Chapter Text
The day All Might went missing, it was bright and blue and everything seemed normal. And, of course, Midoriya Izuku was the first one to know something was wrong.
Izuku loved All Might, after all. This was a fact anybody who met the boy for even a fraction of a second could tell you. His fanboyish enthusiasm left nothing to misunderstand - All Might was his idol, everything he wanted to be when he got older. But if you stayed around him long enough, you could come to understand that this love had grown, taken shape into something all its own.
All Might - or rather, the man behind All Might, Yagi Toshinori - was like a father to him. It was six months ago that Izuku’s perspective began to change. Six months ago, he had been attacked by the sludge villain, seconds away from disaster, passing out from lack of air as All Might saved the day. He’d survived thanks to the hero’s Texas Smash.
And then came the roof.
Certainly, the talk on the roof had been… hard to swallow. But All Might, unlike all of the other people in his life that weren’t his mother, was kind about it. He didn’t belittle the thought of a quirkless person being a hero, just gently said he couldn’t say something carelessly. What if Izuku got killed because he went off recklessly due to misplaced advice? Izuku didn’t blame the hero for that. Besides, he’d done even more. He had offered suggestions, thoughts, alternative ways of being a hero without the prefix “pro” in front of it. It was genuinely the kindest let-down he’d ever received.
So yes, he was upset. He was heartbroken. But he wasn’t suddenly faithless in heroes or filled with hatred towards the Number One. How could he hate a man so kind as to let him down gently? He had an inkling of an idea the hero would say something like that when he asked, anyway.
But there was something in the air that day - the winds of fate, the winds of change, the winds of luck, he had no idea, but they blew so gently and hot, hot with the embers of his once childhood friend trapped in an alley with the Sludge Villain. Izuku's feet moved before his brain could catch up. It was so deeply ingrained in him to want to help. To save. To be good.
All Might came back just then, the moment he was needed the most. More than anything in the world, Izuku had just wished somebody would save Kacchan because he couldn’t do it alone.
And when everything was all over, the wind wrapped around him and told him it was his turn. It was his chance. All Might told him he was wrong. That Izuku proved him wrong. It was so sudden and powerful, this one gentle apology for saying he couldn’t be a hero. A thin, bony hand reached out to him and him alone, telling him yes, telling him he could, that his dreams were attainable and within reach and that everything he yearned for his entire life wasn’t for nothing.
You can be a hero.
Those five words changed his life forever, and his love for All Might changed slowly but surely. From the admiration of a fan, Izuku’s heart twisted up into one confusing ball of emotions as they trained, and the more and more they worked together, the more that twisted knot came undone. It unraveled to reveal something new: the love of a student to a teacher, of a child to a parent.
All Might - Yagi Toshinori, the man said, that was his name and Izuku could use it - had somehow become a father figure to him in the last six months. His actual father was notably absent from his life, having stopped talking to his mother altogether several years ago. Even before that, though, he was always overseas on business trips, never making time for his family. That was just fine with Izuku. Honestly, he was happy with his mother. Sure, not having a present father had been another thing his peers could jab at him for, but for the most part it wasn’t something that ate at him.
Besides, right now? Now he had everything he could ask for. His mentor… soon to be his predecessor when he inherited One for All… was all the father figure he needed. He was perfectly happy, training on the beach under the endless blue sky with All Might.
That bright, blue September day started like that too, with Izuku on Dagobah beach, regardless of the chill in the air as summer began to fade. Izuku was perfectly happy to clean up garbage, both because it was helping him and because he’d get to see Yagi again. He showed up to instruct Izuku as often as he could, though some days he had to take off for hero work. Izuku was left to clean up by himself those days. Today wasn’t supposed to be like that, though. Today was a ‘work together’ day.
And yet Yagi was nowhere to be seen. It was an hour past the time they usually met up, so where was he? Usually he at least sent a message if he had to cancel.
Izuku huffed lightly as he moved some garbage, dragging it closer to the sea wall. He usually got started on his own if his mentor was running a little late, but an hour was just excessive. Had he gotten caught up in hero work or something? Maybe Izuku would check the news to see if All Might had made an appearance. That was usually reported pretty fast.
