Chapter Text
It was with shocking realization that Izuku virtually knew nothing about Nayumi Akomachi, his classmate and Seat Number 12.
While Nayumi hung around with Izuku often enough, the greenette had very limited information about her (and no quirks do not count. Quirks were easy for Izuku to understand because they followed a vague structure, and it was just a matter of time for Izuku to break down the quirk and understand every full part of it. What Izuku wanted was personal information, except he didn't really know how to talk to others).
Izuku knew some things about the mysterious girl.
Nayumi's Uncle was very protective of her, and that he was a private detective who often working alongside with the police. Her signature purple flower pin was her last memento of her Mother who died when she had been very young along with her Father. She also had more experience in combat than all of Class 1-C combined. Izuku also knew that Nayumi wasn't much for anything too sweet or anything bitter, preferring a more salty flavor...
And, that was pretty much all the things that Izuku knew about his enigmatic friend.
It was shocking of how much he didn't know the blond. Nayumi was like Harumi in that regard. Whatever they were feeling, it was often hidden behind a crafted face that always smiled. And they also kept their cards close to themselves.
Even if she wouldn't want to divulge anything to him... Izuku wanted to know more about the enigmatic girl.
And before he could change his mind, he went up to Nayumi and asked if they could hang out after school.
"Of course," She said with an easy smile, her brown eyes bright with happiness. "Actually, I was thinking of going to the bookstore later for some references. I'd be happy to have someone to accompany me! So it's a date then!"
"Yeah! It's a- Wait, what?!"
After school ended, and a short train ride later towards the heart of Tokyo, they found themselves in the bookshelf that Nayumi had wanted to visit.
As soon as they entered the plain looking store, Nayumi quickly broke off and headed towards the deeper parts of the bookstore. Quickly Izuku ran in after her. Though it seemed she had completely forgotten all about his presence, especially with the way she focused on the row of books in front of her, trying to find a certain topic. Then with a bright smile, the blond pulled a book from the shelf, a satisfied smile curling on her lips.
Izuku stared at the title.
"History of... Hot air balloons?"
"Hm?" The blond looked surprised, definitely having forgotten that the greenette had been with her in the first place. "Oh, it's just some light reading."
'But there's nothing light about it!' Izuku sweated when he got a glimpse of the small blocks of text when Nayumi quickly leafed through it.
With an appease smile, she continued on with her shopping. Izuku trailed close behind, a little curious of what his enigmatic classmate would pick out next for her 'light reading'. And just as he suspected, all the topics that Nayumi chose were all so strange. It certainly didn't fit the cool-headed girl.
There was a book about astronomy, a recipe book specifically for sweets, hypnotism, and a book about tea.
He couldn't comprehend of what his mysterious classmate needed these books for!
"Ah, mostly out of curiosity is all." She answered his unasked question.
"H-How-"
"Because I'm psychic."
Izuku stared wide-eyed at the blond who looked entirely too serious. Then just as Izuku was about to believe her, her lips pulled into a smile and she let out a small giggle.
"I'm just kidding," She laughed, smiling fondly at Izuku. "You're too easy to tease Izuku."
The greenette pouted, but he couldn't hold back his own smile to see Nayumi happy. As she picked out a few more strange topics, the mysterious girl explained her reasoning.
"Actually, my Uncle has been getting swamped with all kinds of work with the strangest case." She sighed, "I believe it may be my fault... Ever since the Sports Festival, sometimes I would get hounded by the media or some 'fan' of mine. It's died down since then, but my Uncle has a lot of more work to do now. He doesn't want me to bother with the cases he's been saddled with, but he hasn't been getting much rest. So I've been helping from the background whenever I could, thus the books I'm getting for references."
"But... Wouldn't it be easier to look it up online?"
"Oh, it would definitely. But there's something more gratifying about books than looking it up online. I will fall back on it should I need to."
As Nayumi paid for her books, ignoring the strange look the clerk gave her, Izuku thought about her predicament. He knew their lives had changed since the Sports Festival, gaining recognition from random people on the streets, but he never though of how much is could have affected the second-place winner personally. She had never even showed that anything had changed!
It only made sense though, his classmate was brilliant. Of course others would notice her brilliance, being the second-place winner or not. Idly, Izuku thought she would make a wonderful hero.
