Chapter 59

.::Nauseating Deja Vu::.

Seiko had searched for the cat named Sushi for approximately five minutes before losing interest. Part of it had to do with how the base was largely empty with no one else around, making her search through the empty halls rather boring. Another part (and perhaps the bigger one) was that she simply didn't care for cats.

Every time Izuku had introduced her to one of the previous Sushis, the cats had reacted the same. Hiss at her from a safe distance, ears flat against their head and backs arched, and then flee at the first chance if she lingered too long. If she found Sushi, the cat surely would just flee again. Really, Izuku should have known better than to ask her to help search.

Perhaps whatever happened last night had to do with his lack of judgment. Initially she thought he'd had another episode. They had happened mid-day before, though admittedly that was a bit rare. He'd also never had one while still mid-episode, either, which made it interesting. His reactions soon proved that wrong though since he clearly remembered her and what was going on, though he was clearly disoriented nonetheless.

Whatever the case, it seemed to be likely connected to the memory-altering Quirk. Maybe his conversation with Eraserhead had triggered a new facet of it. Mid-day episodes most commonly occurred mid-conversation based on the few times she'd seen it. Hmm, maybe she should have listened in after all.

Oh well. Since she'd lost interest in searching for the cat, Seiko decided to instead take advantage of the empty base. A trip to Toga Himiko's room ended with Seiko armed with the teenager's makeup kit, which she took to an empty hallway she knew Izuku had already checked.

She got ten minutes of uninterrupted work before she sensed a familiar presence approach, and after a moment's contemplation decided it was not reason enough to pause her work. As such, she fully anticipated when Aiko turned a corner, stopped, and gave a aggravated sigh. "What are you doing?"

Seiko didn't respond, attention focused on the tree she'd drawn onto the wall with blood red lipstick. The wide trunk had wavy lines that curled to frame a large hole near the center, while the branches became more and more narrow and spiky with each additional split. She now held an eyeshadow brush dipped in red to color directly below the eyes of the severed head sitting inside the hollow, making its eyes look bloody. There was no particular meaning to the head. She just thought the reactions would be more amusing.

"...Know what, I don't even want to know," Aiko grumbled. "Freaking demon..." Once again Seiko elected not to respond, long used to Aiko's grumblings about her nature. She put down the brush and picked up the nearly-finished lipstick to add some more specks of red like blood splatter, patiently waiting for Aiko to speak as she worked. Soon enough, she did. "I got a call from Himiko yesterday. Did you know Eraserhead was here?"

"Yes." Seiko had seen Shigaraki take custody of him after all, and even if she hadn't, she would have inevitably learned of it from gossip.

"I see, I see," Aiko hummed, perfectly pleasant. "And you know what else I also learned about this week? Bakugou Katsuki is here too."

"He arrived on the ninth," Seiko supplied dully, and heard Aiko clap.

"Fascinating!" she chirped, smile audible in her voice. "Thank you for being so specific, Seiko-chan!"

"You're welcome," Seiko replied.

"I was being sarcastic, you Eldritch abomination." Seiko finally turned her head away from her work to glance at Aiko, finding the woman shooting her a sour scowl. "Why the hell didn't you tell me about any of this? Izuku, I can get. He knows me and how I'd react, but you don't give a damn about that and would probably tell me because you know how I'd react."

Seiko blinked once, slowly and deliberately, and then said, "You do not wish for me to visit your apartment, and I have no means to contact you. And on your previous visits here, you have made it quite clear you did not wish to speak to me."

Aiko shot her a withering glare, shoulders slumping and lips curling back like she'd bitten something sour. "I hate you," she growled, and Seiko turned back to her drawing. Would shading in the actual eyes with the lipstick look creepier, or were they better closed? "Okay, brat, where's Izuku now?"

"Looking for Sushi."

She expected Aiko to ask about why Izuku was looking for Sushi. But instead she got a thoughtful hum. "So, he's not with Eraserhead?"

"No."

"Wonderful. Thank you, Seiko." With that Aiko walked past her without another word. Seiko set down the lipstick, satisfied with the severed head, and tipped her head to look at the rest of the tree. The branches looked jagged and sharp compared to the trunk, and felt a bit too bare for her liking. Time to add some foliage.

