Izuku's POV:
"Blood Demon Art: L--
Before the demon could actually activate its technique, I swiftly beheaded it, not giving the demon a chance to attack, block, or evade.
The head and body faded away in no time before the demon had the chance to realize what had even happened. I winced in pain, gripping at my side in an attempt to ease it. I was still not completely healed from our fight with Dragon a week ago, some parts of my body are still in pain, but I've recovered enough that I can go back to slaying demons.
Genki is unfortunately still recovering, but he did wake up the other day, so he is likely to fully recover fairly soon.
Doctor and Agatsuma-San say that I need to learn to take it easy every once and a while, which is true. I agree that it would be best for me to take some breaks every now and then. But this situation has been weighing on me for a long time now.
Dragon, just who is he?
I can't figure out who he is despite all of my senses screaming at me whenever I seem him or hear of him. It's like I do know who he is, but at the same time, I don't. It's a strange feeling.
I need to figure this out. I'm been stuck on this same mission for way too long. I came the closest I've ever been to completing my mission along with Genki, but we were too weak. If I can just figure out Dragon's identity, I can find a counter to his abilities. During our fight, he didn't use his flames at all, he definitely held back to have more fun with us.
It may be Dabi... he is the most likely candidate. I've worked with him several times in the past solely because our goals aligned in those situations, but we never really got along. Plus, I haven't seen him in 8 months and he's been off the grid ever since I last saw him. While it's unlikely he could've gotten to Dragon's level in that short amount of time, it is possible if Tanjiro gave him a good amount of his blood.
Dabi did always show a strong hatred for heroes, especially Endeavor. Tanjiro could've easily used that to convince Dabi to join him. Dabi isn't the most mentally stable guy after all.
I reached into the pocket of my kimono, narrowing my eyes at the eerie feeling that washed over me. As if on instinct, I swiftly and violently threw the kunai behind me, eyes slightly flipping over to glance back at what the kunai was about to hit.
Clang
A strange man had just narrowly dodged the kunai, just barely going over his head as it embedded itself into a brick wall.
The man held a shocked expression on his face, although he did a good job in concealing it so quickly.
"Calm down, kid. I'm not trying to hurt you," the man reassured, exhaustion plaguing his tone of voice. He visibly rubbed his eyes as if he was missing out on some much needed sleep. The man stunk of coffee and medicine.
I narrowed my eyes at the man once more, fully turning my body to face him and to get a better look at his appearance.
The man was slender and tall, with pitch black hair and pale skin. His eyelids sagged halfway closed as if he were fighting to stay awake. He wore a baggy outfit similarly to me. Baggy long-sleeved shirt and matching pants, along with black shoes.
A large scarf wrapped around his neck and the lower part of his head, yellow goggles lifted up slightly over his eyes.
"Eraserhead."
"You know of me?" he questioned.
"Well doesn't this situation feel familiar..." I muttered sarcastically as I thought back to my encounter with Stendhal.
"Yes, I do. I heard that you've been looking for me," I said. "I h-had a feeling that you would find me, but I didn't t-think it would be so soon."
"Stupid stutter."
Eraserhead merely hummed in response.
"I'm guessing you're here to arrest me?" I asked.
Eraserhead paused for a few moments, taking his hands out of his pockets. I stepped back a couple of times, not knowing what he was trying to do, but to my surprise, nothing, he just rubbed his nape after his hands were out of his pockets.
"In normal circumstances, yes," Eraserhead said truthfully.
"Is this not a normal circumstance?" I questioned, to which the man merely shook his head, sunken eyes glaring at me from afar.
"Are you Izuku Midoriya?"
I had to stop myself from flinching, otherwise it would have given the man his answer, but I couldn't help for my eyes to go wide in shock from such an abrupt and spot-on question. How did this hero know who I was?
I steadied my voice, glaring down the man behind my green kitsune mask. No stuttering. No vocal tells. No body tells. I wouldn't waver in my answer.
"Izuku Midoriya... isn't he that kid who went missing a few years ago?" I questioned, looking up into the star scattered night sky, before shaking my head calmly and dismissively.
"No. I am not Izuku Midoriya. It doesn't matter if you believe me or not, but for me to be him, I'd have to be quirkless, which I am not," I lied.
Silence filled the area. Neither Eraserhead nor I saying a word to each other for what felt like a few minutes. We stared each other down, the hero shooting daggers at me intensely, as if attempting for me to break, attempting to search for a tell that would go against my claim.
Eventually, he sighed, shaking his head as he was unable to tell whether or not I was lying.
"I see..." was all that he could say.
"Thank god... he believed me," I thought to myself, internally sighing in relief.
