Running Solo

Chapter 7 - Impact

"Yes. They've been out looking for about an hour. No one's found anything yet." Inko said, her voice wobbling.

"We'll come help." his mother said.

"Yeah, we'll be right over." Masaru agreed.

"And I'll go wake Katsuki up. He should help too." Mitsuki said.

"T-thank you." Inko said quietly.

"Hey, Inko-chan," his mother said softly. "Don't worry. We'll find Izu-kun."

"Thank you, Mitsuki-chan. You too Masaru-kun." Inko said and hung up.

"Ha. Poor Inko-chan." his mother sighed. "Let's go. I'll wake Katsuki up, you go and grab some flashlights." Mitsuki told Masaru.

"Alright," his father said softly.

Katsuki turned and hurried to his room, shutting the door as quietly as he could and diving onto the bed. He quickly pulled the covers on and pretended to be asleep. His door opened hesitantly. He heard his mother sigh and then,

"Get up, Katsuki. I know you're awake, and I know you heard about Izu-kun. Get dressed and come help us look." Mitsuki said, leaving no room for argument. She left the room, turning on the light and shutting the door as she left.

Katsuki sighed and got up. He quickly got dressed and headed out to the living room. His parents already had their shoes on. His mother was wearing a purple cardigan over her plain white shirt, and his father was wearing a plain black long sleeve shirt. His mother threw a thin black sweater at him and he angrily put it over his black shirt. His father handed him a flashlight and then passed one to Mitsuki. His mother took it with a nod.

"Get your shoes on. We're heading over to Inko-chan's before we go out and help with the search." Mitsuki said.

"Tch! Fine!" Katsuki huffed, pulling on his shoes. His black pants rubbed annoyingly against his wrists. "Let's just go." Katsuki huffed as he stood. His parents nodded and walked out.

Mitsuki locked the door as Katsuki walked out of the house. Then they walked to Inko's house in silence. Katsuki could feel his parents staring at the back of his head. He shoved his hands in his pockets, ignoring them. When they got to Inko's apartment, Mitsuki knocked gently on the door and Katsuki rolled his eyes. Soon, Inko opened the door. Her eyes were red and her cheeks were tear-stained. Masaru and Katsuki stood awkwardly as Mitsuki hugged Inko tightly.

"Don't worry, Inko-chan. He'll come home." Mitsuki said, pulling away. She looked back at her boys. "You two go start looking. I'm going to stay with Inko-chan." Masaru and Katsuki just nodded and walked down to the street.

"Let's split up. We'll cover more ground that way." Masaru said in his usual soft-spoken manner. Katsuki just nodded, too tired to argue with his father.

They quickly turned away from each other and began their search. Katsuki could hear his father calling Izuku's name, but Katsuki just continued walking. After Katsuki was sure his father wouldn't be able to hear him, Katsuki turned his flashlight on and started searching.

"Deku!" he called. "You stupid nerd, where are you?! Quit playing hide-and-seek, or I'll blast you!" Katsuki yelled angrily. There was no response. Katsuki let out a string of curses. Realizing that this wasn't working, Katsuki switched tactics. "Come on, nerd. Your mother's crying because of you. Just head home already!" Still nothing. "Tch! Are you really going to make me say it?!" Katsuki called angrily. "Fine." he huffed to himself. "Izuku?! Where are you?!" Katsuki yelled.

There was still no reply and Katsuki knew it was getting really late. It had to be getting close to midnight, now. Katsuki's voice was growing hoarse from all of the yelling, but he refused to give up. He never gave up on anything and he wasn't about to start now. Just as he was walking past an alley, something clattered. His head whipped towards the sound.

"Izuku?" Katsuki called, struggling to hide his nerves. He shined his flashlight down the alley and caught sight of a pair of red shoes scattered at the mouth of the alley. He quickly pulled out his phone and called him mother.

"Katsuki? Did you find Izu-kun?" his mother asked as Katsuki walked hesitantly into the alley.

"Maybe. I think I found his shoes, but I don't see... him..." Katsuki trailed off.

"Katsuki?!" Mitsuki asked, concerned. "What's wrong? Is everything alright?" Katsuki couldn't speak. Those were definitely Deku's shoes, but they weren't the only red in the alley. There was a large pool of blood. "Katsuki! Talk to me! What's going on?! Is everything okay?!" Mitsuki demanded.

"S-so much blood." Katsuki whispered, not really hearing his mother.

"What?! What do you mean?! Where are you?! I'm sending your father over and calling the police. Don't hang up! Just tell me what's going on!" Mitsuki said frantically. "Inko-chan, please call Masaru and hand me the phone." Mitsuki called into the background, voice slightly muffled as she turned away from the phone speaker. "Don't hang up, Katsuki." his mother repeated sternly.

"Here, Mitsuki-chan." Inko's hoarse voice sounded faintly. "Masaru-kun's on the phone."

"Thanks, Inko-chan. Would you mind making tea while I talk to Masaru? Thanks." his mother said, her voice calm and soft in spite of the situation. "Don't hang up, Katsuki." his mother said again. Katsuki didn't respond. He fell to his knees, the blood seeping a little into his black pants. "Masaru. I need you to find Katsuki. It sounds like he may have found Izu-kun, but he said something about there being a lot of blood. I'm going to send some police and an ambulance over, but I need you to go check on Katsuki. Yeah, thanks." his mother said distantly. "Alright, Katsuki. Your father is on his way. I'm going to hang up and try to keep Inko-chan distracted. Just stay safe and don't do anything stupid." Mitsuki said before she hung up.

Katsuki's phone slipped from his hand and landed in his lap, but he didn't move to grab it. He couldn't. He just stayed there, on his knees, staring at the pool of blood he was sure belonged to Deku. He reached out a shaking hand and grabbed one of Deku's red shoes. There was his name, carefully written on the inside flap. Katsuki felt tears in his eyes, but he refused to let them fall. His father arrived not long after. 

"Katsuki! There you are. Are you alright? Your mother said- " Masaru started before freezing at the scene in front of him. His son was on his knees in front of a bunch of blood. His son was also clutching one of two red shoes he had seen on Midoriya Izuku. "Son, I'm so sorry."

Katsuki set the shoe down gently beside the other one and put his hands in his lap. He didn't look up at his father. Masaru knelt down beside his son and wrapped his arms hesitantly around his boy. Katsuki didn't push him off, so he continued to hold him. Katsuki brought his hands up to his arms and hugged himself, the tears he'd been holding back finally falling. Then, in a broken voice, whispered one word.

"Izuku..."

A/N - Sorry about all of the spelling mistakes. I finished this at like, 10:30 or 11:00 last night. 😅

Edit: I have since gone through and fixed some of the spelling mistakes, though feel free to politely let me know if you find any I missed. Also, I went through and made it so that Mitsuki and Inko are less formal with each other and Masaru. I figured that they will have been friends since they were teens and would be close enough to be less formal.