Chapter Text
“‘Things have been going missing at UA. First, little things, like notebooks and notes for class, then bags and keys, then it escalated further. Documents were being taken, yet the cameras showed nothing.”
“What are we going to do Nezu?” Aizawa asked, sitting in the principal's office as Nezu paced around.
“Do not fret Aizawa. We will have someone figure this out.” Nezu said, coming to a stop in front of Aizawa. “Ive contacted the police, they said they will send someone to assist us.”
“When?”
“Soon. Be patient.”
The office was quiet for about five minutes until someone knocked on the door. Aizawa stood and opened the door.
“I was called for?” The person standing in the doorway said. His hair was burgundy with a stripe darker than the rest, his eyes were light green and he had a mole under each eye. He looked young, yet had that grin that professionals usually have on their faces.
“You are?” Aizawa asked as the person walked in the office, looking weightless and unbothered by the situation.
“Heizou. Shikanoin Heizou. I'm a detective.” He said, crossing his arms. His stupid grin never fading.
“You look young to be a detective.” Aizawa said as he looked down at Heizou.
“And you look too tired to be working with a bunch of noisy kids, but here you are.” Heizou uncrossed his arms, and when he got no response, he brushed it off. “All a joke. All fun and games.”
He took a seat in the nearest chair. “So,” he said, leaning over as Nezu handed him a recording and pictures of places that seemed to have been messed up while the perpetrator was taking things. “Theft huh?”
He didn’t bother with the recording, just looked at the photos, taking in everything. “I'm familiar with such.. Cases..”
One particular photo caught his eye. To many, it was just a messy room, to Heizou, it held clues.
“Interesting..” Heizou mumbled, adjusting his glasses.
“What?” Aizawa said, peeking over Heizou's shoulder.
Heizou pointed to the desk and Aizawa only stared in confusion. “What about the desk?”
Heizou laughed as if it was an obvious answer. “Simple. The drawer is still open. And the reason is because it’s tilted in a way that won’t allow it to close without proper fixing!” He put the picture closer to Aizawa’s face and Aizawa just snatched it.
“How did you come to that conclusion?” Aizawa said, squinting at the photo.
“My intuition of course!” Heizou said it like it was the answer for everything.
Aizawa looked at Nezu, then the photo, then to Heizou. “Well, Mr. Shikanoin-”
“Just Heizou is fine.” Heizou interrupted, taking his glasses off.
“Fine. Well, Heizou. Intuition isn’t enough to solve a whole case. And you only saw photos, so it isn't good enough?” Aizawa sighed and rubbed his temples. “Are you sure you are a fit detective?”
Heizou made a dramatic gesture, hand over his heart as if he had been physically wounded. “Oh my. You don't think I'm fit? Now why would you say that?”
“Because.” Aizawa started. “You don't seem like you are trying to find the truth. You seem like you are playing around.”
With that, Heizou froze and stood upright, perfectly. “It has already happened. Stuff has already been stolen. There is no going back. It's not the truth that matters, it's making sure no one ever tries to commit a crime.”
Heizou looked up. “The only way to do that, is to make sure everyone knows of me. And first, I must prove that I can stop even the worst of the worst.”
Heizou sighed. “Then, the crimes will stop.”
The office went silent again before Heizou spoke up. He clapped his hands and headed out the door to the rooms where the pictures were taken. “Moving on!”
“Get back here-” Aizawa was going to say, but the words died in his throat. He looked at Nezu with a gaze that made him look more tired.
“They sent him?” Aizawa spoke walking closer to Nezu.
“Yup.” Nezu said, sipping on tea he pulled from nowhere. “I trust him.”
Aizawa sighed. “I trust he’ll be a pain in my ass.”
Heizou casually walked the hall, stopping in front of a closed off room. He entered and was hit with cold air.
He walked in and shut the door behind him.
“Dusty. The window was open, but no one entered that way. There was loads of dust around the seal, and no foot shaped markings or clearance there either.”
He inspected the room more, finding discarded paperclips, documents that were slightly torn, scattered sticky notes and broken chalk.
Heizou took out a plastic bag from his pockets and collected the clips, paper that was torn, the sticky notes, and the shorter half of the broken chalk. Then Aizawa came in and turned the lights on.
“It's dark in here. How did you even find that stuff?” Aizawa said, looking at the mess.
“My intuition, like I mentioned before.”