Not only just her versatile quirk, but her cool-headed personality to get her through high-tense pressuring situations. Her intelligence and quick-wit to adapt on the spot. Her almost fierce and focused attacks for the quickest way to incapacitate her enemies. Izuku would be adamant on his opinion that Nayumi would be a wonderful hero!
"You're faith in me is quite... Something." Nayumi laughed. He squeaked, jumping as he realized he had been muttering out loud again. "But thank you for your faith in me... But being a hero isn't... Isn't something I'm interested right now."
"Eh? So... You're not... You're not going to join the Hero Class? You did get second place after all!"
Nayumi smiled, but this smile wasn't her usual friendly and calm one. It was almost... Sad, regretful. She quickly shook her head, removing any kinds of doubts in her head, and her mask was back up again.
"No... Well, I'm still thinking about it. Mr. Nezu spoke to me about it, and he says that I have until the end of this school year to decide if I want to move up to the hero class. Next year that opportunity will be gone, unless I win the top three of next year's Sports Festival." At this her eyes glinted excitedly, and Izuku sweated. Despite her passive attitude, Nayumi sure did love a good fight.
Before Izuku could reply, as soon as they stepped outside of the bookstore a shriek echoed through the bustling air. Izuku yelped when a hand roughly grabbed the back of his blazer and jerked him harshly back, and very narrowly they avoided a motorcycle driver recklessly driving on the sidewalk, creating a chaotic mess behind them of complaining or shocked people and spilled items.
"W-What the-" Izuku squeaked, staring wide-eyed as the reckless driver merging onto the main street full of cars, disappearing between two large trucks.
Izuku snapped out of his thoughts when Nayumi suddenly started running, but heading towards the opposite direction and slipping into a narrow looking alleyway not too far away from where they were. With no other choice and grabbing the plastic bag full of books she so carelessly discarded to the side, Izuku chased after her.
Fortunately she didn't get too far, not that she could go any further. It was a rather short alleyway, a dead end with no where to go. Izuku scrunched his face up at the sour and rotten smell of displaced trash carelessly thrown in there, but that didn't seem to bother Nayumi as her eyes focused intensely at a pile of garbage bags.
"N-Nayumi?"
He called out to her, but she didn't answer. Again she had forgotten about him, too deep in thought about the strange scene before her. Out of curiosity Izuku saddled by to her side and gazed at what she was staring at.
To an inexperienced eye, all they would have seen was a pile of trash bags. To Nayumi and Izuku's observant eye, they saw that the trash bags had been piled up in a makeshift wall to hide something between the space between the makeshift wall and the hard wall. He then saw the tire tracks, and he knew then that it had to be the motorcycle that nearly ran them down. Before he could ask for accuracy, the blond had already walked off and was approaching the wall.
First crouching onto the ground, then feeling up the wall. Then with a low thrumming sound, Nayumi disappeared except for her uniform. Izuku watched as electricity climbed up the drain pipe and up to the roof. Several minutes later she was back where she once stood. Slipping back into her uniform and dusting off any dirt, she stared at the wall with contemplation.
"U-Um... Nayumi?" Izuku asked quietly, tentatively catching her attention. "Did you find something?"
"I found several somethings." She answered, a hand on her chin. "Hm... Izuku, what do you know about walking through walls?"
"W-Walking through walls?" The greenette stammered, flustered when Nayumi looked at him expectantly. "Um... There are definitely quirks out there that would allow someone to walk through walls or solid areas. Like that boy from Class 1-B and his quirk, Softening. His quirk allows any solid objects into a semi-liquid material. It's really amazing! With his quirk he can trap-"
"I don't think that would work in this case..." Nayumi cut Izuku off before he could start rambling on. "That quirk sounds much like quicksand, you'd need a lot of force to get through from one side to another."
Izuku tilted his head. "One side to another... Ah, intangibility! Of course!"
"Yes, something along that lines." She nodded, smiling. "This is what I think. Whoever that person was that nearly ran us down, he had escaped by using his quirk. Something along the lines of intangibility, grabbed his motorcycle that had been stashed ahead of times behind the trash, and escaped out into the street."
"And why don't you think they came from the roof?"
