Chapter Text
Shouta fishes the thin metal chain out of his shirt, until the ring that dangles like a pendant is fully outside of his costume and exposed to the open air.
The chain itself is relatively cheap, but not too cheap- hardy enough to handle the strain of sitting under his costume day in and day out, but thin enough that it could snap with one good, solid yank- and tends to go unnoticed in his day-to-day. He takes it off rarely enough that it usually matches his own body heat, so he can forget it's there most of the time. It's supposed to sit comfortably between his skin and everything else he wears, rarely to be seen by the world unless he's feeling particularly sentimental, or things have gone horribly wrong.
He watches the band- deceptively simple in its design, engraved with a vow on the inside and with dozens of nicks and scrapes on the outside- as it catches the low light of the moon. It twists back and forth slightly, and he sighs as a particularly long scrape dips in and out of sight.
Then, he wraps the chain around his knuckles once, and pulls it hard. As expected, it snaps easily, and the chain falls off of his neck, the ring nearly falling off the chain before he catches it in midair.
He takes the time to thread it back on the broken chain, and carefully arrange its placement on the rooftop. Then, he runs over to the fire escape on the opposite side of the building, balances on its railing, and leaps away.
In the morning, the ring and chain lie glittering in the sun. Nobody has found it yet, and it's a long shot to think it could be found by anyone not actively looking for it- it's sitting on an abandoned building, condemned for the past six months, and furthermore, its exact spot is informally known in the neighborhood as one of Eraserhead's favorite perches. Nobody who would take it will come close to the building.
Meanwhile, class 1-A is sitting in the hallway outside of their locked classroom. Most of the students are mumbling quietly among themselves about their own personal theories why their classroom is locked, though the general conclusion is that Aizawa is taking his usual homeroom nap in the teachers' lounge today, and he'll come and unlock it when it's time for him to actually teach. A few students are taking this time to frantically finish (or start) homework that's due later in the day, and valiantly ignoring speculation on why Aizawa didn't bother to come to the classroom on time.
As the hour ticks slowly past the end of homeroom and more firmly in first period, however, the murmurs begin to reach a fever pitch- loud enough for the 1-B classroom door to audibly click open, and for Kendo to stick her head out of the classroom to see what all the noise is about.
Class 1-A- silent now- stares as one up at Kendo, who blinks down at them in momentarily stunned silence. Then, she steps back into her own classroom, and a few people can vaguely hear what she's saying through the door.
A few opportunists- Kaminari and Sero most aggressively- crowd around Jirou for the transcript, which she dutifully gives them, with a sidelong glance over at Shouji, the other student who should be getting mobbed. He shrugs, which he can do with his miles of personal space. She rolls her eyes at him.
"Kendo's telling Vlad King that all the noise outside is because we're all sitting in the hallway," Jirou summarizes, and then waits for Vlad King's response. There are a few glances between students at that alone, but they're at least mature enough not to say anything yet.
"He just asked why we're in the hallway, and if Kendo saw Aizawa anywhere nearby." Jirou reports, and this begins the hissed whispering between Todoroki and Midoriya, who are sitting further away from her. They're maintaining a fairly respectful distance and actually aren't crowding around her, despite the fact that she knows they're both nosy as hell (though Todoroki, maybe not so much, but she's fairly certain he knows plenty of secrets purely by virtue of not being the kind of guy who would spread gossip), which she can only attribute to common decency. Apparently that's rare among her classmates, a thought she punctuates with an aggressive shove at Kaminari, who's pressing his ear next to hers as though he could magically access her quirk that way.
"Knock it off- she says she doesn't know, and she didn't see Aizawa anywhere." She waits for a second, when she hears no more talking and only footsteps. "He's about to come out here."
With this, she unplugs her earjack from the wall, and the students around her all try to act innocent, an effort which she personally thinks is a resounding failure. She knows these assholes, they're never innocent.
True to her word, the 1-B door opens again, this time with Vlad King staring down at them in utter confusion. Kendo is peeking around him, and there's subtle but audible talking in the classroom behind them. He visibly takes a moment to process the sight of twenty students sitting on the floor like primary schoolers, with some backpacks open and a few papers scattered on the floor. Then, Iida stands- brushing his uniform pants off with some attempt at preserving dignity- and bows politely to Vlad King.
