Chapter 87

.::Conspiracy Theorist's Fantasy::.

Generally when working on a case, Sayonaka Saki could be found in the communal office space used by the entirety of the General Analysis Team. There were many benefits to working there instead of her own, private office: it was easier to have others join in and offer input, the table had plenty of space to place case-related items, and Figment's Quirk would be active there and allow Mail to be visible.

Today, Mail was still absent, she had no physical evidence to review, and she also didn't particularly want to have anyone drop in. So for once, she had no reason to not set up camp in her own office, standing in front of her handy-dandy corkboard. It was full of photos and scribbled notes all connected by red strings, looking straight out of a conspiracy theorist's fantasy. Which was part of the point.

Honestly, Saki had started working on the conspiracy-style corkboard collages as a joke. Nighteye did encourage people to find humor where possible, and this particular setup seemed in-theme with a hero agency. It just turned out to be surprisingly effective for organizing thoughts and notes on more complex cases, so it became a regular part of her work. While most of the surfaces in her room were covered in mementos from previous cases (including the walls), she'd made a point to hang two large corkboards for pinning photos and case notes.

The corkboard she focused on now had plenty of those. She'd been working on this particular conspiracy theorist's wet dream for about two weeks now, but in the past few days it had expanded rapidly. At the very top were two photos connected by a string depicting the start of this giant tangle: Uraraka Ochako, and the computer-generated forensic compilation of Midoriya Izuku.

From there, the web became complex increasingly fast. Uraraka connected to Ashido Mina, AKA Alien_Queen_Pink. Ashido connected to Kirishima Eijirou, and the three of them had another string connecting to a note that simply said "Runaways". Another string connected Ashido to Anjou Ran, the latter who had loosely connected to Midoriya thanks to that autograph signing with Present Mic.

That took things back to Midoriya's side. The Villain Alliance had been the very first connection after Uraraka, with a specific note mentioning "Shigaraki's brother?" That had been big enough, but as of this week another direct connection had been added: Aizawa Shouta, AKA Eraserhead. An underground hero who'd been missing since May, over six months now.

Another web of connections had sprung from his name. The undercover gig in some fighting rings that he'd been working shortly before he went missing on his first patrol post-cover. Mic's brief encounter with Blank Slate in July that turned up no news on the hero. The destroyed base in Nabu where Eraserhead had been held, and a post-it note with the names of the few bodies they'd been able to identify.

The board had plenty of other notes beyond these direct connections. Specific events, post-it notes and notecards with theories. A rough sketch of Mail right below Ashido and Kirishima to denote his likely current location. And about half of it had been coded and written in Russian, leaving an indecipherable mess of scribbles to anyone who might happen to poke their head inside. What had started as a single missing girl had easily become one of the complicated broken mosaics she'd ever made.

Right now though, her attention was focused on the photograph of Eraserhead.

Aizawa was a scruffy-looking man with unruly dark hair and chapped lips who could easily be mistaken for a hobo ("He's hobo-chic," Emi had once joked). The eyebags gave him a perpetually tired look, further amplified by the slight tinge of red from chronic dry eye. This was a professional headshot used for his file, but it was clear he hadn't put much effort into his appearance for it.

She inspected his photo idly, tracing a finger down his face. Flashes of Amajiki and worry flickered through her mind as she touched it, the boy having been the one to print the photo at her request. Even in a photograph, Aizawa's skin looked dryer than most people's; she could tell he wasn't particularly big on skincare. His face at least lacked any scars though, speaking of decent combat skill given his eyes would be the first target of any savvy foe.

No scars. Not one.

Her mouth thinned at the thought, gaze flicking towards another notecard connecting to his photo and Midoriya. 'Tuesday, Dec 5: Present Mic signing Kamino. Midoriya bring poster. Memory of Eraserhead.' She still remembered the rush of images when she'd brushed her fingers over the poster. A woman with green hair and a warm smile. Childish squeals of delight ringing in her head over a constant drone of mumbles. Television and computer screens playing clips of Present Mic's fights and interviews.

Glimpses of Eraserhead chained to the floor with a leather collar and a splinted leg. Lying on the floor among a pile of blankets and pillows with Mic's voice in the background.

Guilt.

So much guilt.

Saki hadn't told Mic the full details of what she saw. He didn't need to know that Eraserhead had clearly received a fresh injury since transferring custody, nor that he'd been collared like an animal. The specifics would likely only cause him more stress. Even the seemingly positive fact that he seemed to have heard Mic's radio show at least once would probably leave him overly conscious of future broadcasts.