Nayumi smiled, then waved over the ground around the place where she had been staring down at. Moving closer, he saw it. It was faint and a bit smudged, but there was indeed a footprint there.
"If they had indeed jumped off the roof and landed here, don't you think the imprint would be clearer?" Nayumi asked, and without waiting for Izuku to answer pulled out her phone and pulled up a GPS. She let out a small hum. "Hm... A convenience store, shall we visit?"
"Huh?"
As Nayumi said, it was certainly a convenience store. Though never would they have expected to run into him of all people as soon as they entered.
"Izuku, Nayumi." Joseph greeted from where he was restocking a shelf full of snacks. His gray eyes were bright with surprise at seeing them. "What are you doing here?"
"Joseph! If you're working here, then this should make it much easier!" The blond smiled at Joseph, who slowly rose from his knelt position to look at her curiously. "May I please see any recordings that the security cameras caught, if you have any?"
"C-Can we ask like that? Don't we need to ask the manager-"
"Sure."
"J-Joseph!"
Joseph shrugged, then with a wave of his hand he signaled the two of them to follow. Nayumi did so happily. Izuku panicked for a full second, but seeing that he was getting left behind, he moved his feet to catch up with them.
Soon enough they were in a small cramped back room, the manager's office. Blatantly plopping onto the creaking chair, Nayumi messed with the laptop, somehow easily bypassing the password as she pulled up the security camera recordings. Then she opened it to the last hour. Joseph and Izuku leaned over her shoulder curiously.
They weren't sure what their classmate was looking at, but whatever she was looking at she had found it. A slow, almost smug smile crawled across her lips. Izuku thought he had imagined it, but for a minute he thought he saw Nayumi's eyes grow a dull purple.
Nayumi rewinded, then she pointed at a hooded man holding a deep blue backpack.
"Joseph, do you recognize him."
Joseph stared for a bit, but shook his head. "Nope, I don't really put any effort of remembering anyone coming in or out of the store. Sorry."
The blond sighed, but didn't say anything else as she studied the screen. Several rewinding and forwarding later, memorizing every single frame that had the man in it from when he entered and when he headed towards the back, "Looks like he headed towards the bathroom," Joseph offered at the questioning look, and quickly Nayumi set everything back to before they had intruded in the manager's office.
"Thank you for your cooperation Joseph, mind we go check the bathroom next?"
"Go for it, don't worry I cleaned it several hours ago so there shouldn't be anything too gross in there."
The bathroom wasn't big enough for all three of them to fit in. It barely fitted Izuku and Nayumi. So the boys found themselves standing by the doorway while she checked every nook and cranny of the tiny bathroom. Checking under the sink, looking for any loose tiles on the wall and floor, and then finally she lifted the tank lid.
Joseph protested. "I know I said there shouldn't be anything gross here, but-"
"I didn't actually think I would find anything here," Nayumi said with a grin, eyes shining with a tinge of purple. "But this should make capturing the thief much easier."
They stared at Nayumi questioningly.
"You didn't need to accompany me into this stake out." Nayumi said to her companions with a slight scolding tone. "Stake outs like this could take days, maybe even a week at most. I doubt you'll find anything fun in this. And besides, it wouldn't do any good for all three of us to be exhausted for school tomorrow."
After Nayumi had suspiciously said goodbye to them after returning the tank lid to its proper place, Joseph and Izuku looked at each other and made a silent agreement to return here for later. And they were right in their judgement to wait outside in the alleyway when Nayumi arrived as soon as the clock hit 8 where there were less people, later just as it started getting dark. She had looked pretty surprised at seeing them.
With a look of exaggeration she had grabbed both of them and practically manhandled them to across the street and hiding behind a rather large sign. Nayumi didn't look at them as she kept an eye on the alleyway.
Izuku laughed sheepishly. "Sorry Nayumi, we were just curious. What exactly was in the tank?"
"You... You didn't look?"
"Ah... I thought you wouldn't want us to know what's in it. You certainly kept it a secret."
Nayumi turned away from the alleyway to look at Izuku and Joseph with curiosity. She wasn't wearing her usual calm smile, and her eyes were full of what almost looked like wary. Izuku honestly had no idea what his classmate could be thinking about, but he stared back earnestly. Whatever his own expression conveyed, that softened Nayumi's stony face and she gave a small sigh.