"We apologize for the disruption, sir," He begins, "We are simply waiting for Mr. Aizawa to come and unlock the classroom, since he is likely otherwise occupied. We will keep the noise level down until he arrives." In his usual fashion, Iida says without directly saying that Aizawa was a no-show and they have no idea where he is.
Vlad King stares at the class collectively, and then focuses in on Iida, who has unwisely appointed himself as the spokesman for the class on this disaster of a morning. Considering that he's the class president, he is the most logical option, but for his own sanity, probably not. Then again, Iida is one of the least likely students to crack under pressure from a teacher, so perhaps he might be a better choice than some of the others.
"... It's the middle of first period. Homeroom's been over for a while. None of you thought to find another teacher and try to fix the issue yourselves?" Iida- now straightened from his bow- shifts uncomfortably. It's not the shift of someone being chastised, but rather, someone trying to figure out how to get a message across without being disrespectful.
"Quite frankly, sir, the general consensus was that Mr. Aizawa was napping in the teachers' lounge." There goes thoughts of disrespect, in favor of the blunt truth. Fair enough. "We thought it may be ill-advised to wake him. Consequences to that are usually... unwanted."
Vlad King visibly weighs the excuse in his mind, and then shrugs, as if to say: fair enough. As his coworker, Vlad King probably knows him well enough to figure that the class' assessment is likely dead-on.
"Alright, then. Kendo, Yaoyorozu, you're in charge of your respective classes. Iida, with me." Iida chances one glance backwards at the rest of his class before following Vlad King in the general direction of the teachers' lounge. Kendo and Yaoyorozu look at each other in shared bafflement, and both classes explode in noise as soon as Vlad King is out of sight.
Most of 1-A is now standing, and many of them have taken the teacher's absence as an open invitation to invade his classroom. The students of 1-B hardly protest, with many actively inviting several members of 1-A into the room to catch up, or to gossip openly about what they think is going on. Monoma is being obnoxious as usual, but he's swiftly contained by Shinsou- the two of them lock in on each other like sharks each smelling what they believe is easy prey. They'll occupy each other for a while, barely restraining from escalating into an outright fight.
It's not long later that the other half of first period passes, without sign of Iida or Vlad King's return. This is sure to disrupt even more classes, with whichever classrooms needing either teacher about to be left unsupervised, but it also heavily disrupts the combined first year hero course, which is now suddenly being supervised by Present Mic.
"Supervised" is, perhaps, the incorrect word to use here, as that would require Yamada having any idea what he just signed up for or what he just walked into, but unfortunately, this would be incorrect on both counts. In fact, a better way to phrase the situation would be, Present Mic is now suddenly being terrorized by the combined first year hero course.
He walks in, costume on and hair fully in gravity-defying place, and stops nearly the moment it dawns on him that there are double the amount of students that there should be, and furthermore, each and every one of them is either sitting on someone else's desk or standing around and talking. Beyond that, it takes the collective class less than ten seconds to notice him- Aizawa trained them all well in that regard, evidently- and a hush falls on them like an omen.
"... Did someone forget to tell me about a schedule change?" Yamada asks the class, who all attempt as one to inform him of the situation. This works about as well as can reasonably be expected.
"Quiet!" He barks out, a single word aided by his quirk (though not its full power, since he'd prefer not to deafen thirty nine students), and the combined class quiets down. He'd rather not be yelling at his students unless he's pumping them up, since he doesn't want to be that kind of teacher, but if he has to in order to be heard, he'll do what needs to be done. Not too often, though.
"Now," He tries again, this time at a normal volume and unaided by his quirk, "One at a time. Can someone tell me what's going on? Midoriya," He calls on the one student with his hand already in the air, instead of letting them attempt to discuss it among themselves or fight it out again.
"Aizawa never showed up for homeroom or for first period, so our class was in the hallway for a while. Vlad King and Iida went to go investigate. He said that Yaomomo and Kendo were in charge of their respective classes until he got back," Midoriya reports on what Mic missed of the situation, earning a blink in surprise from Yamada and several nods of agreement from the other students.