She'd seen more flashes of Eraserhead's face than that. Harsh glares full of suspicion and mistrust. Half-lidded eyes as he spoke, the name "Rare" echoing in Saki's skull. Face streaked with blood yet eyes alight with his Quirk and fierce determination even as a dark hand gripped his skull. The smallest sliver of a smile, again with Mic's voice in the background. An almost stern expression as he crouched in front of Midoriya. Eyes wide and anxious as a mittened hand reached out, face full of sheer desperation.

Two of those were not like the others.

A knock on the door frame had her turning around, recognizing the visitor from the rhythmic knocking pattern even before it opened. Fukukado Emi poked her head inside with a smile. "Hey, Sayo-chan!" she greeted cheerfully. "Just wrapped up my lessons with the kids and thought I'd check in on you!"

"Sure, come on in," Saki agreed easily, and the green-haired heroine slipped inside and closed the door. They two of them were on pretty good terms, only a year apart at Ketsubutsu, with Emi taking Saki under her wing until graduation. Something about how both of their costumes had pirate aesthetics going on. "I'm the rough rebel of the seas, and you're the fancy privateer paid by the government!" she'd declared more than once.

She strolled over to join Saki next to the corkboard, humming as she glanced over it. "So, you made any big progress yet? There's a lot more notes in gobbledygook since the last time I saw it!" Gobbledygook, of course, referred to the many Russian notes. Which had definitely multiplied since Emi's last visit.

"At this point, this web's getting so complex I'm just switching to code out of natural paranoia," Saki huffed with crossed arms. "Seriously, some of this stuff's edging into classified territory."

"Even Eraser?" Emi asked, and Saki rolled her eyes at the obvious intention behind her words.

"Yes, even your not-fiancé." Saki hadn't been heavily involved in his case previously beyond occasional requests from Emi to help. She'd had a good working relation with Eraserhead back when she'd patrol as Ms. Joke full-time, so she'd been particularly serious about finding him.

Even now, Emi had been attempting to connect the people from the Nabu base to the fighting rings he'd investigated prior to disappearing. Saki had added a few post-it notes with summaries of her findings thus far, but that was more to placate her senpai. In reality, she had no interest in how he ended up there and didn't think it really mattered in the overall picture. Not that she would actually say that to Emi.

She glanced at the green-haired woman thoughtfully. "Hey, Emi, did Eraser ever get in a fight with a guy with giant black hands? Which likely involved getting his face mashed against the ground?"

Emi looked surprised at the question but then snorted. "That's weirdly specific, but also not specific enough! My hubby-to-be is a good fighter, but when you're that hands-on, you run into a lot of nasty folks like that! You of all people know the night brings out the worst of the worst. It's in your name!"

Now it was Saki's turn to snort. "It was in broad daylight," she added helpfully.

"Okay, that actually might narrow it down. Eraser stopped doing daylight patrols way back when everything went topsy-turvy, so I can take a look and see if anything comes up!"

"You don't need to look into it too deep if it's that long ago," Saki said with a shrug. "I think one of the images I saw was Eraser in a fight. He looked pretty beat up, but the injuries didn't match up with any of the other flashes I saw. I figure Midoriya must have seen it a while back, so I was just curious."

Brief as it was, Eraserhead being held and using his Quirk had strong emotions associated with it. Emotions could dictate an image's clarity, and that particular one, while placing Aizawa far away from Midoriya, stood out as the clearest of all. It carried the largest swirl of feelings, memories of trauma and terror and awe and admiration.

She could tell the blood on Eraser's face belonged to him, and that none of the injuries likely to cause that had been present in all the other flashes of him in his cell. More than that, he'd been in full costume. It definitely wasn't from when he'd been captured, so Midoriya must have seen the battle from afar in the past. Which was good, because he'd looked to be in pretty bad shape and about to have his face smashed to the ground.

"Well, good news is I think I figured out their motive," she said, which had Emi snapping laser-sharp focus her way.

"What is it?" she asked, far more serious than Saki had ever seen her. And to that, Saki smirked.

"Midoriya's a hero fanboy."

The shock on Emi's face was far funnier than any of the jokes she'd usually throw Saki's way. "What? No way! Really?"