To that end she picked up the eyeshadow and blush, going for a mixture of red and pink. Shadowy tendrils extended from her body to grip the brushes to begin filling it in the branches above her reach.

A cherry blossom tree sounded nice.

So everyone was going to meet in person tomorrow. Izuku was admittedly pretty bummed to read about that in the FacePage group chat since he had no way to go with them, at least on such short notice. The idea of not being able to meet everyone in person made his chest ache, especially since Uraraka sent him a private message mentioning tomorrow would probably be the best time to tell Todoroki about Dabi.

The impending meeting haunted his thoughts as he searched the Alliance's base for Sushi, with the help of Toga of all people. He'd run into her while lost in one of the halls, and once he explained that Seiko had apparently spooked Sushi she'd been more than eager to help look.

"Twicey would probably help too, but he's out today," she commented cheerfully as she led the way, all but skipping down the hall.

"Is it just me, or is everyone gone today?" Izuku muttered. He'd noticed the base seemed unusually quiet and empty today, which was honestly a relief given he still felt highly disoriented. If he ran into most of them, he wasn't sure he'd be able to react normally. Just thinking about it filled him with some weird sense of anxiety. Even being around Toga was weird, but she was closer in age so it wasn't as terrifying.

"Tomu had a mission today, so a lot of people went out!" Toga explained, and poked her head around a corner. "Nope, no kitty here!"

"Sushi really knows how to hide, huh," Izuku sighed. They'd been searching for half an hour now but had found no sign of the feline. Seiko must have spooked her even worse than he'd thought. "Do you think Seiko's even looking?"

"Nah, she probably got bored or she would've found her by now," Toga dismissed with a shrug, and Izuku paused before sighing.

"That's... probably for the best," he admitted reluctantly. Given Seiko had probably been the reason Sushi ran away like that, she would probably just upset Sushi more if she was the one to find her first. It was really good that most of the villains were out today. Even before this weird... déjà vu, he'd felt unsure about what some of the thugs here would do to the cat.

Toga just hummed. "Kitties never like Seiko-chan. I once saw a squirrel run away from her too!"

Can't blame them, Izuku thought, but didn't voice that out loud. Instead he muttered, "I'm starting to regret asking her to take breakfast to Ai—Eraserhead this morning..." He nearly slipped with Aizawa's real name but caught himself in time. "He's got to be really on edge after yesterday, so I hope that didn't make it worse..." The comment had Toga's head swiveling to look at him with a bright smile.

"That's okay!" she chirped. "I took him breakfast instead!" It took a few seconds for her words to register, and when they did Izuku jumped.

"You did what?" he blurted in horror. "But I asked Seiko!" Sure, Seiko was creepy as all hell, but she also wouldn't try to (intentionally) terrorize or hurt Aizawa. Toga was her own brand of traumatizing, and he feared for Aizawa-sensei's reaction to her.

"I guess Seiko-chan didn't want to do it so she asked me," Toga said with a shrug, and Izuku wanted to scream or cry or something. Instead he settled for a dejected groan.

"Please tell me you didn't do anything weird," he moaned.

"Of course not! I just took him a sandwich. He barely said anything the whole time, but he was super worried about you!" She tilted her head curiously, asking, "Did you two fight yesterday?"

The question had Izuku wincing before he could stop himself, much to his regret. He knew the physical reaction would just spur Toga's curiosity further, so he had to say something. "He... wasn't too happy about Kacchan and Hijack," he admitted reluctantly. "He figured out they were prisoners, and obviously that's bad, so..." He trailed off, hoping that would be enough for Toga.

"Is that why you didn't want to see him this morning?" she asked, and he nodded.

"Y-yeah. I figured it'd be good to give him space." That reasoning on its own felt a bit flimsy for subjecting Seiko upon Aizawa, so he added, "That and, uh, I didn't sleep well, s-so... yeah. I didn't really want to see anyone." Hopefully that would suffice for now and she wouldn't press for more details. He didn't want to explain anything about last night. Just thinking about having that... whatever happen in front of Aizawa made Izuku almost flinch guiltily, and he quietly gulped. "Um, how was he?"

Toga hummed, spinning around to keep skpping down the hall in search of Sushi. "I think I woke him up. He sat up really suddenly and looked kinda spooked. Oh! Are his eyes always that bloodshot?"