"Okay then," He starts, because rule number one of the radio and of classroom management are never leave dead air, "Does anyone have any information on where he might be? Midoriya," He calls on Midoriya again, because his hand shot into the air again and, well, it's much simpler to have it all come from one historian.
"We think he overslept in the teachers' lounge, since he always naps during homeroom anyway," Midoriya responds with what is apparently the class' current running theory, which is pretty good if they don't know that Aizawa doesn't spend his pre-homeroom time napping, instead devoting it to grading papers since homeroom is 'too distracting' for whatever reason- granted, it's mostly spent hiding from everyone and grading papers, so if you don't know him as well as Yamada knows him, you may be swayed by the idea- and, since Yamada does know what Aizawa does with his time in that span, he knows full well it can't be that.
Plus, he'd have seen the guy.
So, no, Aizawa's missing and in all likelihood, he's not napping in the teachers' lounge. Yamada hasn't seen him since last night, actually, right when they had a single five-minute span in which their schedules aligned and they were in the same room at the same time. That five minute span was just as Shouta was coming home from teaching for two hours before his overnight Hero-work shift, and Hizashi was leaving to do his evening shift on Put Your Hands Up Radio! that he tries to do a little more than twice a week. It's his own radio show, after all, he should probably be there more often than he is.
His own shift ended at two, he got home at about two-thirty, and he was utterly unsurprised to find that it was just himself and the cats. He was a little more surprised to wake up like that, instead of having to kick Shouta awake (not in the literal sense), but he'd figured he pulled a late night and decided to head directly to UA. It wouldn't have been the first time that happened, and it certainly wouldn't have been the last.
"Interesting theory," Yamada says, instead of dismissing it out of hand- he wants to encourage students to think critically as often as possible, even in situations where it may be slightly faster to do the investigative work on his own- and he has to think of a reason why the theory can be debunked, without tipping Shouta's hand. He'd be annoyed if his reputation as a lazy old man was tarnished, after all.
"I have a question or two about that theory. If Aizawa were asleep in the teachers' lounge, wouldn't Vlad King have seen him before class? Follow-up question, depending on how long Vlad King and Iida have been gone, they should be back by now with Aizwa in tow. The teachers' lounge is on this floor, it's about five minutes there and another five back. Add in five minutes to wake Aizawa up, it should take fifteen minutes at the maximum. You can discuss this problem amongst yourselves," He adds this last bit so he's not putting Midoriya on the spot, especially when interrogating a theory that was likely decided on by the group, instead of just the one student.
While the whispering commences- at a more reasonable volume than when they were all clamoring to talk over each other at him at once- he can concentrate on the same problem himself. If Shouta didn't return home and didn't come to school- assuming, of course, that he didn't get roped into some meeting with the principal about whatever it is he and Nedzu have meetings about- then where would he be?
The easiest answer would be that he's on a case. He lost track of time, got caught up in something time-consuming right before the end of his shift, simply thought he'd be able to wrap things up before now, whatever explanation is easiest for, 'he is still working and is completely and totally fine.' This is the reasonable conclusion to make, especially given the lack of any distress signal.
The answer that he dreads the most, and therefore needs to consider just as well as any other possibility, is that Shouta is in distress and was unable to fire off a distress signal before some kind of violence was enacted upon him. Hizashi's one cold comfort in that case is that the case won't be cold for long- Eraserhead has become high profile enough among the underground (and, more recently, among the general public) that he's likely to get a ransom video or something made featuring him in the next twelve hours or so in the event of a kidnapping.
At the very least, he's not going to be left dead in a ditch.
Other than those two things, there's also the miscellaneous- Shouta may well have been so sleep-deprived that he simply forgot it was a school day, which is something that has happened before and Hizashi wouldn't be surprised to find happened again. Or, he texted Nedzu that he was taking the day off due to this-that-or-the-other, and Nedzu simply failed to find a substitute in time for homeroom or first period. This is also something that Hizashi would personally believe, especially since they're right in the middle of flu season. Shouta may very well have been knocked flat by some twenty-four-hour virus, something he's very susceptible to due to his terrible diet (nutritional jelly is not a suitable meal replacement and that's a hill he will die on) and awful sleep schedule.
