The dining room was once again completely overcrowded. The line was huge again and Kaede was glad that they already had their food in front of them. "Where is Denki again? He's always late for dinner." The blonde walked past them after a few minutes with a plate. "Here Denki!" He turned around hurriedly. A strange expression came on his face. "Oh guys, I'm having dinner with Tenya and Izuku. See you later!" His friends looked after him. "He's distancing himself." Hanta chewed listlessly on his noodles. "It's been going on for a while now. Maybe he doesn't want to hang out with us." "No." They looked at Kaede, who was still staring after Denki. "It's always just, at lunch. After that, he's normal." "What do you mean?" "Did you see the look on his face? When we approached him, he took a step back. He felt caught." "Caught in what?" Kaede sighed. "It's difficult. I ask you to leave it to me for now, until I find out more. Then we'll look for a solution, okay?" Katsuki lost patience, "Now you tell me." "I think Denki doesn't eat at lunch and is trying to hide it from us. Since he oversleeps in the morning, he won't have eaten either." "But he just had a plate." "Denki is not stupid. He tries to hide it, of course, by getting food for Tsuyu, for example. His plate had the vegetarian sauce on it, so it wasn't his food." The facial expressions of the others did not move. They remained in the shocked-thoughtful posture. They were probably going over in their heads when they had last seen Denki eat. "Don't think too much. I'll look into it, then I'll tell you, but we cannot confront Denki yet." They all seemed to understand. But after that conversation, the food didn't taste so good. Kaede looked for Izuku. He was one of those from Denki's table who would listen to her rationally. With the others, she was afraid that they might think and act too much when Kaede talked to them about Denki. Besides, there was also Ochako's eating behaviour, which was also on the line. "What did you want to talk to me about?" "Denki. Did you notice something?" She didn't want to tell everyone about Denki. It was his business, but they couldn't let him do what he wanted. Not when he was destroying himself like this. "Well, he sits with us a lot now. I was wondering why he didn't stay with you guys after dinner." "After dinner?" "Yes. He always eats with you and then sits with us, doesn't he?" Kaede nodded thoughtfully. "So that's what he tells you." Izuku clasped his hands together. "I knew it. I should have noticed it before." Kaede looked up. "He doesn't eat, does he? Not in the morning, and not at lunchtime either. And he always switches groups so it's not noticeable. But where does that come from? To tackle the matter, we need to know how the eating disorder came about, why he doesn't eat. Maybe we should-" Kaede interrupted him before the murmuring took on strong proportions. "You're right, we need to observe him first. I'll take over. After that, we'll see. We mustn't rush things." Izuku nodded. "Yes you're right."
During class, Denki was always quickly distracted. For the first time, Kaede wondered why. Was it because he hadn't eaten and had no strength and energy? Or were there other things she had to find out first? "Can you tell me what you know about Denki's situation at home?" "I can't. Why?" "He's my friend, why can't I know?" "If he's your friend, you can ask him too, can't you?" Kaede sighed in annoyance. "Then I probably wouldn't have asked you, would I? But fine. If you can't help me..." She left without another word. Aizawa was not stupid, nor was he blind. He knew Kaede and knew how to finish her sentences. "If you can't help me, I'll have to take care of it myself." He knew she would look at Denki's file, even if it was forbidden. She lived with Denki, she knew things Aizawa didn't. He trusted that she had a good reason for it, otherwise she could face something, but for now Aizawa had to sleep. He always slept during his breaks, he would not skip that.
At dinner in the dormitory, Denki was eating. He did not notice that many pairs of eyes were on him. It was nice that the others were so concerned about him, but if he noticed, they had a completely different situation. Denki went to the toilet after dinner. Kaede followed him to the door. When she heard the choking sounds, she sank down by the door. Denki was crying. She heard him sobbing while he kept spitting into the toilet. She wanted to help him. Everything in her screamed to go to him and hug him, but she couldn't yet. This help would be temporary, but she had to fundamentally change something for him, as Izuku had suggested. As she stood up to move away from the door she felt dizzy. "Shit." Her vision was blurry as she braced herself against the wall and climbed the stairs. Breathing became heavier. "Focus." She stumbled into her room, kicked the door shut and fell onto her bed. Hastily, she fumbled for the knife. She drew it slowly across her skin and took a deep breath. When the cut was finished, she laid the knife on the floor. She closed her eyes and concentrated on the cut. She imagined the blood slowly flowing out and held on to the pain. She pushed the dizziness aside, ignored the aching head, the blood coming out of her nose, the tight lungs and the limbs she couldn't move properly, and focused on the cut. At some point she opened her eyes again. She didn't know if she had fainted, because the blood had dried. In this state, brought on by her Quirk, time always passed very quickly. She slapped a bandage on her arm, put on a jacket and cleaned the knife. She stepped out into the hallway. It was already past midnight, so it was the perfect time to take a look at Denki's file. Pressure on her arm. Katsuki had reached for her arm. His fingers pressed on the fresh wound. Others would not have noticed how she sucked in air and clenched her jaw, but Bakugo was alert. He was just as observant as Izuku, only in a different way. "What is it?" He ripped the jacket off her left arm and looked at the bandage. Kaede made a mental note to put on a pullover directly next time. His eyes burned through her arm as if he could see through the bandage to the cut. "I don't have time for you, I have things to do." "What are you doing?" He was still holding her jacket. "I need to find out about his family. Through his file." He knew what she was talking about. "I'm coming with you." "No." "What no? You think it would be your choice? He's my friend too." She just stared at him. He held the jacket out to her. "Either we leave together now, or we stand here and you tell me why you have a bandage on." "I won't be blackmailed Katsuki." She left and he followed. "You're putting me to unnecessary trouble." "I don't care." She rolled her eyes. Now he knew about the ventilation shafts too. Only it was harder for him to crawl through them. "I've always wondered why Nezu had those shafts built. I think it's supposed to be some kind of escape route or first corner for the students. After all, we fit through here. Full-grown villains probably wouldn't." "You think Sugar Boy would fit through here?" Her expression turned disappointed. "No. Wow Katsuki you ruined my only idea." She let herself fall through the hole. She was now standing in the huge staff room. Katsuki arrived on the floor shortly after her. "Finally out of this shit." She ran straight to the 1A files. "Kaminari. Where's... Ah, there." She took the file to the table where Katsuki was standing and spread it out. "So his mother is a heroine. His father..." "Ran away." "The question is why..." She continued to flip the pages. "His mother has a difficult personality. But other than that... everything seems normal." She slammed the file shut and returned it. Katsuki followed her to the cupboard. "So it's the mother's fault?" "Either the mother, or there's no particular trigger. In any case, it could be that his mother is pressuring him and influencing him somehow. Or he knows exactly why he's doing it. Or he doesn't. Actually, this was unnecessary. We should have-" She was quiet. "What were you going to say?" "Shh" She pressed a finger to his lips and listened intently. "Do you hear that?" "No." "We have to get out of here." Someone opened the door as the two hurried back to the air vents. Katsuki threw himself at Kaede, who was also about to dive under a table, and together the two rolled under it. Her look said clearly: "This wouldn't have happened if I were alone."