"Yeah. The poster was handled by his mother, so that means he went out of his way to take it with him when he ran away and before he ended up with the Alliance. The only memories associated with his mother are directly from her touching it, so he didn't take it for sentimental value as a gift from her. It was in incredibly good condition, too, so he's taken good care of it."

She spoke lightly but factually as she rattled off the points, punctuating it with a nod. "At the very least, he seems to be a fan of Present Mic, but between that and what we know of him from before he went missing, it seems likely he likes heroes in general."

Emi's face screwed up with thought as she listened to Saki, her shock giving way to an increasingly disturbed frown. "So what, does that mean they just saw Eraser as some kind of—of, convenient toy for him?" She had to force the words out, clearly horrified and disgusted by the notion. "Like, they just saw him in that cell and went, 'Oh, look, he's already all tied up! Let's just slap a bow on him and give him to the kid as a trophy or toy or something, until he loses interest in him!'"

The venom in her tone had Saki's own expression softening, averting her gaze to the corkboard. Not for the first time, she was reminded that this kind of topic was a lot more disturbing to others than herself. The personal connection to Aizawa wouldn't help either. Sometimes she forgot how utterly desensitized she was compared to even other heroes.

"For what it's worth, I think he'll be safe for a while," she commented softly. "The impressions I got were all positive aside from the guilt. He seems to like Eraserhead a lot, so he won't let anything happen to him." She didn't mention her suspicions that they'd kidnapped Eraserhead specifically and that Midoriya had admired him before. She didn't know how Emi would react to that.

Even now the usually-jovial Smile Hero lacked any traces of the mirth that had earned her name, her mouth twisted in a bitter scowl instead. "This is so screwed up," she hissed to herself. "Just... how did it get this screwed up?"

Saki had no answer, turning back to the board and looking for something to change the topic. "Hey, by the way, what's Blank Slate like?" she asked. The question had the intended effect, Emi's sour frown fading as she sighed and rolled her shoulders in a fluid shrug.

"Dunno, never met 'em. Can't tell if they're a vigilante or villain or what. Eraser's the only one who's ever really found them more than once."

"That we know of," Saki added cryptically, and Emi snorted and finally flashed that large grin that defined her persona.

"Yeah, true! Who knows, we both might've met them without ever realizing it!" She snickered as she added, "Apparently they told Mic they'd already met three times when they talked! Last I heard he's still racking his brain trying to figure out when!"

"Maybe they're just messing with him."

"That is also a valid possibility!" Emi laughed. "They do sound pretty mischievous from what Eraser says! Maybe—" She didn't get to finish the thought, cut off-mid sentence by her phone going off. They both startled, and she quickly whipped it out to check it. "Well, sorry to cut this short, but boss-man wants another meeting about that raid this weekend so looks like it's time for me to go!"

"The one with the folks from UA?" Saki asked.

"Yeah! Have to say, it'll be good to get in the field. Don't get me wrong, I like teaching the kiddies about the job, but I'm really looking forward to trying out my luck with a new audience! I've got a whole new routine I've been working on, just for this!"

"I hope you've got some knee-slappers mixed in," Saki said dryly, and Emi guffawed at the joke.

"You know it! Got knee-slappers and gut-busters and everything else!" While Emi had stopped her regular patrols, Ms. Joke hadn't quit the hero scene entirely and still participated in raids and other large operations. In fact, she'd mainly stopped patrolling so she could focus on teaching the kids. Those kids needed a full-time teacher who they wouldn't have to worry about potentially disappearing or getting killed on a patrol. "I'll catch ya later, Saki-chan!"

"Later, Emi," Saki replied with a nod, and the Smile Hero left with a jaunty wave. As the door closed Saki sat at her desk and opened a drawer to pull out a small sketchbook, flipping through the pages.

Whenever Saki used psychometry, she'd try to sketch whatever she saw while the memories were still fresh. Sometimes she'd just make quick doodles on a single page with the most important details she'd glimpsed, like objects, faces and settings. Other times she'd make a series of more complete drawings of individual scenes, starting with rough outlines featuring the most important details and filling in more later.

That was exactly what she'd done after touching the poster from Midoriya. It didn't take long to come to the drawing she'd made of Eraserhead with his face bloody and head gripped by the dark hand.

The drawing had more details than she'd mentioned to Emi. The capture weapon resting around his shoulders. The blood that even stained his teeth. The hand gripping his head so large that it didn't even need to spread all five fingers to hold it in place. The glimpse of a giant knee with a skull on it right in front of him.

