It had been a few days or so since the encounter with that person who could possibly be the Emerald Ghost himself.

And yet, the kid's parents were no-show. They tried asking Daizuke about where he lived, but he couldn't recall his address. They also tried contacting his parents, but none of them returned the call. Yagi stayed by his side all day, consoling him, yet his tears had yet to end. Tsukauchi was still out there, gathering evidence, but his efforts were gratuitous.

They weren't going to see the end of this anytime soon. Yagi couldn't just question the kid right off the bat. He needed some time to gather his bearings, and even then, it would be a long time before any of that could happen..

Yagi kept the boy by his side at all, never letting go, muttering 'It's okay' and 'Let it out' occasionally.

Then, against his expectations, the boy spoke for the first time, "Mister..."

Yagi's eye's shot up in shock, "Yes, young man?"

The boy pulled himself from the older man's embrace, fidgeting, seemingly shy to speak, "Um..."

Yagi smiled, "You can tell me anything you want, young man."

Daizuke relented for a moment, but after a while, he spoke, "The kind boy said that you were good people."

Yagi's eyes perked up. This was the first time that Daizuke had spoken of the mysterious figure that Yagi had just encountered days before. "Um, yes, in the simplest terms, we are. Why?"

Daizuke looked at the floor, then back to Yagi, then back to the floor again.

"Young man?" Yagi asked.

"The truth is," Daizuke choked on his own words, trying his best to continue. "My mommy never loved me."

Yagi frowned, placing his hand gently on Daizuke's shoulder, "She never did?"

Daizuke shook his head, "She never loved my little sister either. She gave her away. I know she said that she sent her to a 'better place', but, I didn't believe a squat of it."

Yagi listened intently.

"Yagi-san, um," Daizuke began hesitantly. "If it's not too much for you, could you try to find my little sister for me?"

Yagi stayed silent for a moment. For one, he didn't know how his sister looked like, nor did he know about her name. It was all blurry. Not to mention that he had the Ghost thing to deal with.

But he couldn't say no. He was a pro-hero. THE pro-hero. The be-all and end-all of the hero industry. With the sincerest smile that he could muster, he replied, "I'll help you."

The kid's eyes brightened, a smile creeping into his face.

Yagi then asked, "But first off, what's her name?"

"It's Er-" Before the boy could finish, the door to the room opened, revealing an exhausted Tsukachi.

"Toshinori!" Tsukauchi's eyes then landed on the boy. "Daizuke-kun."

Daizuke politely smiled through his red puffy eyes.

"I see that you've calmed him down, Toshinori," Tsukauchi said, putting his bag down on the couch. "I'm glad. Does that mean-"

"Naomasa," Yagi gave him a warning glare. "Not now. He's not ready yet."

Daizuke stood straight up, smiling as he did, "No, no, it's fine! Yagi-san said he'd help me, so I'll help you two with whatever it is that you need help with!"

Both of the older man stared at the boy, confounded by his abrupt declaration. "My boy, are you sure about this?"

"Yes."

Tsukauchi took a deep breath before saying, "If the boy says yes, then it's a yes. You worry too much, really, Toshinori."

Tsukauchi then crouched down to the boy's level, "Now, I'm gonna ask you a few questions, and I need you to be honest with me, okay? I don't want to put pressure on you, but this is necessary. There's a kid out there that needs our help, YOUR help."

Daizuke nodded, "Okay. I'll answer your questions truthfully."

"First, the person that you were with a few days ago, did he say anything that might stick out to you?" Tsukauchi asked as he brought out his notebook and pen.

Daizuke thought for a moment, before saying, "He seemed pretty determined to protect me, but other than that, no."

Truth.

Tsukauchi wrote that on his notebook, before asking again, "How old did you think he was? Judging by his voice."

Daizuke scratched his hair. "Um, I don't know. He sounded young. I thought he was an old guy at first.."

Truth.

Tsukauchi nodded, adding more things into his notebook. Then, he asked again, "What can you make out of him?"

"Um, what?" Daizuke asked, confused.

"Let me reiterate," Tsukauchi cleared his throat, before saying, "What do you think of his personality?"

"He was kind," Daizuke replied, "Very kind. He wanted nothing but for me to be safe."

Truth.

Tsukauchi nodded thoughtfully, resting his chin on the tip of his pen. Before he could say anything further, Daizuke beat him to the punch, "Also, there was something odd that I noticed with him."

Tsukauchi raised his brow. "Please, do tell "

"He seemed a bit distraught when I mentioned the Ghost," That was when something clicked in Tsukauchi's mind. Daizuke continued, "The poor kids from the television must've been his friends."

