Chapter Text
Izuku watched as Eraser walked towards the dumpster. There wasn’t anything he could do to stop it as a spirit, Death couldn’t interact with the physical world, and Izuku going back into his currently kind of melted body probably wouldn’t work out great either.
Just before Eraser was able to open the lid, a scream rang out from a nearby alleyway. Izuku wouldn’t normally want anyone to be in danger, and he was hoping that this was something simple, but in this very moment he was pretty pleased.
Both heroes immediately ran out of the alleyway towards the scream - Izuku was hoping that Eraser was able to handle it without Endeavour being a prick and making things harder. More so he didn’t want Eraser being barbecued like his body.
Once Izuku was certain the two heroes were far enough for it to be safe, he stuck his head through the dumpster once again to see the state of his body. It wasn’t in the best state - still a bit melted, and it would hurt like a bitch for a bit longer, but his legs seemed healed enough to run back to his home.
Maybe if he healed quick enough he might go back out on patrol. Though that might not be the smartest idea with Endeavour still out and about. Might be a good idea to just stick to researching for the rest of the night. Potentially even finally find Eraser’s phone number since the hero might be a little concerned with his accidental disappearing act.
With a plan in mind, Izuku asked Death to put him back into his partially melted body. Death stopped (massively) questioning Izuku’s decisions a while ago thanks to all the vigilante work.
As expected, Izuku was not a fan of all the pain he was in. Who knew that being somewhat melted hurt? Izuku now knew, for some bizarre reason.
It took a bit longer than normal for Izuku to get home, for obvious reasons. Especially because he was leaving a small blood trail so he needed to wait for that wound to heal before he could actually safely get home.
He’d definitely be stealing Eraser’s phone number from some database soon enough thanks to that fun blood trail. Izuku was fairly sure the hero would appreciate knowing that Izuku wasn’t currently dead. He didn’t need to know about him actually dying, not yet at least.
Izuku laid down on the ground for a hot minute while he waited for his body to finish healing. Future Izuku was going to have a hard time staying awake tomorrow at school - especially with how boring the teachers were. Though he could probably use one of his sick days instead.
Actually that would probably work out well since it’d be rude of Izuku to not go and check on Kacchan who was presumably in hospital right about now. That sludge didn’t seem like it would be good for anyone’s lungs - honestly Izuku’s happy the paramedics were already there. He already knew that All Might wouldn’t have called them. Yes, he’s still a little bit salty about that.
His body finally stopped screaming in pain, so Izuku went over to his admittedly scrappy computer. It was enough to hack what he needed, but he would prefer for it to be better eventually.
Izuku got ahold of Eraser’s phone number first since that was arguably a bit more important at this moment in time than figuring out some random kid’s quirk.
New Chat
Unknown User:
I’m alive
Unknown User:
Who is this?
Unknown User:
Guessssss
Hint: it’s your favourite vigilante
Unknown User:
Reaper?
Unknown User has changed their name to Reaper
Reaper:
Yup!
Reaper has changed Unknown User’s name to Eraser
Eraser:
What happened?
Reaper:
Endeavour - I’m completely fine, not even a scratch left
Eraser:
Are you still out on patrol?
Reaper:
Nah
Decided it would probably be smart to stay home considering the whole ‘endeavour exists’ thing
Don’t worry about me though - just get back to patrolling
Izuku put his phone away - how it survived the heat from Endeavour being a total dick, Izuku had no idea but he was just going to be thankful for it. Now it was time to figure out who he hopefully stopped from dying.
He first looked through Musutafu hospital records, since the kid should have been sent there. Looking up patients with multiple stab wounds soon revealed a profile that seemed to fit. It didn’t have a photo on it, but the injuries being focused around the intestines, as well as the file stating the kid had lavender hair told Izuku that it was probably the same kid.
Oh, and the fact that the kid’s quirk was called ‘Brainwashing’, which was a vocal-based emitter quirk. The hospital record didn’t outline the exact parameters of the quirk, so Izuku went over to the quirk database and looked for one ‘Hitoshi Shinsou’.
Just as Izuku thought, the name of Shinsou’s quirk was a bit misleading. ‘Brainwashing’ implied a permanent change, at least in Izuku’s opinion. This quirk wasn’t permanent. It honestly didn’t even last all too long based on the parameters outlined in the database.
Izuku wrote down the school Shinsou went to and his current address - not to be creepy or anything, just to make sure the kid was okay. The quirk he had plus what Izuku knew of society wasn’t a good combination - especially considering the whole ‘almost got stabbed to death’ thing.