"That was a pretty abrupt and o-out of no where question. Why did you think I was that Midoriya kid?" I asked, tilting my head to really sell that I was "confused".
"No reason. It just... made sense," Eraserhead tiredly grumbled.
"You are part of the slayer organization, yes?" he asked, just as abruptly as his last question.
Damnit. I forgot that the heroes know about that. They are pretty much in the dark of what we truly are, but they're starting to get too close to the truth.
"No, I do not know wh--
Before I could finish that blatant lie, I was swiftly interrupted.
"Don't play dumb with me kid. While I can't be sure if you are Izuku Midoriya or not, I know for a fact that you are a part of this slayer organization," he said, with more of a snappy tone to his voice this time.
I exaggerating and elongated my sigh for dramatic effect.
"I am not associated with them," I repeated, determined in not admitting the truth, which seemed to only exhaust the sleep-deprived underground hero even more than he already was.
"If you are o-only here to i-interrogate me, then I'm leaving," I said, beginning to turn away from the man.
"Why did you become a vigilante?"
I froze in place.
My eyes widened at yet another sudden question that this hero had no business knowing. Sure, Eraserhead may be one of my favorite heroes, but that didn't mean I'd answer his questions. That didn't mean I trusted him in anyway. That didn't mean I wouldn't attack him if needed.
"What are you 10... 11? You are very obviously a child, regardless of if you are Midoriya or not. Why is such a young kid like you acting in vigilantism?" he continued.
"And why does it matter to you, Eraser?" I snapped back.
"Because I used to work with plenty of vigilantes in the past... I still do on occasion, if the situation calls for it," he responded lazily.
"I know how vigilantes tend to think and behave, mostly acting on a distrust in heroes to do their job. I don't disagree with that. I do agree that current heroes are far too focused on recognition and media attention rather than doing their jobs, but a kid like you shouldn't have to be a part of the vigilante community. You are skilled in proficient in weapons, you could very easily have become a great hero."
"I understand if you don't think I'm being honest here, but trust me, I am. You must've gone through a lot of trauma to be fine with murdering people. I can empathize with why you may be angry. Angry at heroes. We likely failed you in the past, didn't we?" Eraserhead asked.
I didn't respond. I stood in silence for a few moments, stewing in everything the man had just said. Maybe I could consider talking with him for a bit... answering some questions wouldn't hurt. But of course, I wouldn't say anything about the slayers or my identity.
"Look, if that slayer organization is brainwashing you into believing that what you're doing is okay, then just tell me. If it turns out that they kidnapped you, then us heroes can help you," Eraserhead concluded.
There it was.
Where everything went crashing down. My body trembled. But not out of fear. But out of anger. "What did this bastard just say...?" I thought to myself.
I could feel my blood begin to boil, my face heating up from rage.
I turned back to face Eraserhead, menacingly eyeing him from behind my mask. I think he could feel the bloodlust that was seeping off of me since he hesitantly backed away, his right hand grasping at his capture scarf.
"How dare you..."
"The slayers didn't brainwash me, they didn't kidnap me either! They saved my life!" I exclaimed. I have never felt this level of rage before. Well... I had, but never because of something someone said.
"Don't assume something you don't know. What we do is necessary... we do more than any of you heroes do for the world..."
Wait...
Damnit!
My anger slowly morphed into fear, shock, disappointment, and confusion as I realized what I had just said.
"I just... admitted that I..." I couldn't even finish this thought before I was bombarded by countless more. My head and eyes snapped back up at Eraserhead starting to calm down a bit as my bloodlust died down.
"Damnit... damnit... damnit!"
"Don't try to find me again!" I yelled, running off as fast as I could, away from Eraserhead's line of sight. I sheathed my katana, not stopping. I kept running as fast as I could away from the area.
They weren't supposed to know and I just confirmed his theory. I confirmed that I'm with the DS Corps... or what he called the slayer organization... My first night back on the job and I have that big of a slip up. All because he got me angry...
All because I was too protective of the DS Corps' image...
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Eraserhead's POV:
I watched incredulously as the child vigilante practically vanished into thin air. I was not expecting the kid to be that fast.
"Teleportation? Super speed?" I pondered aloud.
"It doesn't matter right now," I muttered, pulling out a phone from my pocket, dialing Nezu's number, who very quickly picked up, as if he were waiting for me to call him.
"Hey, Nezu?"
"Yeah, I found him. I got him to admit that he is part of the slayer organization..."
"Mhm"
"Only problem is... I don't think he'll want to speak to me again..."
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Author's Note: Yeah, a mostly wordy and dialogue-based chapter here. Izuku accidentally let it slip that he is a slayer out of anger. Not much to say about this one though.