Truth.

Tsukauchi exchanged looks with Yagi, nodding to each other as they did so. He looked back to the boy, smiling as he patted him on his head, "Thanks kid, you've helped us a great deal today."

The kid's face brightened with a smile.

Tsukauchi then turned his attention back to Yagi, "Have you contacted his parents yet?"

"They changed their numbers," Yagi sighed. "There's also this other thing. This kid's parents might be up to some shady stuff."

Tsukauchi raised his brow, "How do you mean?"

"I'll explain later, but I agreed to help him on some matters," Yagi replied. "Anyway, Nezu called. He said he needed me for something so, might be a good time to go back for now."

"What about this case?" Tsukauchi pointed at his notebook, "We're getting close to finding out who the Emerald Ghost is and-"

"That's the thing," Yagi interrupted. "There's a new transfer student. I've seen the description, his quirk. It lines up with everything that we know about the Emerald Ghost. It might be a good time for me to go there and investigate for myself."

"Are you saying that...?"

"I have a good reason to believe so," Yagi replied. "Young Midoriya has always been a sucker for all things heroic related."

"We don't even know if he's the Emerald Ghost," Tsukauchi added.

"It's likely. Not certain, but not impossible either," Yagi clenched his fists. "My intuition tells me to go and investigate this 'transfer student'."

"Right," Tsukauchi sighed. "What about Daizuke?"

"He's coming with us, seeing how he has no one to go back to here," Yagi replied.

Daizuke smiled at Yagi, to which he returned the gesture. He wrapped his arms around the hero, embracing him warmly.

Yagi rubbed circles on his back. Tsukauchi snickered, "I didn't know you were good with kids, Toshi. Usually you'd stutter and scare them away."

Yagi glared daggers at Tsukauchi, to which he responded by laughing even more.

Daizuke pulled away, before saying, "Thanks, Yagi-san."

"No problem. It's what a pro-hero would do," Yagi smiled.

"Wait, you're a pro-hero?" The second the boy said that, Yagi coughed up blood. He made a blunder. Tsukauchi only slapped his forehead in response. Spoke too soon.

"What's wrong, Yagi-san?! Are you sick?!"

Yagi frantically shook his head, "I'm okay, I'm okay! I uh...have a disease, but it'll heal soon, don't worry."

Daizuke simply nodded, "You said you were a pro-hero, right?"

Oh right.

"Which one are you? I've never seen you before," Daizuke asked.

Yagi scrambled for words, his mind working itself to find a loophole around this, "U- um, you see, I'm not a pro-hero. I was just- um- following the example of pro-heroes. See? I'm like, a big fan of them. Especially um, heroes like All Might, Endeavour, Best Jeanist, you name them! They're exemplary, aren't they?"

Tsukauchi covered his face from the sheer second-hand embarrassment that he was feeling at the moment, 'My god, please stop talking.'

"Oh, yeah! I understand," Daizuke nodded. "For a second, I thought you were one of the pros. Would've been cool!"

Yagi let out a sigh of relief, knowing that he hadn't obliviously spilled his secrets like an idiot yet. Key word: yet. Yagi was met with Tsukauchi's disappointed gaze when he turned his head over to him.

Yagi could only smile sheepishly, scratching his head.

...

"Where have you been?" Izuku was greeted by a rattled Shigaraki in front of the doorsteps.

"I've been with Giran, what do you think?" Izuku answered coldly, unwrapping the veil around his body. "Am I not allowed to unwind or something?"

Shigaraki growled, "I couldn't careless about that. Sensei had just given me information regarding your upcoming covert mission on UA."

"Spill it," Izuku drawled, sitting on the chair near the bar desk.

Shigaraki frowned at Izuku's audacity of speaking to him that way, but he brushed it off, surprisingly, and continued, "Considering that words about your physical traits are starting to spread, including that stupid green mark on your left eye, he's considering to do a slight revamp of the plan."

"Like what?"

"Like the fact that you're going to fake a fucking mental disorder," Shigaraki spouted.

Izuku's jaw slightly dropped, "Come again?"

"Those NPC's from the Akuma Academics or whatever are working on adding that to your fake records. Body Dysmorphic Disorder, that's the name of the illness," Shigaraki explained, leaning against the wall as he did. "Now I don't know what that means, and I don't want to know either, so it's up for you to study it."

"Wait, you can't just tell me to fake a mental disorder without elaborating," Izuku pressed into the mater, standing up. "What am I supposed to do?"