That could be Izuku’s goal for tomorrow. Visit Kacchan and take a look around the school Shinsou went to. And once he’s done with all that, he can just sleep for the rest of the day. The perfect plan.
Izuku sent Kacchan a message as soon as he woke up asking which hospital he was in, lying about seeing the attack on the news. It was definitely on the news, Izuku did quickly check that first to be safe. Kacchan didn’t need to know it was Izuku who had saved him. More so he didn’t need someone knowing he was a vigilante and having the potential of outing him.
It didn’t take long for Kacchan to respond, which was expected. Izuku honestly doubted anything could disturb the aforementioned strict sleep schedule. Not even a villain attack, as was evident by this encounter. Izuku got ready to head out, made a checklist of anything he would need while he was out - mainly food related items. He was starting to run low on mid-patrol snacks. Especially after having a couple of them burnt to a crisp thanks to Endeavour.
A plan in mind, Izuku went off to the Musutafu general hospital to visit Kacchan. He didn’t stay for long, Kacchan was busy getting ahead in assignments thanks to his unfortunately newfound free time. He’d have to stay in the hospital for another day or two just to make sure all the sludge was out of his lungs, and that there wasn’t going to be any lasting impacts from the whole situation.
Izuku promised to visit Kacchan everyday anyway, mainly to help with school work if needed. He doubts his friend would need any help, if anything Kacchan was probably just as ahead as Izuku was. A couple days “off” wouldn’t hurt his grades any.
It was still pretty early in the day, so Izuku decided to get his shopping over and done with before he tried to break into a school. Shinsou wouldn’t be there today, probably wouldn’t be there until the next week just to ensure his stab wounds heal properly. Still, Izuku would see the general vibes, maybe try the whole ‘blending into the shadows’ thing Eraser had been teaching him to listen to the crowds.
Izuku got to Nabu Middle School during their lunch period funnily enough. Which worked out well for him - apparently the school allowed family members in to have lunch with the students, which was a pretty bad idea in his personal opinion considering he could just walk in and no one questioned why he was there. This was a villain attack waiting to happen.
Anyway, the getting into the school part of his plan was working. Izuku decided to lean against one of the walls in the cafeteria. None of the walls had any really good shadows, but luckily for Izuku there were a couple families also leaning against the walls while talking to the students.
Most of the students were talking about some annoying assessment, some were talking about the chaos their friends had done either before school or during class. Nothing really of any interest to Izuku, so he moved walls.
It took a couple tries, moving across the walls without causing too much suspicion, before Izuku heard anything. There were a couple moments where it seemed like people were about to ask him who he was there to see - half the time they got distracted by someone else, and if they weren’t then Izuku would just move before they got the chance to talk to him.
Either way, Izuku finally leaned against what was apparently the right wall as he listened to a couple close-by students talk about Shinsou.
“Where even is that villain today?” One of them, someone who seemed to have a quirk relating to their eye colour, asked.
“Hopefully dead. Yokoyama contacted this dude who’s whole gimmick is getting rid of villains before they have the chance to do any harm. You should ask him about it Kanai.” The student sitting next to the previous one spoke up. Izuku was happy he’d moved over to this wall when he did.
The third one, presumably Yokoyama, finally spoke with a smirk. “Chill out Kitahara, it was honestly so easy. All I had to do was text this random number I found online. And what do you know, he isn’t here today.”
Now Izuku knew exactly who to point the police towards. He’d just have to hack into the cameras and figure out what bullshit excuse to use for it. Might even be good to get it now but wait a day or two before sending it to the police.
Izuku pulled out his phone to write the names ‘Yokoyama, Kanai, and Kitahara’ so that he’d remember to look into them later. Potentially even do some trolling online if he felt up to it.
To be safe, Izuku continued on with his wall journey. Mixture of leading the suspicion away from himself and to listen for any other evidence from careless students talking about it in a crowded room. How no one called them out on it was beyond Izuku. He had a reason. The adults nearby who had obviously heard their conversation did not.
There were bits and pieces Izuku heard relating to Shinsou. Most of them were just general comments on his quirk being villainous, a couple students talking to what Izuku assumed were relatives. There were a couple people talking about Shinsou not being at school, but none of them knew anything important.
With a list of names on his phone and a new plan in his mind, Izuku went towards the door he originally arrived through. He was pretty close when someone tapped his shoulder, obviously wanting his attention.
Izuku briefly debated ignoring them, especially in case of them questioning why he was there in the first place. Though, it would be more suspicious to ignore them and run out the door. He mentally rolled his eyes as he turned around to face whoever wanted his attention.
Regret was almost immediate as he made eye contact with detective Tsukauchi.