Aizawa was nowhere to be seen for two days now. 1-A was told he was going to be absent for a while. No one thought much of it, with how much he had missed of the schoolyear until now, but Shinsou, Shouto, Eijiro and Katsuki all knew that something was wrong, because none of them had been allowed to the facility, let alone meeting the two new kids added to their collection.
Shinsou had been staying with his mother in another apartment that had been secured especially for them by the heros. And while his mother said it was a good thing to settle down on their own, Hitoshi couldn't help but feel like they had been kicked out on a haste.
Kirishima seemed to be swirling in his own world whenever one of the other three tried to talk to him about their uneasiness, so he had mostly been left alone since.
Katsuki, and Shouto who had heard about the news from his own mother, suspected that the sudden disappearance and withdrawal had something to do with Mitsuki's recovery. Yet while Shouto could only speculate in the darkness, Katsuki had formed a somewhat sensible theory from what he had witnessed so far about Izuku's abilities and their consequences.
It was clear for Uraraka, and the rest of the class, that these four were not entirely there with them during lessons and breaks. The distant looks, the frowning faces, the bouncing legs, something was definitely on their minds.
Therefore, when Mirio-senpai came to personally speak with these four in private at the end of the day, they didn't think that something was up, they knew.
*****
The sight of Mirio-senpai without his iconic, beaming smile was unsettling to say the least, the first sign of something being terribly wrong.
"Uh- sorry for dragging you out like that. We- I was wondering- it would really be appreciated if you could- I mean, you don't have to- not all of you at least-" the stumbling and the uncertainty that was definitely not in their senpai's nature was an absolute give away. The second sign of an issue.
"Is everything alright, senpai?" Shouto was the one to voice the nagging question swimming in everyone's head. Kirishima was eyeing Bakugou wearily, expecting him to snap at the incomprehensible wording, but found him studing the blond upperclassman in surprising calmness instead. Shinsou took in the black circles around his senior's eyes that could rival his own, and the overall tiredness his slouched posture implied.
"N- yes, yes, of course. I just need someone to look after Eri-chan for a while." He answered sheepishly, scratching the back of his head and straightening his back when he realized the four pair of scrutinizing eyes on him.
"Where is she?" Shinsou was the one to voice their worries this time.
"She's with Midnight-sensei in the teacher's lounge," their senior answered.
"Why can't she stay with you? Senpai, did something happen?" The worry in Hitoshi's tone was self-evident.
"No it's- it's nothing. I just didn't want her to- she's just too-" Mirio stumbled on his words before he cut himself off. He scanned hurriedly through the expressions of all four students before he hastily turned away from them, seemingly ready to leave.
"Alright. I'll leave her in your care, then." This time he tried to sound as casual as possible, attempting a small smile that could almost resemble his normal ones.
"Wait! Mirio-senpai! I-" Kirishima jumped suddenly from his place by his classmates to grab into the arm of their senpai. "I really need to see Izuku!" He exclaimed.
Togata's face contoured into concern, albeit one that he tried masking with a tinge of nonchalance.
"I don't think it's- that's not a good idea." He argued with a hint of urgency. He grabbed Kirishima's arm to free himself from the teen's grip.
"Why? What do you mean?"
Mirio stayed silent and started making his way down the corridor quickly, not looking back once.
Before anyone could follow him, he was already out of sight.
Todoroki and Shinsou had their faces twisted in concern, but remained silent and started heading to the teacher's lounge together to collect Eri. It must be awkward for the shy girl to stay with adults she was not used to meet often.
That left Kirishima and Bakugou in the corridor, still contemplating what had just happened, and going through possible scenarios in their heads.
"Oi, shitty hair," it was Bakugou that broke the silence first.
Kirishima startled out of his train of thoughts and turned to look at Bakugou. As if he had forgotten that the explosive teen was still there with him.
"The thing you said. Why do you need to meet the nerd?"
It took a moment to register who Bakugou was talking about.
"Ah, you mean Izuku? No it's just that..." just like with his mother, Eijiro couldn't find the right words to express what his motives were. Heck, he was not sure of his own reasoning himself. Something weird was going on with him. Something that could not be communicated with words.
And it seems it took one to recognize one, because Katsuki's expression just softened the tiniest bit, looking at Eijiro as if he understood exactly what he was going through.
"If you need to go, then just do it. Don't be such a wuss.." Bakugou glared intently at the red head "...because you're not."
Kirishima's mouth stood open for a second. This was probably the nicest thing Bakugou had ever said to him.
Kind of.
His unsure expression turned immediately into determination and he grind widely at the blond, nodding his head firmly.
"You bet!"
He didn't wait to see the content smirk on his best friend's face before collecting his things and dashing out, following his Senpai's path and directly to meet Izuku.
He was going to get his answers today.
****
Kirishima had his suspicion that they wouldn't let him meet Izuku so easily, if Mirio-senpai's actions were anything to go by. But he didn't expect to not be let into the facility at all.
He knew they had installed security cameras, so he thought that if he stood outside long enough, he would be let in.
But that apparently didn't work. So he had restored to knocking. Or maybe banging. And if he overdid it with activating his quirk, well it would be his own fault for what he got. Because when he without any thought hit the metal door with his quirk, he felt a sudden electrical zap run through his whole body.
He backed away with a flinch, jerking away his throbbing palms from the hot iron.
Right. Enhanced security measures. He should have known.