Shigaraki sighed, "All I know is that you're going to use this illness as an excuse to cover your body. Completely. Without having to cater to UA's constricting rules when it comes to outfits and stuff."

Oh. Oh. Izuku knew little about the illness, but he knew enough to know that faking a mental disorder like this would require him to act like his body is a bad omen. "Okay. I get it."

Shigaraki tossed the glass from his hand as he retreated back to his room, "Good, cause I don't want to speak to you further. I'm going back to my room to play some videogames."

"Thanks, I guess," Izuku said.

"What-fucking-ever," Shigaraki slammed the door to his room aggressively.

Izuku stared wordlessly at the door for a moment. "Body Dysmorphic Disorder," he muttered. He kicked a can stranded on the floor out of frustration. "What a pain," he lamented.

Then, he looked at the picture of himself and his mother that he kept in his pockets, and tearfully smiled.

I hope you're okay.

...

Katsuki hadn't felt so empty before. Other than the fact that Deku-- no, Izuku-- was apparently missing, his mom was also giving him the cold shoulder. She never bothered to greet him when he's standing on the doorway. Had he really messed up that bad?

That was an understatement. He had definitely, undisputably, fucked up. Bothered by the vacuum-like environment of his room, Katsuki bursted out of his room, clenching his fists as he did so.

Masaru had bailed him out of the juvenile jail. He didn't deserve it. A little bit of repercussion was good for him to take the time to reflect on himself and everything that he'd ever done.

Out of the corner of his eyes, he spotted Mitsuki walking to the kitchen. Katsuki contemplated to approach her, to salvage whatever is left of their already strained relationship.

Katsuki rushed to Mitsuki's direction, causing her to look in his direction. He didn't say anything, though. His mouth flopped up and down, but he couldn't get the words out.

"What do you want," It wasn't even a question. It was a demand guised as an inquiry, as if she was telling him to go away.

Katsuki struggled to get the words out. A few moments later, he spoke, "How have you been?"

Mitsuki looked at him for a moment, before saying, "Never better."

Katsuki frowned at that. He then sat at the chair near the kitchen, remaining silent for the next few minutes while Mitsuki was cooking. Then, Katsuki broke the silence with a simple, "I'm sorry."

Mitsuki stopped what she was doing, tilting her head slightly to meet Katsuki's gaze. She scoffed, "You've said that already."

"I know," Katsuki couldn't make eye contact with his mom. "I'm still sorry."

"Then all is forgiven," there was a certain level of bitterness in her voice that made Katsuki believe that it wasn't genuine at all.

"You don't mean that," Katsuki insisted.

"Of course I do," Mitsuki said. "Even after all that's happened, you're still my son."

"Is that what you thought when you told the old man that you were considering to disown me?" Katsuki said, his tone laced with indignation.

Mitsuki stopped what she was doing altogether, moving her gaze to Katsuki.

"Yes. Call me a nosy asshole, because I was eavesdropping on the conversation between you and the old man the whole time," Katsuki gripped the table tightly.

Mitsuki was silent for a moment, before chuckling bitterly, "Oh, Katsuki, it's not like you don't deserve it."

"Wha-"

"How was school? Did anyone asked about where Izuku is? About what happened to him?" Mitsuki clenched her teeth. "No? Does that give you any idea about how hard he had it? Were you there for him? Did you even think for a second what your actions would cause him?"

"Mom-"

Mitsuki slammed the kitchen table, interrupting her, "Don't call me that. I am not your mother!"

Katsuki's lips quivered as she dropped the bombshell.

"We shouldn't even be having this conversation!" Mitsuki yelled as she approached Katsuki. "Izuku may not be my flesh and blood, but I loved him like a son! I'd even say I loved him more than I ever loved you!"

Katsuki stood straight up, tears threatened to escape his eyes.

"What about Inko, hm? What about the fact that she's going to be paralysed permanently because she bruised your ego?!" Mitsuki screamed even louder.

Katsuki shouted back, "I said I'm sorry!"

"Sorry doesn't fucking cut it!" Mitsuki slammed the table near the kitchen, "It's not gonna bring Izuku back! And it certainly won't bring Inko back!"

Katsuki pleaded desperately, "Mom, please-"

"Get the fuck out of my sight before I lose it," Mitsuki demanded.

Tears blurred his vision as he began to beg, "Mom, please, forgive-"

"There's no forgiveness for you," Mitsuki coldly stated. "Now get out of my sight."

Katsuki stared at Mitsuki for a moment, before storming out of the kitchen. He let out an explosive blast from his hands as he propelled himself through the roof, creating a large hole on the ceiling.

Maybe he did deserve this.

'Fuck this.'