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Karina let out a sigh, eyes on the piece of paper in front of her.
“If you want to find who you’re looking for,” the Pro Hero called Eraserhead said, “then Kudo Shinichi is the person to seek out.”
Only Kudo Shinichi was nowhere to be found, having gone missing from public life himself, while the person Karina wanted to find didn’t want to be found either. This left her going to—
“Oh. Try Mouri Detective Agency. You may be able to get in touch with Shinchi-kun,” the mad scientist neighbor of the Kudo family said, leaving her standing outside of the agency in question.
“It’s now or never,” Karina thought, and then she knocked, and—
“Come on in.”
Karina opened the door to see a teenage girl not much younger than her cleaning up the beer cans littered around the agency, while a small boy sat on the couch, looking completely bored, arms behind his head. She glanced around, paper still in her hand. “I’m looking for Kudo Shinchi, I was told…”
“Oh?” The girl’s eye twitched, looking quite angry. “Are you going to claim you’re his girlfriend or something?”
Karina stared, and then, rather taken aback by the response, said, “No. I’m actually wanting his help in finding someone, but Eraserhead said I should ask Kudo-san, and the man living next to the Kudo residence said I should come here.”
“Well, Shinchi hasn’t been around,” the girl said, still irritable, yet she no longer directed the irritation at Karina.
“Eh?” the boy said, no longer looking bored, a twinkle appearing in his eye. “Who are you looking for?”
“You might say he’s my boyfriend?” Karina said. “Ex-boyfriend.”
“You’re better off not chasing him,” the girl said. “I should know.”
The boy looked at the girl as if she was going to bite his head off, but then, “Ran’s just mad Shinchi’s on the lam, ‘cause he got into a rather difficult case.”
“Oh,” Karina said, fingers on her purse strap. “Then I wouldn’t want to add to that.”
Ran frowned, then said, “Why are you looking for this guy?”
“Because,” Karina said. There came a pause, fingers twisting the purse strap. “Because I don’t want to lose him.”
“That…” Ran frowned. “I can understand that sentiment.”
The boy rolled his eyes, as if there was some unsaid bad joke. Karina frowned, slowly realizing Ran held interest in Kudo Shinichi. “Oh. That…” She paused, then said, “While I’d like to get back together with him, that’s not it.”
“No?” Ran said.
“I’d been thinking about it- certain things Dabi said to me,” Karina said. “And I don’t like the implications. I think he’s in trouble, going to be doing something he’d regret. He’s not exactly…” She paused. “My ex isn’t exactly mentally stable.”
“Red flag,” the boy said.
“Conan,” Ran said.
“Well, I’m not wrong.”
Karina smiled. “You seem rather smart, but you’re not wrong in thinking that’s a potential red flag, so I should probably clarify what I meant.”
One of Conan’s eyebrows went up. “Wait? PTSD kind of thing?”
“Yeah.” Karina relaxed slightly. “I tried telling him I didn’t care about his past, whatever it was, or the scars that came with that, both mental and physical, that I just wanted to be with him and to support him, but…” The corner of her mouth twisted. “There was something he had to do; he kept telling me I deserved better because he was a monster, a born monster.”
“If he’s got scars, then shouldn’t he be rather identifiable?” Ran said, as the door to the agency opened and three kids came hurrying in.
“You could say that,” Karina said, then took out a photo of Dabi, setting it on the table. Conan looked at it while her eyes drifted to the three kids.
The little girl glanced at the picture. “Scary.”
“Really?” Ran said, and then, “Uh, yeah. Particularly the eyes.” She glanced up. “Are you sure…”
Karina looked at the picture where Dabi stuck out his middle finger. “Well, no. He might have been right to push me away.”
“If he’s pushing you away,” Conan said.
“Yeah, the eyes are creepy,” the smaller of the two other boys said. “Reminds me of that Pro Hero.”
Conan frowned. “What Pro Hero?”
“Yeah,” the bigger one said. “What hero?”
“Endeavor-san,” the smaller boy said. “You know, the one who comes in first place for the villain rankings.”
Conan frowned, then leaned forward, but then hopped up to pull out a magazine that he flopped down beside the picture. Ran leaned forward. “Wow. He does have the same eyes.”
Karina watched as Conan looked up. “What is it?”
“Miss, uh…”
“Karina.” She said, “Last name Lyle.”
“A foreigner,” the smaller boy said.
“From Sternbild,” she said.
“You’re a Pro Hero,” Conan said, catching her off guard.
“I, yes. Blue Rose,” she said. “I’ve an ice Quirk.”
“And your ex has a fire Quirk?”
Karina’s eyes widened. “Yes.”
“Conan. How did you figure that out?” Ran asked.
Conan sighed. “He’s related to Endeavor-san, but you should contact him for that reason.”
“But…”
Conan frowned, looking at the picture. “Dabi? Does he suffer from QIS?”
The smaller boy’s eyes widened in horror while the other two children looked on in confusion. The girl asked, “What’s QIS?”
“Quirk Incompatibility Syndrome.”
“You guessed because of the scars. Yes. My understanding is they’re the result of his own Quirk. But you really think I should go to Endeavor-san?”
“Endeavor-san’s not exactly…” Conan said, before saying, “Hey! I think Ran got a new snack that we haven’t tried.”
“Wait,” Ran said, as the three other children swarmed her. “Those are supposed to be…”
“He changed the subject,” Karina said, as Conan hopped off, snatching the picture, but then—
She watched him head to the door, then tilt his head for her to follow, and—
She complied, leaving with him. “Were you purposefully trying to distract them?”
“I don’t want them following us to the Endeavor agency,” Conan said as they headed down the stairs.
“You’re going with me?” Karina asked.
