A/N
This chapter was supposed to be short, but here we are. One of the longest chapters XD. This chapter contains a lot of FORESHADOWING and HINTS. The other chapters had hints but they were very subtle so I don't think anyone noticed them. These hints are EXTREMELY obvious because I wanted you guys to catch them. It makes reading more fun ^_^. Please comment where one of them is and what you think it means if you find one of them: If you want. There are a lot and I mean A LOT of hints. I exaggerated most of them to make them more obvious.
Disclaimer: Boku No Hero Academia, I do not own. My oc folks and plot, I only own.
Enjoy!
Chapter 3: Footage
He was confused.
Sure, he knew very well what was happening but why.
He didn't know why.
Maybe all bad things in this universe are attracted to him. It's a possibility, but it's not completely true. He had a few special things that kept him whole.
That kept him sane.
But what happens when one of those things...
Disappears.
He had 4 main pillars in his life. They helped him stay under control.
One of them, was love.
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Izuku started talking with Hanzai and Renzu about the most random things in the world.
It was fun.
Renzu was recounting the endless times she embarrassed herself in public. Izuku liked laughing.
It made him feel... happy.
"So, I walked into the grocery store right. And and this guy was at a cash register. He looked EXTREMELY confused at the cash register," She choked out between giggles," So I decided to be a good human being and go help him. I was an aspiring hero, so I was going to try and build a name for myself. I was a laughter hero! Inspired by-"
"Get to the good part!" Hanzai urged.
"I went up to him and said 'Is everything All Might, kind. American. Citizen."
"Pffftt"
"Izuku and Renzu stopped and looked for the source of the strange laughter.
Their eyes landed on a wheezing Hanzai who clearly couldn't hold in his laughter anymore.
"That. That is the most lit laughter I've heard all day," Renzu stated with a grin.
"Hey, don't HATE on my laugh, Ren," Hanzai countered with strange hand signals.
"I'm not hating. It's really... cute," A light blush grazed Renzu's cheeks and Hanzai turned a vibrant pink before recovering.
Izuku smirked.
"Watcha smirkin' at boi?!" Hanzai asked in a funny way, his ears dusting a light pink.
"Nothing," His smirk didn't falter," Let's get back to the story of Renzu's 87th embarrassing moment"
"You've been counting?" She moaned, her head plopping down on a fluffy, decorative pillow on the wide, sea themed bed.
Hanzai and Renzu decided to use both their half brains and combine them into a full brain to brainstorm how to help Izuku get his mind off... the incident.
They decided to host a slumber party in Inko's room.
Two birds one stone. He can get a little bit used to living without a mother and the fact that he won't get to see her for a while AND take his mind off it.
What a plan.
So here they are, chilling in Inko's room, telling funny stories.
Kind of like a family.
That would have been enough to distract him if it weren't for the strange winking light that peeked out from under the bed.
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Izuku sat in complete dread at his kitchen bar table furniture piece that connected to the kitchen counter from the outside of it.
He really didn't know what it was.
(A/N And neither does Author-chan lmao)
He sat there, fiddling with his tea bag in a plain white mug. He couldn't take the heartbreak of using the colorful All Might mug his mom bought him for his seventh birthday.
It triggered his insta-depression.
He remembered it all.
A blessing and a curse.
He sipped his peppermint tea occasionally: But he never really drank a lot of it. He was too drained to eat or drink anything.
He was physically drained.
Emotionally drained.
And worse, mentally drained.
He couldn't think straight. This was very new to his precise analytical mind. He was stressed and didn't know what to do. He usually stress bakes and cooks but he couldn't.
Why?
Because he glanced over into the messy kitchen and saw various spices and meats laying around on the counter.
Katsudon.
His mom was making Katsudon.
He fought the urge to cry as a stray tear streaked down his cheek before he hastily wiped it off with the back of his hand.
His sniffles died down and he continued to sip his tea. He drank a bit more this time.
It wasn't 'that lit chai tea food stuffs' that Renzu calls it. It was plain ol' peppermint tea.
Green Tea would take time.
His mom loved Green Tea.
So did he.
But he couldn't drink it now. Not yet, but soon.
Caution tape and police men and women decorated the house as they took blood samples, swabs and searched through jail records.
Deku's eyes wander the kitchen until Hanzai approaches him with a gentle smile that matches perfectly with his chocolate brown eyes.