"Yeah," Izuku replied absently, eyebrows furrowing. "Come to think of it, he usually needs eye drops because of his Quirk... If I'm right he's been a prisoner for over six months, and I doubt anyone would give them to him... Of course I doubt he'd use his Quirk much, either, so maybe the irritation isn't that bad... But is it healthy to go so long without them? Does stopping them suddenly cause more damage? What if—"

He was stopped by a thump against his leg, and his head snapped down to see Sushi rubbing against it. For a second he just stared at the cat dumbly, but then he jumped and practically dove to the ground to snatch her. "Sushi! There you are!" Sushi allowed herself to be picked up without fuss, nuzzling against him contently and bumping her head against his chest with a happy-sounding purr.

"Aw, she's so cute!" Toga squealed, almost teleporting to his side to scratch Sushi behind the ear. "She's so much sweeter than the last Sushi!"

"She does like people a lot," Izuku agreed, even as he wondered, The last Sushi? He shrugged it off and commented, "She spends most of the time with Hijack, so I haven't gotten to hold her much. She's really friendly though." Usually the cats he saw avoided people, but given the apparent history of cats named Sushi he felt it safer not to mention that in case there were any other exceptions.

"Ooh, does that mean Jackie will get to rename him?" Toga asked eagerly, and Izuku paused. From what Aiko said, Kurogiri apparently named every cat Sushi for some reason until someone else changed it.

"Yeah, I guess so," he said. "They spend the most time together, so it's only fair."

"We should probably get her back now!" Toga said with a grin, and Izuku somehow managed to suppress the look of pure panic. He still did not want to subject Shinsou and Bakugou to Toga more than strictly necessary. More than that, he'd left the notebook with his notes on the others. If Toga saw that, then even if Kacchan had destroyed those pages she might get curious about it.

"Um, m-maybe I should go alone," he squeaked, and her grin gave way to a pout.

"Aw, but why?" she whined, and he grimaced.

"I'm sorry, but you can be kind of... intimidating, sometimes, and they're not used to your, uh, enthusiasm. And I think Seiko was there watching them for a while before I showed up?" He shrugged lamely. "I don't know, they said she did that yesterday too while I was gone. And you know how—uh, stressful, maybe? I mean, how when you're around Seiko for a while, and you don't know her that well..."

Toga tilted her head as he trailed off, pout fading to a surprisingly contemplative look. "You mean how spooky she is, and being around her leaves you feeling all creepy and jumpy?" she suggested, surprising Izuku. He hadn't expected her to be so insightful, or to even admit that Seiko gave people those sorts of feelings given she seemed to like the girl. He thought she might be immune to the effects, or at least used to it, but apparently not.

"Yeah, that," he agreed with a nod. "They're both probably really on edge—I'm actually kinda surprised Kacchan didn't destroy the controllers—so bringing you along might just stress them out more. I'm really sorry."

Toga still looked disappointed, but to his relief she heaved a big, dramatic sigh and nodded her head. "Yeah, I guess so," she relented, cheeks puffing as she pouted. "I still really want to see Jackie, but I can wait a bit." She quickly perked up though, flashing another big grin as she gave a little clap. "Oh! But before you go, I have something for you!"

"You do?" Izuku asked, shoving down the instant of sheer dread. She bobbed her head eagerly, reaching into her sweater's pocket to pull out something wrapped in a handkerchief. The fabric was white with a largely pink petal pattern, with a few random red petals that he at first mistook for blood splatters.

"Ta-da!" she said with a bright smile, shoving it towards him. "Don't open it up until you're alone or with Jackie and Tsuki-chan, okay?" That didn't help ease Izuku's concern, but he forced a weak smile as he shifted his hold on Sushi so he could take it—or tried to, anyway. The object wasn't too big, but holding both it and an armful of cat was tricky. And then he realized he'd also have to open the door to Shinsou's cell.

After a few seconds of trying to figure out a good way to balance both, he sighed and withdrew his hand to clutch Sushi again. "Can you just put it in my pocket?" he asked lamely.

"Of course!" she chirped, and quickly slid it into the pocket of his hoodie before scratching Sushi's ear again. "I'm so glad you're safe, kitty! I'll see you later, Mido-chan!"