His phone had been left up at the seawall with his school bag, as he didn’t like distractions when he was super focused on work. Once he broke his concentration, he’d never get it back! But this was strange, so he’d make an exception just this once.
He finished sorting the trash he’d dragged up the stairs and went to fish his phone out of his backpack. When he did, however, he saw he’d actually just missed a call from his mentor. The name ‘Yagi-san’ lit up his screen as a voicemail loaded onto his notifications. Izuku felt some relief at the sight of it - so Yagi was probably just held up by something, then. Izuku played the voicemail, and Yagi’s familiar voice played through the speaker of his phone.
“Hello?” there was a sound like a whoosh of air, and the line went quiet for several long moments. “Hello? Am I… where am I? I’m not quite sure, I… who is this?” Izuku’s eyebrows furrowed as he processed what was being said. His mentor didn’t sound so good. He sounded actually kind of out of it, the phone shuffling around and making parts of the message hard to hear. “I don’t know if… am I… Am I using this right? I don’t… what’s going on? Who…”
The message cut off abruptly, and Izuku pulled the phone away from him a little, squinting at the thing as if it were the cause of the weird voicemail. What was that even about?
One thing was for sure: Izuku’s worry returned full-force. This was so weird and unlike Yagi at all. And that voicemail was really concerning. Had something happened to the man? Did he hit his head or something, perhaps? Whatever the case, Izuku knew he couldn’t leave well enough alone, so he decided to do what Yagi always told him was a true hero’s prerogative: making sure the people around you were okay and cared for. (Well, actually the man had said a hero’s prerogative was ‘meddling where you aren’t wanted,’ but caring for the people around you counted towards that, right?)
Izuku never really saw anybody caring for Yagi, so he’d take it upon himself. The man had given him his address for emergencies once, so Izuku thought he’d just go and check there first. Along the way, he called the man back, but there was no answer. He tried a second time - still no answer. Another factor to make Izuku worry, then. Now he wasn’t answering at all…
Yagi lived in Musutafu, as a matter of fact - apparently, he’d moved there a few months ago once he decided he’d be mentoring Izuku from now on, and also because he was planning to take on a teaching job at U.A. So it wasn’t that far of a walk from Dagobah Beach, and Izuku could just as easily get back to working out if everything was alright.
Izuku picked up his backpack, made sure he had everything, and began a brisk pace towards the apartment complex Yagi lived at. The walk wasn’t too unbearably long, thankfully. Once the apartment complex was in sight, he realized that it was kind of an… upscale place. Like, the kind of place with door guards. And he was wearing a tracksuit and a bright yellow backpack right now… oh dear.
“Can I help you?” one of the guards asked, smiling pleasantly. It didn’t seem like he was asking out of hostility, so Izuku nodded.
“I’m here to see, um, Yagi-san. Yagi Toshinori. He lives here, right? I’m coming to visit him, if that’s okay.”
“I see! Well, if you’re on the approved visitors list, you’re more than welcome. Just ask the receptionist inside for help,” he said, waving him inside. Izuku nodded quickly. Thank goodness for that. He pushed open the heavy double doors to the lobby, and went straight to the receptionist. If Yagi had given him his address, that meant he’d put him on the list, right? Izuku sure hoped so.
“Hi,” he said, peering over the large marble reception counter. “Um, I’m here to see Yagi Toshinori, please.”
The receptionist looked at him curiously. “Name and ID, please?”
“Um, Midoriya Izuku,” he said, fishing out his wallet. He pulled out his ID and handed it to her. She seemed to check something on the computer, although she seemed to get that look people always did when they saw the little ‘N/A’ in the quirk box of his ID.
“Right, well, you’re on the approved visitors list,” she murmured, sliding it back to him. “Go on ahead. He’s on the fourth floor, apartment 4E.”
“Thanks,” Izuku put his ID away and ducked his head, scurrying off to the elevator. Looks like he’d have to be careful while he was around here, he didn’t want to be thrown out for being a disruptive quirkless kid, out to harass the guests or something. The elevator rose and let him off at the fourth floor, and Izuku was wowed by just how nice the apartments were here. His mom would have to work, like, two more jobs to live here, even with the money his father sent over every month.
