Whoo chapter 4! I have no clue. I am going to be working on the profile for the murderer and I have an idea on what to do. I just need time and soon everything will unravel. Now, Death is a key character in this story, and I know Izuku can ask them for help, but Death can not meddle in human affairs other than Izuku's since he is their champion. That's all. So helping with a murder case—that's out of the question. Can't do it. Izuku has tried before. Also I will change Izuku's costume a little.
They stand in front of a giant gate. Present Mic's explanation was extremely awkward, being called out was even more so. He really needed to get ahold of his thoughts and muttering to keep that from happening again. Apparently, they will be fighting robots and he'll probably use the gift that Death gave him just so she won't appear like that again and give him a harder time than before. As he's scanning the others and analyzing them from their forms in their warm-ups, he notices the girl from earlier. He realizes that he hadn't even thanked her for helping him earlier. He was about to go up to her when he was cut off by the same guy who had called him out earlier. "She is obviously nervous and trying to concentrate. Are you trying to distract her?"
"What?" He takes a step back at the sudden accusation. He doesn't even know me and is already assuming I'm trying to ruin other people's chances? Izuku shifts on his feet and ignores the others' gazes that have taken an interest to the two. "No! I—" he gets cut off by the other examiners who whisper amongst themselves. They're muttering about how he doesn't have a chance, nor do they have to worry about him being a potential rival. For the first time, he feels angry but he figures this may be a good thing. They are underestimating him. That in itself is so much better! He sighs and looks somewhat dejected, upholding the facade of being too weak. Don't lie, but manipulate. Simple enough. Like always, he's left alone before he can do or say anything but this time, his fingers are twitching with the want to summon his scythe. Just this once, I will use your gifts. He takes off his glasses and scans the group. Oh no. No, no! He puts them back on and he'll have to keep an eye out on her.
The gates open and Present Mic announces them to go. Midoriya acts fast, summoning his weapon once he runs through the gates and ignoring the murmurs some of the examinees about his fingers curled around the obsidian handle of a weapon that seems un-hero-like. He slashes at two robots, bringing up the memories that Death had shown him earlier—unaware of the aura of cold death hanging around him. He gets a few more robots in but others start taking them away. He needs to get more points, he has to. He can't fail All Might, not after all he's helped him with.
His eyes scan for the girl. He can't find her. This revelation chills him to the bone. He can't find her! Where is she?
The ground shakes. A shadow rises and looms over them. Soon, people are running away from the source of the ginormous shadow. He stumbles back, letting his scythe disappear, and beholds the robot—the 0P they're supposed to avoid. As he starts to run, he hears a cry of pain and worry. Whipping around, there! The girl from before. The one with the Death Shadow hanging off her! The kind girl who he met at the entrance of the school, the one who kept him from tripping! She's hurt! No! No! She wants to be saved. I can see it. She wants to be saved, I can save her.
Izuku abruptly charges forward, going to help her. He tries moving the debris off of her foot but the robot is nearing them. He charges up One For All and jumps up high. He can feel his legs break, but he ignores them and punches the robot with a yell. He's still in the air for a good second before he starts falling. Shit! He's going to lose a chance! He can't lose a chance! He needs to stop with life-and-death situations!
Falling, falling, falling!
Panicking, panicking, panicking!
Think, think, think!
Quickly, he summons his scythe and plunges it into the side of the building closest to him, gripping tightly to the handle as he watches the machine fall back. He had managed to slow his descent but with his momentum of free fall, the scythe rips at the stone of the building before he can grab onto a windowsill with his hurt arm. It's agony but it helps. He sits there for a moment, glad that it's big enough for him, and catches his breath. He looks to his wrist, the mark has yet to show up.
"One minute left!"
"Great. I don't have enough points," he mutters as he receives help from the girl. She used her quirk on a piece of debris and floated her way up, then down for them. She throws up off to the side from the usage. Midoriya smiles tightly and holds her hair back while she does. "Are you okay?" he inquires gently, rubbing her back after she finished. He receives a small nod in response. "Good, thank you."
The exam is over and the hero, Recovery Girl comes and helps them. "Kiss!"
Soon after, Midoriya passing out from the lack of adrenaline brings a small cry of surprise from the brunette. "Will he be okay?" she questions.
"Don't worry, he will be."