"Bye, Toga," Izuku said, and the girl gave a jaunty wave before twirling and bouncing off. As he turned to head to Shinsou's cell he allowed himself a soft sigh of relief to finally be away from her, before wondering about what she'd given him. Whatever it was, Izuku could tell it was something hard from how it bounced against his side as he walked.

It didn't take long to reach the room, and he knocked on the door with his foot before awkwardly fumbling to enter the code to unlock it. "I got Sushi," he declared as he entered. The other two were sitting on the bed again, the Switch notably turned off and controllers stored away with the notebook open on Bakugou's lap. Shinsou all but jumped to his feet, eagerly crossing the room to take back the feline with obvious relief.

"Took you long enough," Bakugou huffed, and Izuku sighed.

"Sorry. I'm kinda disoriented today." That was an understatement, and one he didn't want to risk being overhead. Biting his lip, he checked that Shinsou had a good grip on Sushi before calling, "Seiko?" The room felt tense as they all held their breaths, but after several seconds passed without anything happening his shoulders slumped with a relieved sigh. "Okay, I guess she's not here then."

"You sure?" Bakugou grumbled, and Izuku could only give a helpless shrug.

"Not really," he admitted miserably. "But usually if I call her she shows up, so for now I'll just assume she's not here." He sincerely hoped that was the case, if only for his peace of mind. "Last night when I took Eraserhead dinner, something weird happened."

With that he proceeded to fill them in on what happened, from the argument to the sudden "white-out" and subsequent disorientation. Izuku felt they needed to know everything, as it could impact their escape plans. He also included a rough summary of the speculations he'd seen in the chat just before heading over to Shinsou's room, though he phrased it as if it were his own thoughts just in case Seiko was listening.

"It could be a symptom of an upcoming 'episode,' but I don't think they usually have warning signs or I wouldn't be able to really hide them," he said. "I do feel like there must be some sort of connection to it though. I think I still remembered some stuff subconsciously, but now my subconscious has kinda... forgotten it." Honestly, he'd started suspecting that even before whatever happened last night, so to hear the others validate it with similar experiences (even if they didn't detail them over the messages) made it seem even more likely.

Shinsou and Bakugou both looked contemplative. "So what, it's like a pseudo-episode?" the blond grumbled. "Is that even possible?"

"I don't have any better explanations," Izuku said with a shrug, sighing as he walked over to the bed. He picked up the open notebook almost absently, noting he could see shreds of paper near the spiral binding showing at least one page had been torn out. The remaining page had writing, but not his own, piquing his curiosity.

'Inventor & bracelets'

For a few seconds Izuku looked at the words with blank confusion, but then it suddenly clicked and he jolted. "Seiko, if you're there, can you come out?" he called tightly. "I have a question." Several seconds passed in silence.

"What do you need to ask her?" Bakugou asked when she didn't appear.

"Nothing, I just wanted to be absolutely sure she's not here," Izuku responded as he turned to face them both. "Do you think we should ask the inventor if she can look at the anklets?"

"No, I want to ask her to make us matching friendship bracelets," the blond snorted sarcastically, rolling his eyes. "Look, we have no idea how to unlock them yet and we don't even know what kind of bomb it is. Maybe if we can get her one, she can figure some shit out. So do you know where they keep the spares?"

"Well, if I did, I don't think I do now," Izuku groaned. "And I don't know if I can really ask anyone about those, so..."

"So basically, you're even more useless than usual," Bakugou growled irritably, and Izuku couldn't even argue that.

"Maybe I can ask Aiko?" he mumbled. "She seems to be really friendly and open to questions, and she knows I'm supposedly having an episode, so if I ask her about the bomb she'd probably tell me. Maybe she'd tell me how they're unlocked, too, but that might make her suspicious if I ask? Actually, she also seems kinda protective like Shigaraki, so if she finds out about... whatever happened last night, she might get freaked out, and she seems really observant so maybe it's a bad idea to talk to her. I guess Seiko would probably tell me where they are if I asked her, but I'd rather not do that..."

While he rambled Shinsou set Sushi on the floor so he could get out his phone, typing quickly. "What's in the pocket?" he asked, and Izuku paused, glancing down at his hoodie in surprise. After coming back he'd forgotten about the thing Toga gave him, but he could see a corner of the handkerchief sticking out of his pocket.