At the end of the hall, however, was apartment 4E. There was a buzzer on the door, so he rang it, but there was no answer. He rang again just to be sure, but… nothing. Not a peep. He went to knock next, but to his surprise, it seemed as though the door was open. It hadn’t been completely shut, so the force of his knock pushed it ajar. Jeez, that was how places got robbed! Yagi had to be more… careful…
Izuku’s head went blank, a stream of TV static and horror as the door opened wide enough for Izuku to see the inside of the apartment. Just past the genkan and into the living room, there were clear signs of a struggle. Furniture tipped over, lamps shattered, and things thrown about as if they had been used as makeshift projectiles. Hell, one of the windows of the apartment was flat-out broken, the glass scattered all over the nice carpet Yagi-san had.
Wait, if the glass was on the inside, didn’t that mean the window was broken from the outside? How did somebody break a fourth-floor window from the outside? Izuku couldn’t help but step into the apartment in worry. He had to see if Yagi was still here, if he was okay. As he made his way further inside, he realized that in the living room area, there was something like an explosion of pink dust.
What was that? What dust or powder or… whatever this stuff was, was bright pink? And why would Yagi have it? Wait - didn’t his Auntie Mitsuki have a fire extinguisher that used pink powder, once? They had a small accident when Kacchan was younger and he remembered it using something like that. Had it been from a fire extinguisher?
Just to double check, he looked around for one. There was only one under Yagi-san’s sink, but it looked like it hadn’t been disturbed, the ziptie and metal pin still intact. Well, that meant the powder probably wasn’t from that, at least. So what was it?
Something about all of this… it just wasn’t right. Izuku kept looking, careful not to disturb or touch anything. He couldn’t see Yagi anywhere, and so… he had to assume this was a crime scene. That Yagi was now effectively missing. He made no appearances as All Might that Izuku could find online on the way over, and that voicemail…
Izuku’s heart thundered wildly in his chest. What had he stumbled onto?
There was a strange, sharp whistle, something Izuku had never quite heard before, that cut the air outside the window. He whirled around to see what it was, but there was nothing that he could see. The air outside was quiet now, still and unmoving. He swallowed thickly. What… what was this? What was going on? What happened to Yagi?
Izuku called his mentor again. He didn’t answer, and Izuku’s heartbeat got faster, louder. Breathe, he reminded himself. Yagi taught him how to breathe when his panic overcame him. Think about this step-by-step. He examined what he knew: Yagi was an hour late to training. He left a strange, almost incoherent voicemail for him. When Izuku went to his house, the door was ajar and the place had been trashed. There was a window broken from the outside and pink powder all over the kitchen.
This was clearly an attack of some kind. But if the voicemail was left not long before he got here, and he sounded… well, alive at the very least, then that had to mean he survived it. And if he survived it but wasn’t here, then that meant…
Was Yagi kidnapped?
Who in the world would kidnap Yagi?! Yagi was All Might! But wait - if he was in his thin form, then that meant he probably couldn’t buff up or risk exposing his identity. And if that was the case… who would kidnap Yagi Toshinori, the harmless, quirkless secretary? That was the cover story All Might said he used in his daily life, after all. Well… maybe somebody was looking to go after All Might? Were they trying to use Yagi as a hostage, not knowing he was All Might and still leaving him unable to buff up?
Actually, that was really terrifying. Anybody with guts enough to try and go after All Might himself had to have some kind of a plan. And considering how soon after that voicemail Izuku got there, maybe he had just missed them.
Izuku gulped. Were they still around? What could he do against people equipped to successfully combat All Might? He didn’t have One for All yet. He was just… Izuku. Quirkless Midoriya Izuku who had put on some muscle, sure, but knew nothing to back it up. All he had were his wits and his recklessness. He couldn’t fight whoever had done this.
But wait… if it was possible they were still in the area, what if they came back to clean up after themselves? Izuku paled several shades.
He had to do something. He couldn’t stay here. Even if they didn’t come back, he was at risk of being framed for all of this. It’s something that would happen to him, knowing his luck. He could just picture the receptionist pointing at him and telling an officer she let him up there, and of course some quirkless kid went and destroyed the place.