The dark figure right behind him and gripping his arm to hold him in place with what looked like a beak and eyes inside its exposed brain.

She flipped a few more pages until she came to another drawing, perhaps the most mundane of the lot. Just Eraserhead crouched and looking directly at the viewer with one hand reaching out. That memory didn't have the heavy fear, guilt and horror that haunted the other flashes, so initially it hadn't stood out. She'd only sketched it down because she made a habit to sketch all glimpses, which was the only reason she was able to look at it again and realized something she'd missed at the time:

He was wearing his hero costume.

That made two memories. Two memories of radically different moments where he wore his costume, capture weapon and all.

In almost every other flash, he wore the same set of pajamas. Almost, because a couple—the very first of him chained to the ground with the broken leg, and the one with "Rare"—had him in a different set of ragged clothing. It became clear that he'd had a change of clothes and thus likely got cleaned since his custody got transferred. Good for him, and a good sign that he wouldn't be killed anytime soon, but irrelevant.

Still, the fact remained that Midoriya Izuku never should have seen Eraserhead in costume. Especially not that close. He was looking directly at Midoriya, close enough to reach out and bump a fist to his chest. It wasn't some distant memory like if Midoriya had viewed a photograph or video, either. That flash had a subtle warmth and sense of determination tied to it, different from all the other flashes. She knew it was one of Midoriya's direct memories.

Saki pressed a hand to her chin as she studied the curved lines sketched beneath his right eye, reflecting on the crescent-shape scar that she only distantly remembered.

"You're a lucky man, Eraserhead," she mused with a quiet smirk. There was absolutely no need to be concerned about his safety, not when he'd clearly earned the boy's devotion.

Even if it had been another Eraserhead who'd done so.

She slowly swiveled her chair to face the corkboard, scanning the three faces pinned up and connected by a blue string.

Midoriya, Uraraka, and Ashido. That made three. Three people who had somehow gotten transferred from another world and mixed up in some giant conspiracy. Really made a woman wonder how the hell they got into this mess, because she knew Porter's Quirk couldn't be responsible with how its mechanics worked. Not unless it had been regifted, but the odds of that were low.

Now the question was what they were planning. Because no way would a boy from another world go to a random meet and greet with a hero just for an autograph, especially not when he lived with villains. No, there was definitely some greater conspiracy going on, some wild plan she'd have to piece together.

Such a shame she couldn't tell any of her colleagues yet.

Sorry for being selfish. But family comes first.

Meanwhile, Nemuri sat on her couch frowning at her phone as she hung up. "Not even voice mail anymore," she murmured to herself. She'd been trying to call Hizashi on and off for the past few hours, but no dice.

She was scheduled to participate in a joint raid on a villain group tomorrow, and she'd wanted to talk to Hizashi about it. They'd been planning it for about a month now, and while she didn't anticipate any trouble, she wanted to vent about getting partnered up with Snipe. Don't get her wrong, she loved and respected the man, but his guns were just so loud.

Hizashi wasn't participating in the raid, but he'd been fully briefed and had helped on the investigative side, so she didn't need to worry about leaking info. Mostly though she'd just wanted to make casual small chat, maybe tease him about an article she'd read in a magazine that mentioned him. But as the day passed with no answer unease started to settle over her.

She bit her lip as she dialed a different contact. This time, it only rang twice before a cheerful voice greeted, "Hello?"

"Nedzu, is Mic on assignment somewhere today?" Nemuri asked, getting straight to the point.

"No, not that I know," the rodent replied, losing some of his customary cheer to become more serious. "I assume you're having difficulties contacting him?"

"I've been calling all day and he's not answering his phone. It's not even going to voicemail anymore."

"I see, I see. This is getting quite vexing now." The pit in her stomach grew as he continued, "I actually just got a phone call from his manager at the station. He was supposed to arrive for a meeting fifteen minutes ago, but still hasn't shown up. I was in the process of tracing his phone when you called."

"Where is it?" she demanded sharply.

"Just a moment, the program's almost done... Ah, there we go! The last signal it sent was from Kyoto."

The pit in Nemuri's stomach officially turned into a brick. "Kyoto?" she repeated incredulously.

"Yes, Kyoto. Hmm, he shouldn't have any reasons to be there. I'll contact local heroes there to start looking, and tell the radio station to prepare a backup recording for tonight's show just in case. I assume you'll be going there to investigate?"