"You... I'm not really sure how to deal with people so... Like you Izuku."
"Huh?" The greenette tilted his head. "People like me?"
Nayumi waved it off and turned her eyes back to the alleyway. Before Izuku could question what she had meant about people like him, Joseph cut in, staring at the blond curiously.
"Are you a detective Nayumi?"
"Mm... I guess you could call me something like that." Nayumi answered absently, "Though I'm certainly not like the other teen Detectives across Japan."
"There are other teen detectives?" Izuku asked in surprised.
The young woman nodded, a smile tilting on her lips. "I believe they're around our age, but already they've been heralded as genius detectives. Like the Hot-headed Detective from the West, Maon. Or the Refined Detective from the South, Seiko. And you can't forget about the Fabulous Detective from the North, Mafuyu!"
"The... Fabulous Detective?" Joseph scrunched up his brows, no doubt scowling. "He sounds ostentatious."
"He is." Nayumi just giggled.
"Do you know hi-"
"Shh! Someone is coming!"
The three huddled further behind the large flag sign. Izuku couldn't help but peek. Walking so suspiciously was a person wearing a thick hooded jacket too hot for the unusually hot night. Their shoulders were tense and head deeply bowed, a slight shift to their head looking over their shoulder so very often.
No matter how you looked at it, they were obviously going something illegal. That thought was proven to be right when the suspicious person entered the alleyway, and after a minute or so, Nayumi looked to Joseph.
"Joseph, stay here. And if that man comes out this way, stun him!"
The tall boy nodded in understanding.
Izuku stood tall at attention when Nayumi looked at him next.
"Did you bring your staff?"
"I-I did." He confirmed, aware of the familiar weight inside his deep pockets. There was almost never a time he went out without his equipment close to him now. He was even wearing the night vision goggles that Hiro gave him around his neck, if somewhat hidden underneath his jacket. "Are we going to have to fight?"
"...Possibly," Nayumi answered, but then smiled at Izuku. "Don't worry, I won't let them do anything harmful."
Izuku couldn't help but feel safe in her hands.
So leaving Joseph to his assigned job where he moved closer to the alleyway, Nayumi and Izuku moved towards the front of the closed store.
"Ah... We probably should have asked Joseph for the key." Izuku murmured in thought as they approached the shuttered entrance. "But... I also don't want to ask more than we've already asked him..."
"Izuku, have you forgotten about my quirk?"
He stared at the mischievous smile gracing Nayumi's expression. The greenette then gave a small smile and nodded.
"Be careful Nayumi. Whatever their quirk is, if they truly do have a quirk that goes along the lines of intangibility, they may be able to slip through your quirk and escape. The best way to take him down is while they doesn't know you're there, a quick attack in short. I'll stand out here and I'll try to stop them as best as I could."
There was a look of shock in her eyes before her mask came up again. She stared at Izuku long and hard, and he just stared back, wondering what Nayumi could be thinking about.Then she smiled again. However, this smile looked more... Gentle, kind.
She turned her head away before Izuku could try to make sense of her expression.
"It seems that I don't know you as well as I think I do, Izuku..." Nayumi whispered, barely reaching his ears. "I've judged you far too swiftly as just a straight-laced fanboy... I'll need to rectify that later."
Then she was gone, a low thrum filling his ears and a flash of electricity as his classmate slipped through the door and inside the store.
With no other choice, Izuku gathered Nayumi's discarded clothes and carefully placed it inside of his backpack. Then he waited outside.
Nerves filled him, and though he was confident in his classmate's ability there were so many things that could go wrong. Just as negativity started to fill him, he shook his head and slapped his cheeks.
This was not the time to be getting nervous! He had to keep watch and keep vigilant! If the thief decided to slip through the front instead of through the restroom, than it would be up to him to stop the thief. Slipping his hands into his pocket, he took a deep breath, trying to calm the fast-beating thumps of his heart, and stared at the door anxiously with a bit of eagerness.
Izuku yelped when bright light flashed from inside the store, lasting for a few seconds at most before dying down. Stillness was left.
The sudden stillness made Izuku nervous.
Seconds crawled by like snails. Nothing was happening, and the quietness was making him anxious.