"Oh, uh, I don't actually know," he said, pulling out the bundle. "Toga gave it to me after she helped find Sushi. She said not to open it in the hallway, and..." He trailed off as he undid the knot and finally saw what was inside, blinking dumbly. "Um."

"What is it?" Bakugou asked impatiently. Rather than respond, Izuku lifted it up to show another anklet. The band was open with tape around one end to keep it from accidentally closing, the light on it dormant and almost invisible against the dark metal.

For several long seconds none of them spoke. Then, Shinsou lifted his phone to type. "What the fuck."

"I have no idea," Izuku whispered, face pale as he stared at the band. There was a thin piece of paper wrapped around one part, and he hesitantly unwrapped it and unfolded it to read it. "Um. 'It's turned off so it won't explode if it leaves. Just don't close it or it'll turn on! Good luck with whatever!' And then she drew a bunch of hearts." He looked up at them. "Guys, I'm kinda scared."

"...Fuck, I am too," Bakugou muttered, face pale, and Shinsou nodded in agreement.

Shouta messed up.

Last night he'd just been so shaken up by the discovery there were at least two kids being held prisoner. The stakes had already been high enough with his own life at stake, but discovering there were other prisoners—and kids, no less—had kicked up the urgency of the situation. At this point, escape was no longer about his own survival. Rescuing those kids was his duty as a hero, the first duty he'd be able to actually carry out in months.

Shouta already knew that if he wanted to succeed, everything would hinge on getting Midoriya on his side. Loathe as he was to admit it, he lacked the ability to do anything on his own; he couldn't even stand with his leg broken like this. If he wanted to get out of here—if he wanted to save those kids—he needed Midoriya's help.

But seeing him with those other two had made Shouta realize how little he knew about the boy, too little to guarantee he'd actually be able to recruit his help. The kid had just been so calm, and the only discomfort he'd shown was at Shouta's obvious glare rather than their circumstances. To him, those dark bands and fucking muzzle were just normal. Even the other boys had started to adapt to this as their normal.

Something about that had just made it click, how much of an unknown Midoriya Izuku really was. He didn't even know the kid's surname was Midoriya until Hijack said the name (with the phone because he was fucking muzzled).

The boy had been nice so far, yes, had even gone out of his way to make Shouta comfortable. But was that how he really was? Was it all just an act, to lower his guard and earn Shouta's trust before revealing his true callous nature for maximum effect?

For that reason, Shouta had goaded the boy when he returned with dinner, trying to provoke him with pointed accusations. Every word had been calculated to incite an emotional response, whether to make him angry or simply gauge his feelings and reactions to each statement. If he wanted to get a real sense of Midoriya Izuku's true personality and intent, he needed the boy to drop his meek façade. He needed to see if the mask would break into an explosive rage, cold apathy, or crushing guilt and shame.

And at first, it worked. The kid responded, getting more and more defensive with each word, dropping little hints to his true motivations as anger got the better of him. He was heading to his breaking point, perfectly unaware of Shouta's intentional steering.

He hadn't expected the kid to suddenly stop mid-sentence and fall to his knees.

The kid had gone from shouting defensively to nearly catatonic in the span of a single second. The change had been abrupt with absolutely no warning. It sent a surge of panic and concern through Shouta, not expecting something like that, and he'd dragged himself over to check on him. His face was perfectly blank, even his eyes seeming to briefly lose their spark. Shouta had fallen back on his training, nearly started walking him through the process to calm down from a panic attack before realizing this was something else entirely, something he didn't know.

When the kid finally, finally came to his senses, he seemed disoriented and confused. His responses had been sluggish and slow, almost as if he were in a daze. And then, he'd run away. He scrambled to his feet and fled, hadn't even cared that he was leaving behind the plate with the untouched food.

Shouta had proceeded to eat the sushi warily after he left, trying to figure out what he'd just witnessed. Something was clearly wrong, and he wondered if the kid might be able to explain it when he inevitably returned for the empty plate.

But Midoriya never came back for it, the first sign things might be worse than he thought.

And now, Shouta was paying the price for his behavior.

