Ready As I'll Ever Be [Temporary Hiatus]

Chapter Four

Todoroki

The shopping centre was a mess. I'd only come to buy a coffee before slowly making my way home. I was still debating whether or not to go to the social. On one hand, it could be fun. On the other, I don't know if I want to spend the night surrounded by that many people.

The first explosion grabbed my attention and the second had me running back to the mall. I scanned the area, looking through the frantic crowd, before spotting the villain. He was shouting something about someone, but I wasn't paying much attention, I was more worried about whether anyone was injured.

"Todoroki!" I turned to the source of the voice and saw Iida and Uraraka running over to me.

"Is everything alright?" I asked.

"Yeah, no one's injured from what I can see and the heroes are on their way," Uraraka said. As if in response, Dragoon appeared and the police sirens could be heard. "Have you seen Deku?"

"Midoriya? He was at the school talking to All Might, right?"

"Yeah, he could still be there." Uraraka sighed.

"I told you not to worry—" Iida started.

"Wait. He's over there." I pointed down the street to where Midoriya was standing with a little girl. Uraraka, Iida and I hurried towards him, but before we could get there, the villain broke free from Dragoon and began sprinting towards Midoriya as well. I snapped to action, spinning and striking with my ice, covering the pathway and causing the villain to skid and fall.

But the damage had been done.

Midoriya screamed a warning and there was the sound of skidding tyres before silence. I spun around to where he'd been.

Midoriya was gone.

The girl was lying only a metre away from the car's tyres. Midoriya must have pushed her out of the way. But where did he go?

The girl burst into tears. Iida and Uraraka sprinted over to her and I wasn't far behind. She began screaming at them not to touch her and my classmates backed away.

—

I learnt a day later from the police that the girl's name was Aya Ryokō. She had no immediate family in Japan; her mother hadn't been seen in the past week and her dad was MIA as well. They were both added to the missing person cases revolving around Ryokō, the others being her regular babysitter and Midoriya.

The police called in a quirk doctor, since Ryokō was in the age range of receiving a quirk.

They tried to kick me out of the police department, but I wasn't going anywhere. I was going to be part of this investigation. I was going to find Midoriya.

I hadn't gone to the dance. Uraraka and Iida didn't go either. They'd stayed with me in the police department, but they'd been kicked out after the Chief of Police told the three of us off.

The quirk doctor received results three days after Midoriya went missing. He came from the hospital, where they were keeping Ryokō sedated because of her hysteria. Apparently, whenever she woke up she'd start screaming for her mum and dad and the little girl with the light blue hair and the nice green-eyed boy. She'd scream for them to come back. For the doctors not to touch her.

"I've run some tests on her DNA," the quirk doctor said to the leading officer and I (because they couldn't get rid of me), "and it seems that her quirk is some sort of mutation. Not a mutation quirk, but one that's presented itself out of the blue. I've done research into her family and no one seems to present even the same sort of gene. I can't tell what the quirk is based on preliminary tests, but it's safe to assume based on the people who disappeared and what upsets her, it makes people disappear when they come into physical contact with her."

"Is there a way to reverse it?" The officer asked.

"I couldn't even begin to tell you. We don't even know if it can be reversed; I don't know where the people are sent. If they go into a different dimension, country, or if they die."

"And you just have to come into physical contact with the girl?" I asked.

"With her skin. I don't believe it gets through cloth; I wore gloves while gathering a DNA sample and I was fine."

"Thank you." I nodded and left the room.

—

"Aya Ryokō's room please," I told the front desk of the hospital.

"Of course sir," the receptionist nodded and typed away at her computer. "Room 163 in the children's ward," the she told me. "Have a good day, sir."

"Thank you."

Honestly, I didn't know what I was doing. I didn't even know if it was going to work. But Iida was usually the one to stop me from making stupid decisions and I'd turned my phone on silent purely because I didn't want him to be able to contact me and talk me out of it.

I knew that if the roles were reversed, Midoriya would do exactly the same thing to save me.

Room 163 wasn't far. Ryokō was so small in the hospital bed, the heart monitor beep, beep, beeping next to her. Can't back out now, I thought as I walked over. I just kept thinking that this is exactly what Midoriya would do if I had disappeared.

I placed my hand on her arm and my last thought was, I really hope this doesn't kill me, before my stomach twisted and I disappeared.

—

When my feet hit solid ground, I knew that at least I wasn't dead. I looked around at where I was.

I was in Musutafu, I knew at least that much. But somehow, everything felt slightly off. Like, the air was too stiff or the sky wasn't blue enough. Then there was the overall emptiness of the city. The street I'd ended up in was completely vacant. I started walking, knowing this wasn't the Musutafu I knew, when I saw a large television screen broadcasting Breaking News.

The villain, Deku, has finally been captured and is on trial in the Musutafu Court. Verdict to be decided within the next few hours.

Deku; that was Midoriya's hero name.

I picked up speed, almost in a run, and headed towards the Court, knowing that I'd probably find Midoriya there.