"Todoroki," Hizashi calls on the one student with his hand raised- not Midoriya this time, though this may have something to do with the fact that the whispering is still present throughout the room- and he wonders if he imagines the collective sigh from the students in 1-A.
"I believe that Mr. Aizawa is out on a secret mission of some kind, possibly of his own devising, and he is unable to communicate with anyone outside of where he is or the group he is with. I have evidence to support my theory."
Todoroki's theories are known to be... outlandish, sometimes- he doesn't know anyone who hasn't heard his little secret love child theory about the blatant favoritism that All Might shows Midoriya- but this one is no less grounded than the idea that Shouta's still stuck on a case. It's just a little more involved in that theory, that's all, and despite its increased specificity meaning a higher chance of being wrong in some way, Hizashi's willing to walk with Todoroki on this one, at least until he can refute it.
"Elaborate on this evidence," Hizashi counters, and Todoroki nods solemnly like he has been entrusted with a great task. The students around him have quieted- those in 1-A rolling their eyes out of his sight, those in 1-B listening attentively- and Todoroki starts moving his hands, as though he'd like to be standing in front of a whiteboard but is too respectful to stand up and attempt to usurp Hizashi's position at the front of the class, if only temporarily.
"I know that he is not in the school because Vlad King was surprised that he was not here, and since we were told last week about a joint first year Hero course training scheduled for later today, I would think they'd have wanted to discuss with each other this morning for last minute adjustments. I also know that this was not an absence due to sickness or any other routine reason, because we had no substitute and therefore Nedzu was not informed. If Nedzu were directly informed even during homeroom that Mr. Aizawa would not be here for the rest of the day, there would have been a substitute by time first period began."
All good points so far. Nedzu is stupidly prepared, and though issues with substitutes have been a problem for many high schools in the area, it's not particularly likely that Nedzu would completely fail to find a substitute after this long with notice. Even if he'd had to teach the class himself, Nedzu would have done that instead of leaving students unattended. However, it is still possible that he failed to find a substitute, especially if Shouta didn't say anything before, say, passing out in bed while sick with the flu.
"Therefore, I believe that he was likely caught up in something to do with his hero work. He's an underground hero, which means that by necessity he works cases that are less accessible to the public eye. Ergo, he's more likely to go to ground than a daylight hero."
True enough, but it's all conjecture so far. Hizashi raises an eyebrow, trying to silently say that he was promised evidence. Todoroki appears to ignore this.
"His lack of notification was in and of itself a clue. Per Mr. Aizawa, it would be illogical to leave your team without at least a warning of where you're going," This is something Shouta really has said, albeit in the context of hero work, "So it can only be assumed that he would warn other members of his team when he is to be absent. I believe he has left more clues in places where those who know him well can find them, and then be led wherever he wants them led, either to him or to a secure enough place to contain an explanation for his sudden disappearance."
Todoroki's theory is sound enough, though again, he has no actual evidence to back it up. The best he can do is pull a quote out of its context in support of his thought process, though Hizashi would have to agree with the spirit of it.
He opens his mouth to say something- encouragement, perhaps- when he's interrupted by Todoroki adding one last argument to his whole proposition.
"Of course, this may be a test. It may be the joint training session, and what we are training in is investigation. That's why you seem to be leading us along in our theory making." Todoroki seems to miss the difference between constructed teaching and teaching in the context of real life, but in the spirit of that, he doesn't think it's a bad training exercise. Something to think about for next year, maybe.
"If it's a test, they didn't tell me about it," Hizashi laughs, defusing that bomb before anyone gets any ideas about it actually just being a training exercise. Still, the seed of doubt has been planted, which is unfortunate.
"Attention all students and teachers," The intercom interrupts with Nedzu's voice, perfectly cutting through Hizashi's thought process on how to fully respond to Todoroki's theory on where Shouta is.