But if the person or people who did this was coming back, any evidence would be gone. Izuku couldn’t in good conscience just leave without gathering something. Just in case. What stuck out the most… well, it had to be the pink powder. That stuck out like a sore thumb. Could he somehow gather some of it? Izuku perked up as he remembered he had an unopened garbage bag in his backpack and some tape in there too. He quickly slung his bag over his shoulder and got the stuff he would need out.
Right. How to do this… he tore off a corner of the garbage bag to make a smaller makeshift baggie for the powder, tore a blank page out of one of his notebooks, and gently gathered up some of the powder that was on the coffee table with it. He scooped it into the makeshift bag and taped it down so it wouldn’t come out, and then shoved the baggie in his backpack. Just to make it look like the powder hadn’t been disturbed in case the people who did this came back, he gently fanned it back out with the paper to get rid of the harsh line he’d cut into it.
That would have to be enough. He needed to leave.
Izuku took a deep breath, made sure he had everything and that he hadn’t disturbed anything too seriously aside from the powder, and then gently pulled the door as closed as he could with his foot. He didn’t want to leave fingerprints or disturb any prints that might be there. At the very least, he was going to file a missing person’s report for Yagi.
Izuku booked it out of there, heading down the elevator with a sinking dread. He prayed Yagi was alright. He had to be. Izuku… didn’t think he would be the same without him there. He was All Might. He was Yagi Toshinori. He was his mentor. He was the man who Izuku trusted more than anybody in the entire world. And that, that one thing above all else, was the most important to Izuku, because how could he go on knowing that the person who made him feel the safest was gone?
He felt more useless than ever right now, not knowing where his mentor was.
Izuku got off the elevator, quietly thanked the receptionist, and made his way down the street towards the nearest police station. He glanced up at the building over his shoulder, seeing Yagi’s broken window towards the back of the building. It was hard to see, facing an alley towards two other high-rise buildings. It was likely that that was why nobody had noticed it.
Now wasn’t the time to think about that, though. He just had to get to the police station. His grip on his backpack straps was tight, trembling down to his bones. Somebody had kidnapped Yagi. He didn’t exactly have a good track record when it came to reporting stuff to adults, but he had to try. The police station, only a few blocks over, soon came into view. Izuku marched inside with a purpose, went right up to the officer on duty in the front, and spoke as calmly as he could.
“I’d like to file a missing person’s report,” he said, willing his hands to stop shaking. “Please.”
The officer seemed surprised, but nodded seriously and took him back to meet with another officer, a man with a big, shiny detective’s badge. The man he was speaking to seemed kind of intimidating, in the kind of way all adults in positions of authority were. But for the sake of Yagi, he’d stare down whoever he had to.
“Officer Suzuki there tells me you want to file a missing person’s report, young man,” the detective said. He had a bushy mustache that moved when he spoke. “Why don’t you start by telling me your name and who you want to report missing?”
“Midoriya Izuku, sir,” Izuku began. “I’m here on behalf of my… my teacher. Yagi Toshinori. He hasn’t been missing for very long, I don’t think, but his apartment was wide open and a complete wreck when I went to see him, and he wasn’t there either. It looked like somebody had broken in, and one of the windows was broken.”
The detective nodded seriously. “I see. That sounds very scary, young man. I’m glad you came to us right away. Go ahead and give me his address, any information you can tell us about your teacher, and your information so we can contact you. An ID would be good for filing the report.”
Izuku felt a strong breath leave him. “Thank you,” he said, almost desperately relieved the detective was listening. He continued to speak as he pulled out his ID and handed it to the man. “He lives at the Mitsutake Apartments just a couple of blocks over. As for what he looks like, he’s tall… very, very tall. And skinny. He has blond hair, kind of… messy? Hold on, I have a picture here somewhere. It’ll be better than just my description.”
“And you’re… quirkless,” the detective murmured sliding his ID back over to him.
Izuku winced. “Um, yes,” he replied, trying not to linger on it. He was about to show the detective a photo, but as the man got a notification on his computer, he had a strange look pass over his face. He was quiet for several moments before sighing and shaking his head.