“Well, Endeavor can be…” Conan smiled nervously. “There’s kinda a reason he’s on the list of Pro Heroes who look like villains. He’s not exactly easy to approach, though once you get to know the man, you can’t help but respect him, even though his communication skills are obtuse as hell.”
“That,” Karina frowned. “That is a rather odd thing to say.”
“Uh, that’s just what Shinichi-nii told me,” Conan said, grinning.
“Odd,” Karina thought, following him onto the bus to Endeavour Agency, where—
Conan simply walked up to the secretary and lied, “I’ve got a message from Kudo Shinichi for Endeavor. Is he in?”
The secretary—
She let Conan in. “Kudo Shinichi is that amazing?”
Her hand clutched the strap tightly, wondering exactly how Conan would handle the situation as they headed to Endeavour’s office, and when they entered—
Endeavour lifted an eyebrow, eyes definitely like Dabi’s, then stood, looking at Conan and—
“What Quirk hit you?”
Karina’s eyes blinked, confused until—
Conan placed a finger on his lips, making a shushing sound before turning to her and saying, “Please don’t tell Ran, ‘kay?” He then turned to Endeavor. “Yeah. Figures you’d figure it out, Endeavor-san.”
“What is the message you have for me?” Endeavor asked.
And Conan—
“No, de-aged Kudo Shinichi,” Karina thought.
“How many kids do you have?”
“Three.”
“Is that all?” Conan asked, hands behind his back, holding the picture.
“Is that…” Endeavor paused, then said, his facial expression cold and emotionless. “My eldest isn’t with us anymore.”
“Are you sure?” Conan asked, rocking back and forth on his feet.
“I’m sure.”
“How?”
“We found his left jawbone.”
“That’s it? Of what you found?”
“Get to the point.”
Conan hurried over, holding out the picture. “Take a good look. At the scars around the jawline, but also the eyes.”
Endeavor took the picture. “The eyes.”
“Look in a mirror.”
Karina nearly choked.
“I’m not vain.”
“Then look at a photo of yourself, number two, and compare the eyes.”
Endeavor’s eyes widened; then a drawer opened, and he pulled something out. Emotion appeared on his face, but then he looked at Shinichi—
He handed the object to Shinichi, who—
Karina frowned, not liking how absolutely delighted the de-aged detective looked as he rushed back to her, holding—
She looked at the framed photo that Endeavor handed Shinichi, and her eyes widened. “That’s Dabi. The hair color is different, but…”
“Toya.”
She looked up, startled. “What?”
“His name is Todoorki Toya, and he’s my eldest child,” Endeavor said, glaring. A chill ran down her spine, and she returned her best glare, never one to let anybody push her around. “And what do you know of this?”
“I believe Ms. Lyle’s knowledge is limited,” Shinichi said, going and handing the picture back to Endeavour. “But she came from Stirnbild because she’s concerned he’ll turn into a villain.”
“Toya turn into…” Endeavor said, perplexity appearing. “But he wanted to be, even after I told him no, that his Quirk…”
“He’s after you.”
Endeavor glanced up. “Me?
“You know as well as I,” Shinichi said, with no hesitation in speaking candidly with the man. “You’re not the most personable person; your intent doesn’t always carry through. You suck at interpersonal relations, but given that’s an issue with your hero work…”
“You think it extended to my personal life?”
“Yes.”
Karina looked horrified, but then—
“It did. It does.” Endeavor paused, then, “That’s likely what Shoto meant when he said it was my fault in regard to Rei.” He then looked up at Karina. “Can I keep this, or is it…”
“I’ve other pictures,” Karina said, despite not wanting to. “Yes.”
“Now, what do you think I should do, Kudo Shinichi?” Endeavour asked.
“If you had known back then that he was alive?”
“I wouldn’t have stopped looking, ever,” Endeavor said, looking at the photo. “Instead, I was stuck thinking how much pain he was in, how afraid he had to have been, because I didn’t arrive in time that night. So yes. Yes, I’d say Toya would have reason to go after me, but he’s my son. He’s still my son.” And then, “I’ll stop at nothing to find him, to stop this mad foolishness of his.”
“Hug him.”
“What?” Endevour looked at Shinichi.
Shinchi, de-aged as he was. “You haven’t hugged him since his diagnosis, have you?”
“That…”
“He has QIS, no? But in your mind, it wouldn’t be just his Quirk he wasn’t compatible with.”
“That. No. His body wouldn’t be compatible with my Quirk, or Shoto's.”
“Scars indicate a rather powerful Quirk, though, no?”
“Well,” Endeavor paused. “The fire did get to two thousand degrees.”
“So, you’re not resistant to his flames either, right?”
“Nobody could survive,” Endeavour paused, then his eyes widened in horror. “Wait. How? How did he? If I couldn’t get through those flames, how?”
“Don’t know,” Shinichi said, sighing
Endevour’s eyes closed. “I can figure out that mystery later. Right now, I’m going to focus on finding my boy.” He paused, then looked at Karina. “Ms. Lyle? Do you have a place to stay?”
“Oh. I’m…”
“Ms. Lyle can stay at the Kudo residency. It would be safer for her, given Dabi’s mental state is unknown, but you’ll want others looking for him to take proper precautions. Pick the right Pro Heroes.”
“Yes. Indeed,” Endeavor said. “And feel free to offer any more advice if you have it, Kudo-san.”
They left, and Karina said, “Are you sure? Staying at…”
“My parents are never around, and I’m staying at Ran’s.”
“Weirdo.”
“Kinda stuck in the predicament I am in until it can be reversed.”
“Right,” Karina said, and then, “Thank you.”
“Thank me when Dabi is safe.”
“Right.”