each other in some game right now, so they're doing okay, I guess."

He could hear her snort in amusement. "My runaway's doing the same thing. Tomura left a game console here a while back, and she loaded up... well I don't know what it is, but she's shooting a lot of demons and she's really enthusiastic. Really did not expect that from such a sweet-looking girl."

Now it was Kuroe's turn to snort. "Sounds kinda like you at that age," he mused. "I mean, obviously I knew something was off with you, seeing as you uppercut Hondou in the jaw the first week we met, and later came up with the whole Endeavor kill formula which still kinda freaks me out. But I still never would've guessed back then that you'd be willing to march into the lair of the biggest bad of all time just to demand a Quirk."

"He already gave me one, so no reason to expect him to refuse again," she replied, voice unusually cool and serious. "I knew my potential value to him, and I knew he'd see it too. It was definitely the riskiest move of my life, and I've definitely made mistakes since then. But given what was at stake, I have no regrets about what I did that day."

Kuroe's smirk grew more wry and rueful, his mood a little more sober.

"I know, Aiko, I know."

Though he'd now been captured by the Villain Alliance, Shouta found little had changed in his daily routine from before. He still spent much of his time alone, the monotony only broken by visits from Izuku to bring food or do whatever else the kid wanted. After rebinding his wrists in front of him the other villains didn't bother showing up to drag him to the bathroom attached to his cell anymore, much to his relief, which left Izuku as his only visitor.

Well, almost the only visitor. Last night some thugs had barged inside to drag him to the bathroom to shower and change the splint. It had been the first time he'd bathed in who knows how long, having only been given two opportunities to clean himself since his captivity began. Those times he'd been supervised while sitting on the floor of the shower wiping away the dirt, but this time they injected him with some sort of muscle relaxant so that he couldn't do anything.

To call it "stressful" would be an understatement. He had to sit on a stool in the shower helplessly while the thugs wiped him down, and they hadn't exactly been gentle while they scrubbed off months' worth of grime, dirt and dried blood. Shouta had been left gritting his teeth a lot as they spent close to an hour dragging the cloth over his bruises and cuts.

The only time they were remotely careful was while handling his broken leg. They cleaned it as carefully as possible (while shoving a towel in his mouth to muffle any screams), and then changed him complete with a new splint. Maybe they felt pity for him, because he was pretty sure the guys had injected him with a painkiller afterwards. Whatever that stuff was, it gave him the best sleep he'd had since coming here because his leg didn't bother him at all for once.

Either way, Shouta would rather not have a repeat of that anytime soon. The sheer vulnerability had left his nerves more frayed than they'd been in a long time. Luckily since he no longer seemed to be at risk of being tortured and couldn't really move much anyway, he doubted he'd get dirty enough to require another shower anytime soon. Which was honestly kind of a shitty way to think about it since even he knew he should bathe regularly for hygiene and health reasons, but in these circumstances it was definitely a luxury.

Since the shower had been just last night, he doubted he'd have any other visitors besides Izuku for the foreseeable future. Hopefully, anyway. Shouta would much rather deal with just him than any of the actual villains, because he actually had a chance at getting the kid to work with him. Building trust would likely be slow going, but after this long in captivity he could be patient.

Between visits from the kid Shouta found himself sleeping rather often for lack of anything else to do. Given he'd just received lunch Shouta didn't expect any more visits for some time and had curled up to take a nap, but when he heard a knock he quietly sighed to himself and forced his eyes to open. He had just gotten comfortable, or as comfortable as one could when sleeping on the hard floor with a broken leg.

It took more willpower than it should to sit up and face the door as it opened, grateful whoever visited had the decency to warn him rather than barge right in. He still had some dignity after all, and he'd rather not be found curled up looking as miserable and pathetic as he felt. Still, he found his eyebrows raising when Izuku stepped inside, arms loaded with pillows and blankets.

"Hi, Eraserhead!" he greeted with a small smile as he closed the door with his foot. "I know I was just here, but I was just on a tour with my friends and I noticed that some of the other cells in this hallway had furniture like beds but yours doesn't. Then I realized you must be sleeping on the floor, and I can't imagine that would be comfortable with a broken leg. So I asked Tomura-nii if we could move you to a cell with a bed, but he said no, but then Kurogiri said I could bring you blankets and pillows, and I figured that would at least be more comfortable, right?"

He babbled nervously as he dropped his load onto the floor near Shouta, arranging the pillows atop one blanket into a makeshift bed of sorts. Once he finished he paused, looking at the other blanket and then at Shouta's bound, mitten-covered hands. Mittens that made gripping rather difficult. "Uh, I think I might still have to cover you at night if you want a blanket, though..."

He fidgeted awkwardly, avoiding the disbelieving gaze Shouta shot him. He hadn't expected the kid to actually care about his comfort, none of the other villains did. Was this some sort of ploy? To earn his trust or something? Shouta had barely started trying to build a rapport with the kid, so it made him wonder what Izuku wanted.

"It's fine," he said anyway. "I don't need a blanket at night, it's not that cold in here." No point vocalizing his suspicions yet. He couldn't exactly act on them with his broken leg anyway. Besides, if he got really cold he could still probably grab the blanket, even if the mittens would make gripping the fabric tricky.