“I’m pulling up that Yagi Toshinori is also quirkless. Young man, I hate to say this, but… have you considered the possibility that he’s no longer with us? Quite frankly, quirkless people are, well… they’re committing suicide left and right these days,” the detective said, his face quite serious. “I don’t like to be the bearer of bad news, young man, but it’s simply the way of things.”
“Excuse me?!” Izuku shot straight up out of his chair, his backpack clutched in a bone-white grip. This time, the trembling was for a different reason. He was angry. “He - he’s not dead! I just got a voicemail from him an hour ago! Somebody broke into his apartment! He’s missing!”
The detective’s face was set in a staunch frown. “Now, young man, there’s no need to yell. I just assumed you would know very well what it’s like to be quirkless in today’s day and age. There’s simply not a lot of places for people like you, and it makes life difficult. I’ve seen it plenty of times before. I can file a report, but… I don’t think it’ll do the kind of good you’re hoping for. I think you’d be better off going home and waiting for a while, see if he turns up. Like you said yourself, it hasn’t been very long since you last heard from him.”
“His apartment door was standing wide open with a broken window and his furniture flipped over! Shouldn’t you at least investigate that?!” Izuku couldn’t believe this. He knew he would probably get the cold shoulder, he usually did, but this… this was just negligent! Why was he brushing off a missing person so casually?! Even if he and Yagi-san were quirkless, this was just ridiculous!
“If it makes you feel better, I’ll send an officer by the apartments, but you shouldn’t keep your hopes up,” the detective sighed, glancing down at his watch. Izuku felt his blood boil.
“No,” he choked out. “It’s fine. I’ll go home.”
In truth, he wasn’t planning on going home any time soon. He was going to go to as many precincts as it took to get somebody to take him seriously. Yagi wasn’t dead, and he certainly wouldn’t… kill himself. Yagi was All Might, not that this quirkist bastard of a detective knew that. He wasn’t going to stand for this… not at all. He had his own evidence - he gathered some of that powder, after all.
He would find the man himself if that’s what it came down to.
Tsukauchi Naomasa was a tired man. Very, very tired. But he liked his job regardless of how tired it made him, and he was good at his job, which made for a pleasant life. Even if he saw some things that stayed with him in this line of work, he felt good about the direction he’d gone in.
He had a sister, a work partner he was on good terms with, a job he enjoyed, and a best friend who he never thought he’d have. Not many people could say they were close with the Number One Hero. Although to Naomasa, he was just Toshinori. The man he got lunch with three times a week, celebrated holidays with, who had been his closest friend for the last five years. He really respected Toshinori - the man’s work ethic was downright terrifying at times, and when he didn’t take care of himself properly he gave Naomasa gray hairs, but he was a really good person. It was a shame he didn’t have more people around him - he needed loved ones in his life.
The only other person Naomasa could think of that Toshinori was close to was the Midoriya kid he had yet to meet. Toshinori hadn’t shut up about him for the last six months. It was almost endearing, in a way. Naomasa was happy seeing him so happy.
Anyway, the point was this - Toshinori wasn’t close with many people, but he was close with Naomasa, and Naomasa was his emergency contact. When he went on long or dangerous missions, he always set things up with Naomasa beforehand - what to do if he didn’t come back, backup plans and who to contact, all kinds of things.
So Naomasa wondered why, right now, as he was packing up to head home for the evening, he was looking at a news broadcast from the Hero Public Safety Commission on the precinct TV saying he was going on a long mission overseas, something top secret. They were reassuring the public not to worry, that he’d be back soon and that other heroes would be enough to cover for him while he was away.
But… Naomasa hadn’t heard about any of this. His face set into a terse frown, wondering what the hell was going on. The last dangerous mission he went on, Toshinori made sure to tell him explicitly that he was leaving and to contact the Midoriya kid if anything happened to him. This wasn’t right. Was it? Had this mission been so last-minute he couldn’t contact him, maybe? Naomasa wanted to be sure, though, so he decided to give the man a call.
The phone didn’t even ring. It went straight to voicemail.
Alright, now that was weird. Should he… try Toshinori’s work phone? No, no, Naomasa shook his head. He wouldn’t be that reactive just yet. He could get Toshinori in serious trouble or even put him in danger if he called his work phone and it turned out he actually was in the middle of a mission right now. No, the safest option would be to go to the man’s apartment. He lived in Musutafu these days; the drive over there wouldn’t be too bad and he could just relax once he found out what this was about. Hopefully, he was home right now and this broadcast was pre-recorded or something.