* * *
Breaking out of his thoughts, he remembers where he is. His mom's worried face is all he can see as she asks him if he's okay since he's staring at the fish he's eating. Giving her a forced smile, he answers, "Yes, I'm fine. Sorry. I just spaced out a bit."
"Izuku," she says, looking at him with a more composed look. "When you get into U.A. what will you do about your glasses? Surely one of them will know you're lying."
He sighs, dropping his facade and taking them off. He loved seeing his mom without the tint of brown around her. He looks around out of habit and sees at least three Ghouls, causing him to blink and to turn his attention back to his mom. "I'm not sure. Like, I understand that we live in a society where having powers are normal, but will anyone ever believe that I can see Death itself? See when one will die and not be able to save them unless they show that they do want to be saved? Will they believe me when I tell them about seeing Ghouls? Or that I'm the Champion of Death? The most that they will believe is that my eyes are cursed and I can't do anything about them. So no, there's no point in telling. I'll figure something out. I'll, I don't know, just continue acting like the way I do."
Inko looks at her son with sadness in her eyes. Her baby boy can never seem to catch a break. He works too hard and it seems that fate just likes to mess with him, every time something good happens, something bad has to happen to him and it doesn't matter what. Maybe U.A. will be a good thing, and maybe this time he'll make friends. Hopefully, he tells someone about his "curse" as he likes to call it. She believes it can be helpful, but then again—what does she know? She hasn't experienced it herself. "It's okay, Izuku. You don't have to do anything you don't want to. So Death gave you another gift?"
He doesn't seem to notice but his eyes shine brighter with that sentence. It's hard to know if he actually likes it or is just pretending to. "Yeah, it's a scythe. Very durable, apparently it's a metal from the underworld itself! I know how to use it due to Death showing me memories of scythe fights and its skill and technique. I kind of want to thank them. I mean, without it, I'm pretty sure I wouldn't have gotten even a point."
"You should thank them. I know you don't like to speak with Death, but they've helped you more than we might know." Inko doesn't get a response, for the phone rings and she brings it towards her, answering, "Hello?" Upon hearing the request to speak with her son, she sighs and agrees. "It's Detective Tsukauchi."
Izuku is surprised since this only happened once and that was before he ended up getting arrested and accused of committing a murder. He takes the phone apprehensively, tapping his fingers on the table and answers with a timid, "Hello." He listens to him speak, rubbing his wrist with worry and nervousness.
"I know I should stop calling you to help, especially with the fact that you're only a teenager and have no business here, but many of the officers here have decided to use your help. It may be a cold case now, but we received a letter. They're going to start again, but we're not sure when. It can be months until it happens. We need to make a new profile."
He blinks then looks at his half eaten food. "What's the old profile again?"
"The murderer is targeting both females and males, torturing them, then once they're dead, they dump the body. So we happen to believe that they know their way around every part of the city. We have no leads, suggesting the person is smart enough not to leave clues other than the messages and paintings. There are no fingerprints or even any type of DNA other than the victims. The unsub is identified to be between twenty-five and thirty."
"Okay, so that'll be a problem. I mean, finding leads is crucial but the way they can take them is something of a mystery. I mean, they may take the victims at night or even if they're alone during the day. They'll figure out how to lure them to help them and they'll strike. I have no idea how they're able to do this if a person has a quirk, so if the killer has a quirk, it'll most likely be either a mind or a blood-related quirk—maybe even a stealth quirk." He hums. "Or they make themselves look weak and friendly. That'll be a good reason to have men and women help."
"Okay, we'll keep that in mind. Just be on guard. We will not be releasing any more statements just yet; say nothing about this to anyone but your mother. We do not need a mass panic about the Crimson Artist being back. We will be doing patrols. I'll send a picture of the note. Oh, and tell your mom to be careful. She has a trouble magnet for a son."
"Wait," he says, biting his lip. "The unsub uses quotes from international serial killers from years ago. They might be taking points from them. I know that H.H. Holmes was famous for his Murder Castle, the Zodiac Killer was famous for being kept under the radar and with the clues they left. I have a feeling that the Crimson Artist might be replicating numerous of serial killers to keep themselves—to throw you guys off on their true motive. Have you all looked through the victims' profiles to see what you can link?"
"Which you think might be them enjoying their victim's pain. Of course, there can be more to it. You're right, we will have to look more into it and try to prevent any more deaths."