"The school is now in lockdown. Students, please report back to your dormitories immediately. The heads of the first, second, and third-years will supervise all students in their respective years, and be available for any emergencies. All other teachers, please report to conference room A immediately for an all-staff meeting. Thank you."
There's a moment of quiet in the classroom, before students start picking their bags off the floors, off of the backs of their chairs, and out of whatever other places they've been deposited. The whispering- which had quieted as Todoroki spoke and Hizashi answered- has now broken into regular voice-level talking, and with thirty nine students doing it, it's practically the volume of a jet hangar within moments. Hizashi turns his hearing aids down, since he knows full well he's not winning this battle without doing permanent damage to some students' hearing.
"If you doubted what I just said about this not being a training exercise, there's your answer," Hizashi sighs, only somewhat intending to be heard. His students begin to crowd out of the doors and into the halls, which are already choked with students who are practically shouting over each other and trying to figure out what's wrong.
Once Hizashi has escorted both 1-A and 1-B to their respective dorms- including Iida, who was picked up along the way- he makes his way back towards the conference room, walking back through significantly emptier hallways. He figures that he and Vlad King are the only ones who know at least a little about what's going on, so he can afford to miss a few minutes of everyone being caught up to speed to supervise the students as they go back to their dorms. After all, 1-A is the most heavily targeted class by the League of Villains, and if this was a villain attack, they're prime targets, too.
When he gets to the conference room, however, Nedzu is not yet speaking. He's pacing the length of the conference table, with all of its chairs already occupied and a few teachers standing against the walls. Shouta is conspicuously absent- more conspicuous than the absence of any other teacher would be, as he's the head of heroics training for all years (he specifically chooses to teach first-years, when he could have his pick of any homeroom he wants), so he's a staple of any staff meeting, especially an all-staff meeting- and Hizashi catches more than a few stray, questioning glances because of it.
Hizashi shuts the door behind him, presses himself against the wall next to Nemuri, and avoids eye contact with everyone. He has no more answers than Nedzu does.
"Now that we are all here," Nedzu begins, with his back to most of the room (including Hizashi), "I can tell you why we are currently in lockdown. As most of you have already noticed, Eraserhead is not present. This is because he is currently missing. His last known location was here, at 5:03 PM, where he was caught on the outer cameras, presumably heading to his own apartment. Has anybody seen him since that time?"
Hizashi feels more than sees Nemuri's sidelong glance- she's one of the few staff members who know that Hizashi and Shouta aren't just really close friends- and he clears his throat instead of just talking.
Nedzu turns around, and nods at Hizashi. "Present Mic," He says, redundantly, like a teacher calling on the only student with his hand raised. Not a bad comparison, given that Nedzu was one of his own teachers in his time as a student at UA.
"I saw him at about 5:20 PM last night. He'd just gotten home, right when I was heading out. He was scheduled for an overnight shift, ending at 5:00 AM this morning, but I didn't see him before coming here." Hizashi gives a report like he would for any other missing person, and he doesn't call any particular attention to the fact that he and Shouta live together. For all anybody else knows, they're roommates and nothing more.
"I would assume that it's not unusual for him not to be at home after a shift like that, or else you'd have sounded the alarms already," Nedzu's statement is almost a question, in that it asks for an answer, but it's implicit in that expectation. He only wants a confirmation or a denial.
"He often works late," Hizashi confirms, "And sometimes he comes straight here instead of detouring home, if he knows he's cutting it close."
Nedzu nods again, and turns around. The spotlight is off of Hizashi- for now.
As Nedzu resumes pacing in thought, Hizashi spares a glance around the room. As he expected, he doesn't even see a blink at the admission that he and Shouta live together, though really, that's one piece of information that's not guarded very closely. It can't be, when they both have the same address listed in all of their documents across several legal places, including their medical and employment records.
Besides, Hizashi's carelessly told enough stories on the radio about his 'roommate' that it would be more conspicuous if this roommate were someone that, based on his stories, closely resembles Shouta but isn't him.
"Did he say anything of note to anyone yesterday? I doubt that anything would be mentioned to the students- Eraserhead has professionalism in that capacity- so that leaves all of you, especially Midnight and Present Mic." Nedzu continues probing, though he widens the scope to include Nemuri in the questioning. Hizashi is quietly grateful that Nedzu isn't grilling him alone.