So Naomasa finished gathering his things, put on his coat and hat, said goodbye to Sansa, and took his leave. His car was quiet, and he had a nervous feeling creeping down his spine. He wasn’t jealously upset that Toshinori didn’t tell him or anything, he was just… nervous. He couldn’t even place why, but this really bothered him.
As the road noise outside the car drowned out everything else, he hoped Toshinori was alright. He’d find out soon enough, he supposed.
It was not long after that he reached Toshinori’s building, and Naomasa parked in the parking lot and headed inside with a quick stride. He was on a mission right now. The walk from the lot to his apartment wasn’t very long, but it felt like it was taking forever, what with his nerves. The guard at the front door of the apartment complex recognized him, however, and stopped him gently.
“Hey, Tsukauchi-san. You, uh… you’re here to visit Yagi-san, right?” he murmured, his expression tense. Naomasa nodded, his brows furrowed. “Well, I’m sorry, but he’s not… he’s not here right now, and you won’t be able to go up there. There was a break-in or something like that, apparently. Officers are checking out the place right now.”
Naomasa paled several shades. There was a break-in? At Yagi’s apartment? Naomasa definitely should’ve known about this. Toshinori always called him first when it came to crimes being committed against his civilian persona, because it was sometimes hard to get officers to take him seriously. “I’m a detective,” he replied, pulling his coat aside to reveal his badge. “I can help. Toshinori’s my friend.”
The guard actually seemed somewhat relieved. “Oh, thank goodness. I’m really worried about Yagi-san, actually. He’s really nice, one of the nicest tenants in the building, even. I hope he’s alright. Go on up then, Tsukauchi-san. Good luck.”
Naomasa had all the invitation he needed to head up there. He brushed right past the receptionist, focused on one thing and one thing only: figuring out what the hell was going on. The elevator ride up to the fourth floor was even more tense than the car ride. When he got off, he went straight to the end of the hall… and as the guard outside said, there were officers examining the apartment. They seemed to be accompanying a crime scene unit of some kind, but the crime scene people were all unmarked and none of them had visible precinct distinction on their uniforms, so he had no idea which one they were from. That was definitely not regulation.
“Excuse me, sir, but this is an active crime scene. We’re going to need you to step back,” a fellow detective murmured, giving him a thorough look-over when he got close. The man had a thick, bushy mustache and a stern sort of countenance, with and expression that said he’d rather be anywhere else. Naomasa flashed his badge again, to which the detective looked quite confused.
“What in the world is a Tokyo detective doing down here in Musutafu?” he asked, crossing his arms over his chest.
“I’m close friends with the man who lives here,” Naomasa gestured to the apartment. “Yagi Toshinori. I’d like to know what exactly is going on.”
“Oh, great, another one,” the man with the mustache muttered. “You quirkless too or something?”
“What does that have to do with anything?” Naomasa asked, his mouth almost agape at the audacity of the detective in front of him right now. “My friend’s apartment has police in it. I’m his emergency contact. I have the right to know what’s going on. And for the record, no, I’m not. I have a quirk, not that it matters.”
“Jeez, sorry,” the detective held up his hands as if in defense. “You’re just not the first person to come asking after this guy, that’s all. I tried telling the last kid he was…” the detective trailed off when one of the men in the crime scene unit shot him a withering glare. He looked nervous for just a moment, then collected himself, sighed, and shook his head. “Look, this isn’t your jurisdiction. If you’re his emergency contact, we’ll call you when we know something. I’m sorry, but you should go home.”
“You haven’t even told me what happened!” Naomasa took a step forward, and the detective’s hand strayed to his hip for just a moment, and Naomasa’s eyes widened. Was he seriously considering pulling his weapon on another officer? What the hell?
“There was a missing person’s report filed. That’s all you need to know right now,” he said firmly, placing a heavy hand on Naomasa’s arm and giving him a look that said he shouldn’t push the issue any further. “We’re investigating. Go home, detective.”