"Of course, have a good day." He hangs up and relays the message, earning a laugh from her at the statement of him being a magnet to trouble and she knows that that is completely true.
That same night, the teen sits on his bed watching Death look through his room. He never realized just how childish the specter is, how curious she is. "Death, don't!" he cries but it falls on deaf ears when she knocks over the figurine. "Death, please be careful." He doesn't trust Death, he can't trust her, yet here she is acting like a child with her curiosity. How is it that a being as old as time itself be curious about what's in his room? He can't help but relax for the first time in her presence. This time, there is no stench of death but the cold aura is there.
"So-rry. I-zu-ku need some-thing? Called Death." The rotten-flesh-covered skull is tilted to the side with apparent confusion. He understands the feeling. He has never called her before, usually, she calls him or randomly appears. "Why?"
"I want to thank you for the scythe. It's a nice gift. Thank you."
If she had eyelids, she would've blinked. He actually liked it? He liked the gift! He wasn't scared. "Eyes. Gift. Like?"
Izuku lifts a hand to his eyes. "I don't know. Terrifying to see these Ghouls."
"Corpse Ghouls. Corp-ses—of the dead. Hu-man Ghouls? Want to see?"
"Corpses? I've been seeing corpses?" He blinks and turns to look at the Corpse Ghoul. "But I can see Human Ghouls if I say yes?"
"Death—help. Not ac-cept gift. An-other time—for that. Ac-cept help. No fear."
"I accept to see them."
"Good." Death smiles with whatever skin left she has and presses her bony fingers to his closed eyes. "O-pen."
More Ghouls are now in his room. Three more Ghouls but they look more alive than the sickening Corpses. "I still can't speak to them, can I? They'll hurt me, won't they?"
"Not sure. Be care-ful. Trust none of them." That's all. She's gone. Izuku is alone with two types of Ghouls now. Great, but it's not bad. Now he won't be alone with corpses around him. That's what he believes anyway.
* * *
"1-A," he repeatedly mutters as he walks into the school. He was happy to know that he passed the exam. He is happy that he can go to such an amazing school! He comes to a stop when he finds the classroom. Taking a deep breath, he knows that this will be the start of a new life. This will be a place where he can make friends and get away from the horrors of his childhood. He adjusts the sunglasses and steps into the classroom.
He finds the glasses guy—the one who had called him out during the exam and during Mic's debriefing—arguing with him. Bakugou is here. He should've known and he had dared to hope that they wouldn't be in the same class. Life does hate him! He should've known that Life hates him. Oh, well, the feeling is mutual. Apparently, Bakugou is being a dipstick and will not get his feet off the desk, "disrespecting the people who made it and school property" and oh, the horror! The guy is apparently from a respectful family for the way he's acting. Strict. He sighs and says, "Look, it seems that we got off on the wrong foot. My name is Iida Tenya." Then he tells him from where he went to school—not the right move to make. That explains the whole attitude. He grew up with strict rules enforced, unlike Bakugou who always got away with everything.
"Oh, you're an elite! Seems like another fucking reason to end you!"
"Threatening . . ." His response fades as Midoriya sighs and glances off to the side. He moves to go sit down but is stopped by Iida Tenya. "Hello! I'm Iida Tenya from Soumei—"
"Oh! Yeah, I overheard. I'm Midoriya, it's nice to meet you, Iida."
They speak for a bit, Iida asking about the scythe and congratulating him for knowing something more about what the test was actually about. Midoriya tries to deny it but it falls onto deaf ears.
"Hey! It's the curly-haired kid!" I know that voice! "Glad to find you! Present Mic was right you did make it in!" She's so loud, everyone is staring at us. "I never got to ask, why are you wearing sunglasses? I've seen you have them on all the time."
"Oh! My eyes are—"
"If you're here to make friends then I suggest you leave." They turn to find a man in a sleeping looking like a caterpillar. Izuku coughs and looks away, quickly heading to a desk—sadly behind Katsuki. He keeps his head down, staring at the worn down teacher. He's a pro-hero. Just who? He can't think of the hero name. This never happened before. I usually am able to recognize a pro-hero. Wait, must be an underground hero then. "I am your homeroom teacher, Aizawa Shota. Put these on and meet outside on the P.E grounds."