"No," Hizashi replies, while Nemuri simply shakes her head. Nobody else pipes in with anything, either. Dead end on that, which isn't surprising- if Shouta didn't say anything to Hizashi, he didn't say anything to anyone.
"To be expected," Nedzu sighs, which at least gives Hizashi the comfort that this investigation wasn't about to hinge on any nonexistent hints that Shouta could have hypothetically given.
"I'll be checking cameras all over the city and tracking his movements from his home, beginning at 5:20 PM last night. Midnight, Present Mic, you're going to be taking charge of investigations for the time being. Your classes will be covered, if I see fit to resume classes after today. I suggest that someone informs Eraserhead's homeroom of the state of things." With that, most people are effectively dismissed, aside from Nemuri and Hizashi.
"I'll do it," Hizashi volunteers before anybody leaves the room. He may as well be the one to keep 1-A informed, since he likes to think he has a pretty good rapport with most of them. Hell, Shinsou was in his homeroom for a significant portion of the year, which means he's a good deal more familiar with him than several of the other teachers. There are a few other students- Jirou, specifically- that he knows he meshes well with, and a few others- Bakugou, specifically- that are... less hostile with him than with other teachers, as far as he can gather from the group chats and the teachers' lounge gossip.
"Wonderful," Nedzu hums, without either sarcasm or sincerity. "As you and Midnight are both the active field investigators, it is entirely up to your discretion who you choose to include or not include on this case. I ask that you bear this in mind when the entirety of 1-A starts climbing over each other to try to join you on it."
Hizashi sighs, and nods in acknowledgement. It's not as though he expected any differently- 1-A cares about Shouta, deeply, because this is a very particular class that's been through a very particular set of circumstances, so their care for him runs deeper than many students'- but he'd have liked to deal with that as it came, instead of having Nedzu rub his face in it. Metaphorically speaking.
"I got it," He answers verbally as he starts walking out of the conference room, with Nemuri not far behind. He suspects he just bought the ticket for both their escapes for now, since Nedzu was probably planning on running a strategy meeting with the two of them before sending them on their way to start searching in places where Shouta frequents, but Hizashi volunteered to be the one to tell 1-A what's going on and, despite all of his genius, Nedzu still defers to his staff when it comes to decisions involving who tells who the bad news.
Once they're safely in the hallway and no longer being roped into something that was once a staff meeting- Hizashi is perfectly content with Nedzu leading the search for Shouta, and in fact he's one of the very few people (the term including all sapient beings, not just humans, of course) he'd like it to be if not Hizashi himself, but he'd like at least a little 'buffer time' in which he can effectively switch from the keep Shouta's secrets mindset and into the be free with your words mindset- Nemuri leans a little closer to Hizashi and speaks in a low voice.
"I don't mind if you actually let some of the kids in on this," She mutters, "So long as they don't have to... see anything."
With that, she pulls away, and splits off down a hallway that leads to the front of the school, where he assumes she's either going to her car or to the teachers' equivalent of a locker room (not a locker room in that it's smaller, and lacks the distinctive locker room smell of sweat and Axe body spray) for her costume. Hizashi appreciates that she didn't say anything more specific- they both know what she meant, and she didn't need to say anything more than that.
Hizashi prefers to avoid talking explicitly about the worst case scenario if he can.
Besides, on the point of protecting any unfortunate students from seeing any part of that worst case scenario, he and Nemuri are in agreement. That's why he's not going to be taking more than one, maybe two students onto the case, since a larger number is more likely to stir themselves up into disobedience. He wants a smaller number, so they're more likely to listen if he tells them not to look.
With that in mind, he sets off on his way towards the dormitories, where 1-A should already be waiting. There are a few more lines he draws up as he walks- only students with their provisional licenses might be considered, for instance- and he eventually decides that it'll only be one.
He doesn't know which. He suspects he'll let the class as a whole decide, so they at least get some control in this whole nightmare.
With that in mind, he swipes his keycard and opens the door to their common room with a creak.