“Who filed the report?” Naomasa asked, his eyes intense. He wasn’t letting this go so easily. “There’s only one other person I can think of that actively checks in on him, and I want to know if it was him. If not, he deserves to know Yagi’s missing. Can you at least tell me that much?”
The detective got the sense that he wasn’t going to get Naomasa out of his hair without something to go on, clearly, so he nodded. “Fine. If you’ll leave after this, I’ll tell you.”
The man crime scene unit gave him another hard look, but the detective shot him one right back. What was that even about? Not the time, Naomasa thought - right now, he had a sneaking suspicion who reported it based on the way they said ‘kid’ earlier. If it was Midoriya, Naomasa was sure he could talk to the boy and find out more specifics. Toshinori had left him the kid’s number for emergencies.
“Fine,” Naomasa agreed. “Tell me who it was, and I’ll leave.”
“Some quirkless kid named… Midoriya, I think? Real angry kid. He should see a therapist,” the detective muttered. “That help you at all? Will you leave us to our investigation now?”
“Yes. That’s all I needed,” Tsukauchi nodded stiffly. “I’ll leave.”
And leave he did. The second he was out of the building, Naomasa got right back in his car and sat there, stewing angrily for a moment. That wasn’t just rude, that was straight up fishy. Nothing about that seemed like proper procedure at all - even if the detective was quirkist, there was a level of professionalism required to handle crimes no matter how one felt about them. That kind of behavior could cost him his job. Naomasa could sit here, right now, and call his precinct to report his behavior and Internal Affairs would be breathing down his neck for the next six months combing through his work history.
And yet he’d acted like that anyway. And that crime scene unit! What in the hell was up with them? The detective had basically kowtowed to them with one look. That wasn’t normal at all. All of Naomasa’s instincts were screaming that those people were up to no good, but he was just one man. If he tried to push the matter with them all on his own, he could just as easily end up in a world of hurt, not knowing what happened to Toshinori.
So he left. He’d figure things out on his own, then. He was a damn good detective, and his work was needed now more than ever. So first things first: finding Midoriya.
Naomasa pulled up the number Toshinori had given him just last month. In case something happens to me, please, make sure my boy is safe, he’d said. ‘My boy.’ He said it with such a warm sort of fondness, like the kid really was his son. Naomasa would keep that promise. He dialed the number, hoping Midoriya picked up. It rang once, twice, three times -
“Hello?”
The voice on the other end was hoarse, like he’d been crying. Naomasa was just happy to have gotten an answer. “Is this Midoriya Izuku?”
“… Yes. Who is this?”
“Detective Tsukauchi Naomasa. I’m with the Roppongi Police Department. I don’t know if he ever told you about me, but I’m a close friend of Yagi Toshinori’s. I got your number from him,” he said, and there was a choked off sort of noise on the other end of the phone. “I heard you filed a missing person’s report on him, and I’d like to help. I get the feeling the officers you spoke to before weren’t very forthcoming or helpful.”
“Yes!” the boy on the other end let out a gasp. He must’ve been so upset, not getting any help with this. “Please! Thank goodness! Where - Where are you, Tsukauchi-san? Can I - Can I meet you somewhere? What should I…”
“Slow down, kid, it’s okay,” Naomasa said gently. “How about you give me your address, and I can meet you there. I figure I should speak to you with a parent present. Would your mother or father be home to speak with me as well?”
“Yes, yes, of course! My mom’s home right now! I’ll message you my address and go straight there,” he said, sounding like there was a lot of things going on at once on the other end of the line. There was some grumbling and even a shout from the other end of the line that definitely didn’t come from the kid. Was he still out there, trying unsuccessfully to get help? “Thank you so, so much Tsukauchi-san!”
“Of course, kid, it’s no problem. It’s my job to help people, you know?” he murmured, starting his car. He didn’t think he’d be able to sleep right until he knew where Toshinori was anyway. “I’m gonna let you go. But you have my number now - if you need help or something comes up, please feel free to call me, alright?”
“I will, I promise!”
The Midoriya family’s apartment wasn’t very far from Toshinori’s, as a matter of fact. Naomasa got there in short order, making sure he went to the right door after double-checking the text the kid had sent him. Second floor, apartment 223.