"How are you holding up, kiddo?" He asked with concern, putting a hand on Izuku's shoulder.
He flinched at first and saw pain flicker in Hanzai's eyes. He quickly realized that there was no threat at the moment and shifted back to his original position.
"Better," The greenette said in a dry tone, avoiding eye contact.
"Well, we got a hold of the footage from the security cameras a while ago," He said, slowly and in a low voice.
Finally, Izuku met the police officers' eyes and gave him a pleading look.
"We've already watched it but you don't have to if you don't wan-"
"I'll watch it," Izuku said quickly.
"I'm just saying. If it's too much for ya, let me know," He smiled," Renzu 'n me'll be with you the whole time"
Izuku returned the smile and nodded.
He slowly slid down from his stool at the counter and left his tea sitting on the counter top.
He walked behind Hanzai as they made their way to the cozy living room where a couple officers were scattered.
Once they were seated on the small plush green sofa, another officer with curly purple hair set up the television so it would play the footage.
Izuku mentally prepared himself for what he was about to see before the TV switched on and he resisted the urge to cry.
He thought back to Hanzai's speech and grew determined.
Revenge was an option he was willing to take.
+=+=+=+=+
Inko entered the bright, simple house with a few plastic grocery bags, filled with different ingredients and products.
She shuffled in and locked the door behind her.
Izuku stiffened.
As she reached the kitchen, she emptied her three bags of groceries onto the kitchen counter. She began sorting through the bags.
She opened her white handbag that was sitting snugly around her shoulder and took out a leather box that seemed to be slightly smaller than the actual purse.
Interesting.
She quickly walked into her room and the cameras switched so they could continue to watch.
She put it under her bed and dusted her hands against her blue pants.
She was still quite slender, so it was unclear of her age. She looked 21.
Her long green hair waved as she walked, and it was entrancing in a weird way.
She smiled as she made her way back to the kitchen and slipped on her '#1 Mom' apron.
Ah. The memories.
She began mixing spices and meats and vegetables fluently while humming her favorite tune.
Tears threatened to fall from the green haired boy's eyes as he watched her.
His heart broke.
She taught him how to cook, helped him sing and how to make yourself look extremely at ease or professional when you're clearly not.
All of those life lessons were being perfectly orchestrated right now.
It was hard to watch. Very hard to watch.
She deep fried the pork, cooked the rice all perfectly.
She had no flaws.
She was Inko.
She was a mom.
She had a son.
All of these were thrown out the window when the doorknob disappeared, and the entrance looked dustier than usual.
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(A/N I was honestly just considering leaving it here and making it into a 2-parter JUST because how good this cliffhanger is lmao)
The door handle disappeared, and the strong oak door collapsed with tiny traces of burns.
Strange.
There was a flicker of purple outside, but it was gone as soon as it appeared as a figure with a black hoodie, jeans and shoes walked in.
It was unclear whether it was a man or a woman, but the evidence showed it was a man.
He entered, his hoodie was hiding his face as he leaned against the wall.
By the time he was in the house, Inko was crouching on the floor behind the counter, dialing the police.
How did she get there so fast.
Everyone has secrets.
She dials the police and tries to hide.
He whistles a tune as he walks. A creepy tune.
Izuku recognize it. 'In the Hall of The Mountain King'.
He whistled it slowly. Inching his way over to the kitchen.
Inko looked strangely at ease.
Calm even.
Her hair shadowed her eyes as a faint smile played at the ends of her lips.
It was kind of creepy if Izuku was being honest.
As he walked by, he started touching different furniture pieces as they disappeared.
He slowly reached for the counter where Inko was hiding when...
BAM.
The person that no one wants to see decides to show up.
"DON'T BE AFRAID! BECAUSE GUESS WHO'S HERE?!"
Chargebolt.
'What the actual heck'
+=+=+=+=+
He jumped into the house with his hero suit on.
A bright yellow cape with a white lightning bolt symbol in the center.
He had matching yellow boots and a white, skintight jumpsuit with a dark yellow belt equipped with different electrical tools.
Probably just for show.
He had a black mask on and his blonde hair was frozen in a cowlick.
He looked somewhat comical but kind of like he was inspired by someone. Or some hero. Maybe even a retired hero.
He immediately electrocuted the whole room but the man in black didn't seem to be phased by this.
Inko however, wasn't looking too great.
She was still behind the counter!