That morning he'd been awoken by the door being slammed open by a teenage girl with blond hair and a school uniform. His first thought had been she might be another prisoner, the idea making his stomach churn. But then he saw her too-sharp smile and the sandwich and realized she wasn't.

Toga Himiko, as she'd introduced herself, was a member of the Alliance, and just as manic as you'd expect of a teenage girl who willingly aligned herself with villains. She'd happily chattered away as he ate, collecting the empty plate from dinner with barely any questions. It had been all he could do not to panic, her questions leaving him without an appetite and eager for her to leave so he could reflect in peace over how Midoriya hadn't come.

Midoriya hadn't come.

That thought haunted Shouta as he curled on his side, trying to pace his breathing. Had the boy been upset and wanted to avoid him? Had his harsh accusations chased off Midoriya? The possibility made Shouta's chest constrict painfully, his breath catching as his heartbeat picked up. What if Midoriya didn't want to see him anymore? What if he just assigned someone else to look after Shouta?

The mere idea made him want to scream. Not again, he couldn't go through that hell again. Last time that happened he'd spent days in total darkness with plastic shoved down his throat, arms trapped against his torso and sludge pouring down a tube for every meal. The memory made him nearly hyperventilate, curling up tight on the ground as he tried to work himself through a potential panic attack before it could form.

For all he didn't trust Midoriya, the boy had been nice. He had tried to make Shouta comfortable, lingered during mealtimes to keep him company, brought him pillows when he didn't need to. He had even let Shouta listen to Hizashi on his phone, spending hours in the cell until the show ended late at night even though he could be in bed fast asleep.

Midoriya was the nicest captor Shouta ever had, and even if that was a façade to lower his guard like he feared, he was a fool to provoke him into potentially ending that kindness. Shouta had realized long ago that many fates worse than death existed. Being abandoned was near the top of his list.

If Midoriya came back, Shouta needed to make it back to the kid's good graces as fast as possible. He'd grovel and touch his forehead to the floor if he had to, but he needed to make sure Midoriya didn't hate him and abandon him. He'd even give up the subtle manipulation, stop trying to test the kid's character. He wouldn't even ask about what happened last night.

Forget escaping, he just didn't want to endure that hell ever again.

The sound of the door opening made him flinch and suck in a sharp breath. This was it, the moment of truth. Either Midoriya would be there, at which point Shouta could gauge how badly he'd fucked up, or someone else would be there, which would also indicate how badly he'd fucked up. Offering a silent prayer, he rolled over and looked at the door, and his heart sank upon seeing a woman.

Shit. He'd fucked up very badly then.

In his disappointment and momentary despair, it took a moment to notice two things. First, the woman carried no food, so she wasn't there to bring him a meal. That realization gave him a momentary spark of relief. While he didn't know the purpose of her visit and it could still be bad, this meant there was still a chance Midoriya would return with the next meal and hadn't abandoned him yet.

Then he noticed a familiar pair of yellow goggles around her neck.

He felt himself freeze as his eyes locked onto them, mouth suddenly very dry. Those were his goggles. That brief second of relief vanished, his body tense and more on edge than it had been even when Midoriya had suddenly collapsed as he watched her step inside. She closed the door behind herself without ever looking away from Shouta, and he tore his gaze away from the goggles long enough to meet her eyes. Even from a distance he could tell they glittered with white specks, catching the dim light present in the room.

"Hello, Eraserhead," she greeted. "It's been a while."

Alarm bells had already been ringing in his head, but something about her words sent a thrill of dread through him. He wouldn't say he recognized her voice, but the way she said it seemed to tug at his mind, giving him a nauseating sense of danger. He swallowed harshly as he sat up, instincts demanding he not let himself appear any more vulnerable than he was.

"Who are you?" he demanded, and she hummed.

"Guess you wouldn't recognize me, huh?" she mused, which only deepened that intense, instinctive dread. His eyes flicked to his goggles around her neck. No... It can't be... "It's not like you ever saw me back then."

All at once, his mind went blank as a sense of nausea crashed into him, his breath catching painfully in his throat as his chest sharply constricted. No. No, no, no, it couldn't be—but it was. Even though he'd never seen her, even though her voice had changed, somehow those words alone were enough to confirm his worst fears.

Still, he found his mouth opening, a single name slipping out full of dread. "Aiko."

No question for next time. Your reactions are enough.