He really hoped that Nayumi was okay. While she may be one of the strongest person he knew, almost as strong as Kacchan, they were facing off a possible villain. Who knew what kind of experience he had! And though Nayumi obviously showed off her fighting capability against all her opponents in the sports Festival... This felt so much different.
They were facing someone unknown, the person they were trying to corner virtually unknown. There was no hero to watch over them as they acted upon what Izuku was sure was an act of vigilantism, couple with breaking in and possibly destruction of property if there was a fight going on inside the store.
Any wrong move, and they were all in serious trouble.
Hands tightening around the tonfas in his pockets, just as he thought about asking the key from Joseph so he could check what was happening inside, there was a smaller flash of lightning, the low humming sound of electricity, and soon Nayumi made her half-naked appearance.
"Nayumi!" He called out in relief, handing him her clothes which she took with a grin. "Is... Is everything alright?"
"More than alright Izuku," Nayumi winked with his grin widening his a large smile. "He's down for the count. I surprised him by flashing the lights on, and a simple shock sent him down quickly."
"Shock?"
"Mm-Hmm, don't worry. The voltage I use are way weaker than a regular stun gun, but it was enough to stun him long enough for me to knock him out."
Nayumi then paused there, and listening to the silent air. Izuku wondered what she could be listening for until he heard it himself. From a distance he could hear the wailing of the police coming closer and closer.
"The police is coming."
"Yeah, probably to here. After all, I called the police and said that the jewelry thief this morning in knocked out here."
"Oh, so you used the telephone inside- Did you say jewelry thief?!"
Nayumi's laughter was loud and deep, her bright brown eyes sparkling with mirth. Then taking his hand in hers, she started dragging him out of the crime scene.
"Come on, let's go collect Joseph and get out of here!"
"Izuku!" At Nayumi's call, Izuku looked up from where he was packing to see the blond walking up to him, a smile on her face.
However, it wasn't the usual smile he was familiar with. This smile looked extremely happy, kinder, more open. There was also a twinkle in her eyes that she didn't have before.
The incident had been just last night, but Nayumi looked as if they hadn't done any kind of vigilante work and apprehended the thief just on their own. Or at least mostly by her own hands. Izuku, on the other hand, was nervous that any minute now the police or even one of the pro-heroes in this school would come and call them out for their vigilantism, and they would get into big trouble and maybe even kicked out of U.A!
Yet nothing happened. Nayumi acted as if nothing had happened and there were no news about a jewelry thief getting caught. However, Joseph and Izuku definitely knew something had happened with how exhausted they were the next day. Izuku more so than Joseph, who only knew the barest of details.
"Nayumi," Izuku greeted, a little surprise to see her coming up to him this time. "Um... About last night..."
"Oh, you don't need to worry about that petty thief." Nayumi waved it off. "The police would have caught him sooner or later, that thief didn't even change his motorcycle plate number. I just hastened the capture."
"H-How could you be so calm about this?" Izuku couldn't help but blurt out.
Again, a mischievous smile appeared. It was an expression that Izuku was becoming more familiar and more comfortable with than her usual smile.
"I'm the niece of a detective," Nayumi winked. "Detectives tend to get into the strangest of trouble. And... If you hang around me longer, you might get pulled into some bizarre situations. Yesterday doesn't even make it up to my top 50 bizarre situations. Let alone my top 500."
'Not even the top 500?' Izuku couldn't help but sweat as he thought about yesterday. Izuku had seen battles between villains and heroes from online or when he was daring enough in real time, but yesterday had been personally bizarre. Maybe not as horrifying as the Stain incident or the amusement park incident, but it had been a strange day none the less. But for it to not even bother Nayumi... "Just... How many cases have you been in?!" Did detectives even get that many cases? And Nayumi was just an assistant (whether unwanted or not) to her uncle! How many cases did her Uncle land herself in?!
Nayumi laughed at the expression Izuku was making. Then she leaned in close, looking at Izuku intently.
"Well Izuku? Are you still willing to stay by my side despite the trouble I may run into?"
"Well... I'd be lying if I said I wasn't interested in your life Nayumi." Izuku smiled in return, having long since made up his mind. "I'd like to get to know you more!"
Her smile stretched larger. "Then I'll make sure you won't regret hanging around with me."