Even as Nedzu spoke Nemuri was already on her feet and grabbing her coat, pressing her phone between her ear and shoulder as she pulled it on. "Of course I am. Keep me updated on details."

"Of course, Kayama. Keep in mind, we still have the raid tomorrow so you'll need to be fully rested for tomorrow. I'll speak to you later." The call ended with a click, and Nemuri shoved the phone in her pocket before grabbing her car keys and heading out. She barely remembered to lock the door in her rush, and fumbled with the keys while starting the car. Kyoto. Hizashi had no reason to go to Kyoto!

"Please, not you too," she hissed. She couldn't lose him too, not after they'd just finally found a lead on Shouta.

As her car zoomed down the streets of Musutafu, she didn't notice a teenager drawing with chalk on a low brick wall. He spared the passing car barely more than a glance before quickly finishing their message and hurrying off, bright red and white letters standing out for the world to see.

'UA wasn't a dream

+1-A_No_Dream'

For the past several hours in a private FacePage chat started for the groups searching for Porter, more and more photos had started to appear. Chalk and spray-painted messages in all kinds of colors on various surfaces, from brick walls in alleys to the cement underside of an overpass bridge, to even a wooden fence.

'USJ was more than a dream'

'Never forget waking up in Heights Alliance'

'The Sports Festival was a blast'

'Best Jeanist for No 3'

The messages were simple and quick to the point, but referenced small details and events that only a select few would know. Each message had the same tag under it: +1-A_No_Dream. Even now the brand new account on Tweeter was posting each new photo sent to the chat, uploaded by Kaminari who actually had a laptop to access the account.

While Jirou took to decorating various spots in Chiba, the others began mobilizing to do the same in other cities. Kirishima and Shouji split up to cover as much ground in Musutafu in possible. Uraraka and Todoroki alternated lookout duty as they left messages in areas near Team Storm Chaser's headquarters. Even Ashido left a chalk mural on the ground around the statue in the park that in other worlds featured a man dubbed "The Last Samurai".

'Remember a world where there's a different statue here?' read the multi-colored writing in a circle around its base, accompanied by a roughly drawn samurai and sword.

'We took down Stain,' was drawn in an alleyway in Numazu with a doodle of a sword.

'He won the festival just like promised,' said another message on the side of a building.

'Remember a world where UA's gates are still open?' pondered one doodle in Musutafu not far from the now-closed school.

'Can you imagine this beach actually clean?' wondered another on the sidewalk by the trash-strewn Dagobah Beach.

'Help them get back to the skeleton man,' pleaded multiple messages around Musutafu.

The photos poured into the chat one by one as they finished, some quick and scratchy and clearly rushed, others more artistic and detailed. As she watched more and more pop up, Anjou Ran felt a growing sense of anticipation as she smirked. "Hey, Kirameki," she said, getting the other girl to look up. "Wanna help with a project for Ashido?"

Ran knew less than the others did about UA and the other world, but she'd heard enough. Enough to draw simple messages on several brick walls around Kamino, Kirameki trailing behind to help play lookout. They had an advantage over the others because they knew Kamino like the back of their hands, knew where would get the most people passing by and where to avoid security cameras.

'All Might: Remember.'

'They all fought here somewhere.'

'You're next.'

'It's your turn now.'

She wrote the last in bright golden yellow chalk, and used her phone to snap a photo. "Will this really help?" Kirameki asked with a frown.

"Who knows." But it was worth a shot.

I really need to draw Saki already. I already knew her dynamic with Ms. Joke would be fun, but I didn't realize how much I'd actually enjoy it until I wrote this scene. She's a great straight man for Ms. Joke! (And if it's not obvious, she meant the "knee-slappers" pretty literally.) Also, special shout-out to Paragrin from AO3 who's been making an ACTUAL conspiracy wall for Ignite. You can check it out on the Discord server on the Ignite channel by searching "PCWU" (invite link in my profile)! She's currently up to Chapter 15 with it, it's really fun to see it grow~

...Also, another thing I didn't realize until writing this chapter: how much this is all screwing with Nemuri. First Aizawa's missing long enough to be presumed dead. Then Uraraka runs away after meeting Izuku and Shigaraki. And now MIC is missing too. I did not mean to have so many people close to her disappear in such a short time. I should let up on the missing people for her sake.

Double question for next time! 1) What conspiracies would YOU make a conspiracy theory board for? 2) What do you think is on the board for the dimension jumpers theory? Bonus points for stuff that sounds absolutely bizarre with zero context.