"There aren't many people around to watch so you can do me a favor and deal with this yourself. I've got better things to do. Jeez, nothing interesting today. First that quirkless kid on the sidewalk-"
"How do you know he was quirkless?" The man in the hoodie asked. His voice was raspy and dead. He sounded intrigued. But there was something else there... pride.
Chargebolt grinned," Because he wasn't worth my time"
Izuku left the room.
+=+=+=+=+
Izuku got up and walked out. He retreated to the kitchen with a look of horror on his face.
Hanzai followed, he looked heartbroken.
They glanced to the corner of the room and saw Chargebolt staring back at them. Something was a bit off though, he didn't have his phone.
He didn't look guilty. He looked...
Bored.
Fucking bored.
Izuku didn't care about that. He was beyond mad right now.
Hanzai could tell him about the footage later. He was shaking with anger. His forest green eyes turned a piercing emerald.
Some might say he was scary.
Others, he was unstable.
But the ones who really knew. They knew he was right.
Hanzai went up, and socked Chargebolt in the face.
A right hook.
+=+=+=+=+
Chargebolt got his hero license permanently taken away and he's going to court.
For many reasons:
-Quirkist remarks (his remark on the 'quirkless kid')
-Harm of innocent victim (He beat up Inko)
-Collaborating with a criminal (the man in the hoodie)
-Scaring a child
-The back alley incident
-Not reporting the incident
And just for being a meanie beanie.
All of this that was relevant was cleanly displayed in an official report.
The media will LOVE covering this case.
Sadly, it couldn't stay on the down-low but at least Izuku's face wouldn't be plastered everywhere.
They managed to keep him out of this.
But some people can't manage to keep their mouths shut.
+=+=+=+=+
Izuku got filled in about the tape from Hanzai just so he knew what happened even though he didn't finish the video.
Basically, Flashdrive beat up Inko a little for some unknown reason along with the man in the hoodie that they couldn't seem to identify.
Inko was actually doing a good job of defending herself and even attacking before the hoodie guy injected her with a syringe with a black substance in it and she was unresponsive.
They started to call the man in black, 'Unknown Blue' for some code name reason.
Anyways, unknown blue ran and flashdrive tried to run too but the police arrived in time to catch him.
Soon enough, he was all caught up to when he walked into the house and his world was flipped upside down.
He was going to find out who flipped it.
+=+=+=+=+
Izuku remembered something from the video.
It was about midnight and the investigation was ongoing. A few officers left to continue research somewhere else but the main people like Tsukuachi, Hanzai and Renzu were directing the investigation.
"I'm going to be right back," Izuku whispered to Hanzai who was going through Flashdrive's information folder and Renzu who was Instagram stalking.
He gave him a gentle smile to tell him that he could go, that Renzu copied quickly before going back to her phone.
That smile was special though.
It meant things.
That maybe he was going to be alright.
That maybe he was going to be okay.
And just maybe... he believed him.
+=+=+=+=+
He strolled down a corridor.
It was decorated with pictures of him and his mom. But his dad was nowhere in sight.
He grimaced.
He didn't look at the photos. It made his heart squeeze with joy and sorrow.
Too many mixed emotions: But he wouldn't let himself cry. For him and his mom's sakes. He had to be strong for them.
And maybe someone else in the near future.
He walked until he was met with the warm memory of playing with his mom in the house. They were playing hide and seek and Izuku was looking for her. He walked into her room and couldn't find her. He was getting upset when Inko jumped out and hugged him. She told him that she would always be there for him. Then, they cried. As was their tradition.
He snapped out of his flashback and the world looked colder and darker around him. The once bright and somehow lively door was more worn out and darker.
His hand greeted the doorknob as he slowly opened it and treaded in.
His mom's room looked different. Yet, nothing had changed.
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The green haired boy continued to stroll into the room with a watery smile on his freckled face and childhood memories reflecting in his pure green eyes.
He walked up to the bed and kneeled down.
No. He didn't pray.
He reached underneath the bed and his hands found a leathery box that he saw in the footage a mere half hour ago.
It felt like decades ago.
He dusted it off and thought about how, a few hours ago, his mom had held the same box with her warm hands.
Tears threatened to fall as he stared at the mystery box with wonder and determination: Like he already knew what was inside.
He studied the box. It looked elegant. Diamond patterns were sewn in, making it look plush and delicate.
He slowly took the lid off to reveal what was in it.
He opened it and peered inside.
A single tear rolled down his cheek.