The teen sagged with relief, though he still looked anxious. "Okay, good. I mean, not good, but—gack." He slumped with dejection this time, looking thoroughly put off by his own rambling. Clearly the kid had some social anxiety issues.

Is he being abused? A critical part of Shouta's brain latched onto the obvious explanation, but then dismissed it almost immediately. It was pretty clear Shigaraki favored him after all, given he'd gone out of his way to secure Shouta for the kid as a pet. He imagined the notoriously impulsive villain would kill anyone who tried to hurt his brother. So the kid had general anxiety? Maybe it stemmed from being Quirkless.

He decided to shelve the thoughts for now, nodding at the kid. "Thanks. You didn't have to do this."

Izuku flushed and waved his hands, sputtering, "Ah, no, it's nothing! I just wish I could do more, but..." He faltered, trailing off with a sigh. "Sorry." He perked up then before reaching into his pocket, and Shouta's eyes nearly bulged when he pulled out a cell phone. "Oh! But, uh, while I'm here, I opened up the news today and there's this big event today..."

As the kid babbled Shouta just stared at the phone, barely listening as his mind raced. If he could just get that, he could use it to call for help. Even if he didn't know the location, the phone could be tracked and then he could be free.

Except, he knew that he couldn't. Stealing the phone right from the kid's hands would do nothing, the kid would either call for help or villains would come investigate long before help could arrive. He couldn't exactly sneak it away while the kid was distracted either, not with his leg broken and basically rooting him to one spot. Even if he managed to get it somehow, the mittens meant he wouldn't be able to use it.

His heart began to sink, the device taunting him. Freedom and hope felt so close, he could almost touch it, but he knew it wouldn't work. Its presence just felt cruel and mocking, reminding him of how powerless he really was right now.

"...sir? Ai—er, Eraserhead, sir?" He blinked slowly as the boy's voice came back into focus, and he tore his gaze from the mocking phone to see the kid looking at him with obvious concern. "Are you okay?"

"I'm... fine." A bald-faced lie, but he didn't want to talk about it any further. "Just tired. What were you saying? I didn't catch the last part."

"O-oh, uh..." Izuku shifted anxiously, scratching the back of his neck. "I was just asking, do you ever listen to Present Mic's show?" Once again Shouta found himself freezing for completely different reasons, staring at the kid as he rambled. "It's just, I really like listening to it, and today he's doing this impromptu charity special to raise money for... something about animals? I don't know the details, they literally just decided to do it today. And I was wondering since you're probably bored most of the time, if maybe you'd want to listen too...?"

The kid's voice trailed off with a hopeful note while Shouta stared, questioning his ears. Present Mic—Hizashi. How long had it been since he'd heard his friend's voice? How long since he'd even let himself think of him? He found himself frozen, unable and unwilling to vocalize any of this to the kid. After several long moments though he forced himself to nod, hoping his expression remained neutral and unmoved.

"Fine," he grunted, and the kid's face lit up bright than the sun. He watched the kid pad to a corner to sit against the wall and start tapping on his phone, while Shouta just dragged himself over to the blanket and rested his head on the pillows. Damn, if it didn't feel good after so long of having nothing but hard floors to sleep on, but he didn't feel the tiniest bit tired, his heart pounding in anticipation.

Soon enough a familiar voice cut through the silence, and he swore he felt his heart stutter to a stop. "—was one hell of a show!" a familiar voice crowed, and it took effort not to audibly choke up at the sound. Hizashi. "I swear, listeners, I've never seen a crowd more energetic than that! It felt like the air was alive! I'm so glad you got the chance to see it in person too, dear caller!"

It was some of the most inane chatter he'd heard and Shouta had no idea what he was talking about, but he didn't care. It was Hizashi, and hearing his voice made something settle inside him. He closed his eyes as he tilted his head to make sure Izuku wouldn't see his face, letting his best friend's voice flow over him for the first time in months.

He had no idea how he'd make it out of this yet, but he knew he had to if only to see him again.

Surprise! You get an update! Mainly because I think I broke my foot and I need the distraction while waiting to go to urgent care since they close at noon for lunch and it's currently 12:10. Yaaaay. (No condolences/advice please, I need the distraction.)

I love how the one chapter that covers multiple people over a single, uneventful day has probably made this chapter the most information-laden chapter to date. Soooo much here. Remember the time I forgot to include Shouji in the list of kids who haven't appeared? That's because I always had him in mind as a runaway and had already referenced Parasyte at that point. Also, remember that phone call Kuroe made a while back about Todoroki? And when he mentioned his sister Ran? That was to Aiko.

Fun fact: originally during that call, that line about "say hi to your brother" was "say hi to your boyfriend for me", because at that point I was still split between Aiko basically holding Aizawa prisoner at her apartment and Aizawa being gifted to Izuku by Shigaraki. Kuroe even corrected himself "Fine, say hi to your unwilling prisoner for me." I decided on the Petzawa route because it'd be WAY harder for Izuku to rescue everyone if Aizawa is somewhere separate. (Maybe someday I'll post what I've written up of that route. He'd still be traumatized, but hey, no broken leg. Just a bomb on his ankle.)

Question for next time: What is your favorite headcanon that got disproven by canon?