After a second of shock, the pain did little to stop the resolution on his features, and his palms flew anew to bang against the huge port, despite the continuous electrification.
He had to see Izuku. He had to know. There was something important he was missing, he just felt it. He had to find out what his mother was hiding from him. He had to get to the bottom of the premonition he has been experiencing.
He was going for another -what he knew would be a painful- bang on the port before he heard metal zip, making the door unlock and opening it slightly.
He stopped mid-movement, landing his palms on the door instead to push it lightly.
He stared for a second, looking around to find no one on the other side, before he decided this must be an invitation inside.
Kirishima deactivated his quirk and walked through the long hallways he knew would lead him to the main door.
And right there, with a widely open entrance, was his missing teacher. With as unruly hair as usual and red irritated eyes, he stared at his student in apathy.
"Kirishima, what is it that you want?"
Something about Aizawa-sensei was... different. His monotonous voice, that has always been monotonous, had a quality that it did not usually possess. His dry, inky irises were dull and distant, his expression so empty and vacant.
"I... just as I told Mirio-senpai, I need to see Izuku. I think he knows something about... I don't know. Something important!" His negotiation was not effective and he knew it. He suspected he would need to keep going back and forth for a while before he was allowed to meet with Izuku.
Aizawa-sensei closed his eyes with a tired, bone-deep exhaustion, muttering something under his breath akin to 'of course he does' in bitter affirmation.
Yet to Eijiro's surprise, Aizawa-sensei didn't argue back, he just walked to Izuku's room and stood by the door, waiting for Kirishima to follow suit.
Eijiro steped forward slowly, weird out by his teacher's lack of stubbornness.
He stepped carefully into the dark room, seeing a still form on the bed.
First it was the stingy smell of the disinfectants that overwhelmed his senses, then it was the colossal number of machines that surrounded the bed, each registering its own data. A mix of subtle and loud beeps assaulting his unprepared ears.
He looked back at his teacher who was still standing by the doorframe, the only expression in Kirishima's gaze was of combined surprise and concern.
His sensei met him only with a cold look that was shrouded in shadows.
"I don't think you would be getting any answers, but tell him whatever you wanted to say," while you can, Kirishima could nearly hear the unsaid comment from his teacher's tone alone.
The redhead could feel his previous determination wavering as he crept closer to the green head, a sluggish emerald eye turning his way excruciatingly slow.
Aizawa crossed his arms while he leaned on the doorframe, refusing to look at the pitiful sight as he unconsciously digged his nails into his arm in frustration.
The deflated student let his shoulders sink and gaze lower in defeat, realizing his questions would remain unanswered.
Izuku opened and closed his mouth several times, trying and failing in making his vocal chords utter even the tiniest of sounds. Kirishima scowled at the miserable attempts in sympathy. Why was Izuku reduced to such a state? He had seen him not long ago at U.A, he had been doing very much better, he had been going out and interacting with people and talking to Eri! So why?!
"Izuk-" before he could finish his words, the petite boy in the bed freed his hand and stretched it toward Eijiro's arm, the nimble fingers ice-cold in contrast to his warm skin, much like a corpse's.
It's okay
A sudden voice rang through his skull. He jumped and looked around himself fretfully. He turned to look at Aizawa-sensei, who was still glaring at his crossed arms, still not looking at them and missing the shock of his student.
Kirishima turned back to stare at Izuku.
Is he talking directly to my mind?!
Yes, he received the answer before he had even articulated the question.
"Holy shit!" He voiced his surprise this time and alerted Shouta in the background, who was by his side in seconds.
"What happened?!"
Kirishima gestured widely with his hands, unable to describe clearly, when he realized he had lost his contact with Izuku and could not hear his voice anymore.
He stopped and crept closer again, putting his hand on Izuku's thin, limp arm this time.
"You can talk to me like that?" He settled on asking aloud to let Aizawa-sensei in on what was going on.
Yes.
"Wow, how do you do that!" It was not exactly a question, so he didn't mind the lack of answer.
You came to ask...
Again, that wasn't a question, it was as if the greenette already know what he wanted to say. Maybe he knew more than Eijiro himself, even.
"There's that...dream.... about... a fire? I can't stop thinking about it. It's like... I'm missing something important." He tried to explain.
Izuku looked at him with an emotion he couldn't quite place. The silence stretched longer than what he's comfortable with.
"You know something, right?" If Kirishima wasn't pretty sure about that statement from the beginning, he was sure now when Izuku had heavily closed his eyelids and sighed silently.
Why do you want to know?
That was a question he wasn't expecting.
"What do you mean?"
If it's something painful, if it makes your heart bleed and your mind shatter, if it would hunt you in your sleep and on every waking second, would you still want to remember?
Kirishima swallowed dryly. He didn't understand the sentements Izuku was describing, he didn't know what Izuku was referring to. But there was one thing he knew.
"If I have to lose something important at the expense of forgetting, then I would rather suffer as myself, instead of living as someone I'm not. I would like to hold to the memories that build the man that I am, even if they were painful, because every experience is a part of me, even the bad ones." He told him with an unwavering voice and a will of iron. He was unsure of many things that had happened recently, but this was not one of them.
Izuku had opened his eye to look at him, staring right at his soul, searching for the tiniest bit of doubt.
Okay
He said simply when he found none, before a cold dread washed over the redhead as he got back the missing puzzle piece he had unconsciously always longed for....
Hint: chapter 8 (؟smaerD : VIII)