Aizawa sighed in annoyance, then looked at the chalk. “Why only one part? Why the shorter piece?”
“Sometimes, you have to think outside of the box.” Heizou said, picking up the bigger piece, rolling it between his fingers and setting it down.
With his chalky fingers, he wrote on the board:
“Intuition is key.”
“Really?” Aizawa said. “Whats the point of writing that?” Aizawa said, looking more exhausted the more Heizou spoke.
“So I know what I'm doing? How can I solve anything without my intuition?” heizou said, placing the chalk on the desk.
“By using clues and not just your thoughts.” Aizawa mumbled, but Heizou wasn’t listening. He was looking at the drawer that was in fact tilted.
“Its not ‘who?’ it’s ‘what?’ now.” Heizou mumbled.
Aizawa turned and was about to ask him to speak up, but then he saw Heizou removing the drawer and grabbed his wrist.
“Don’t. This is school property.”
“And I'm a detective. I look at everything.”
“Thats invasive.”
“It's real work. That's what it is.” Heizou snatched his hand back and finally got the drawer out, but it took so much work that Heizou fell back and the drawer fell, its contents spilling out.
Aizawa looked at Heizou. “You’re pretty clumsy for a detective.”
“Hey! The drawer was pretty stuck! You're no help!” Heizou sat up and looked at what had fallen out of the drawer.
Paperclips.
Sticky notes.
Pencils.
Papers.
Nothing interesting.
Or at least, nothing that interested Aizawa.
Heizou picked up the sticky notes. Each had dates on them.
“Who uses this room?” Heizou asked, not looking up.
“Me and my class.” Aizawa said, looking at the back of Heizou’s head. “Why?”
“When was this room last used?” Heizou said, ignoring his earlier question.
“Like, two weeks ago.” Aizawa shook his head and returned to his question. “Why?”
“The dates don't match up. And that means you and your students are potential suspects,” Heizou laughed. “Meaning I need you to drop whatever you are holding and step out.”
Aizawa stepped back and was about to speak when Heizou interrupted him.
“Potential suspects are not allowed on the crime scene, cause you can tamper with the evidence.” Heizou turned to face Aizawa. That professional grin now looked like an accusing smirk.
Aizawa felt frustrated that Heizou would think that, but he understood and stepped out.
Heizou sighed and grabbed all the sticky notes and lined them on the board, in order, over his previous writing. There was nothing on them but the dates.
“They must be keeping track of what day the classroom is being used, but why would the perpetrator keep doing it if-”
Heizou froze.
On the recent stickynotes, one number was more bold than the others.
“5/4”
“5/6”
“5/11”
“5/13”
“5/18”
“4, 5, 11, 3, 8?..”
He thought for a bit then went out the door. Aizawa was leaning on the wall in front of the door. “Wh-”
“Take me to your class. Now.” Heizou said.
Aizawa was about to refuse, but they needed his help. So he took him to their classroom. Some of the kids looked confused, others annoyed, but Heizou spoke. “Those who sit in the 4th, 5th, 11th, 3rd and 8th seat, stand up.”
Tsuyu, Iida, Uraraka, Kirishima and Shoji stood.
“Step out will you?” Heizou said, opening the door. The students walked out. Heizou looked at Aizawa. “MAke sure they stay out there. Don't let them out of your sight.”
Aizawa walked out behind the five students and Heizou closed the door.
“Who are you?” A kid with green hair asked as Heizou walked around the class, looking at the empty desk.
“Heizou. Shikanoin Heizou. I’m a detective. I’m solving crimes. I'm not a hero-”
“But you are helping. So you are a hero-”
“Quit it.” Heizou said as he walked to the 8th desk. “I’m no hero. Heroes stop things before it gets to a point. I can’t. I solve what has already gotten far past the point of return.”
“But heroes protect. That's what you are doing, right-”
That was it. Heizou walked over and slammed his hands on the boy’s desk. “Listen here. A hero is who they call when things can still be fixed. A detective is who they call after everything goes wrong.” The boy flinched but Heizou kept going.
“I'm not trying to be a hero. I'm trying to stop crimes before they happen. Heroes don't do that. Detectives don't either, but being a detective is the closest way for me to stop all crimes.”
He stares down the boy. “To do such a thing, I need to be the best detective and take down even the worst of the worst, so no more crimes are committed. Do you understand?”