This apartment complex was much more humble. A normal place he’d expect a family to live in, relatively unassuming and out of the way. Toshinori said Midoriya often seemed to be a pretty normal person, aside from his crazy heroic streak. Which was apparently nice, according to him - their personalities got along really well.
Naomasa made his way up, knocked on the door, and was immediately greeted by the door flying open to reveal a young teen with curly, green hair and a face dotted with freckles. He had a startlingly intense look on his face even though it was clear he’d been crying, and Naomasa was hit with only one thought the second they met eyes: Toshinori lied… this kid is not gonna be normal. Only Toshinori could call a kid who could make that expression ‘normal.’
“You’re Detective Tsukauchi-san, right?” he asked. Naomasa nodded, showing the kid his badge. He seemed relieved, and welcomed him inside. A woman who Naomasa assumed was his mother was sitting nervously on the couch with a tray of tea for them both. “Thank you so much for coming, really. I think I went to all three Musutafu precincts and none of them would listen…”
“All three?” Naomasa frowned. “That’s even worse than I thought. I’m glad I called you, then.”
“I’m Midoriya Inko. Please, just call me Inko so you’re not mixing up the two Midoriyas. My baby just wanted to report his trainer missing,” the woman sniffled. “I can only imagine how scared you were, honey. I know how much you care about him. He and his trainer get along really well, actually, Izuku here talks about him all the time. And you’re his friend, Detective?”
Naomasa nodded and extended a hand to shake, which she did. “I’m Detective Tsukauchi Naomasa, but feel free to just call me Tsukauchi, no title needed. Yes, I’ve been friends with Yagi for about five years now. I met him through work. Since both my precinct and Might Tower are in Roppongi, I usually get routed to be the police assistant on All Might’s cases. And since Yagi is All Might’s secretary, well, we end up running into each other a lot.”
“Oh! My goodness, honey! You never told me your trainer was All Might’s secretary!” Midoriya’s mother gasped. “No wonder you’re so worried sick about him! I’m sure All Might doesn’t even know about him being missing, being on that mission that they mentioned on TV earlier…”
Midoriya himself seemed to frown deeply at the mention of it. Was the broadcast nor sitting right with him, either? Would Toshinori have told him if he was going somewhere, too? But more importantly…
“Midoriya, let me just say that I know who Yagi is, and I know who you are to him,” he said gently. Midoriya’s eyes went wide with surprise.“I know about what he plans to give you and everything. So if there’s something regarding that you’d like to talk about, you don’t have to walk on eggshells for it. I don’t know how well your mother knows Yagi herself, but the offer is open.”
“I’ve never met the man in person,” Inko shook her head. “I’m usually either working, or he’s busy, and we’ve just never had the time. But I’ve spoken to him over the phone, and I know my baby trusts him. Izuku’s smart enough to know who is and isn’t safe, so I trust Izuku’s judgment in return. He’d tell me if something was wrong. Besides… he speaks so fondly of the man. It’s clear he’s been a good influence on his life.”
“I see,” Naomasa nodded. That was nice, but it would make this talk difficult. He’d have to ask the boy some questions away from his mother for the sake of Toshinori’s identity. Still, he was capable of dancing around delicate subjects. He pulled out a notepad and pencil from his jacket, ready to take Midoriya’s statement. “Well, that’s alright. As long as he has a parent present, I think it’ll be fine. So, why don’t you walk me through what happened?”
“Okay, I can do that,” Midoriya nodded. “So, Yagi-san and I usually meet up before and after school on Dagobah Beach. It’s where I’m doing my training. He usually shows up a few minutes after I do, but today, he was an hour late. If he’s that late or he can’t show up, he usually calls or texts. I thought it was weird, so I went to call him myself, but it turns out he had just left me a voicemail. The voicemail was… weird, though. I’ll play it for you.”
Midoriya took out his cell phone and put it on the table, dialing his voicemail and putting it on speaker. It played the message, and Naomasa immediately recognized Toshinori’s voice.
“Hello?… … … Hello? Am I… where am I? I’m not quite sure, I… who is this? ... … I don’t know if… am I… Am I using this right? I don’t… what’s going on? Who…”
The voicemail was jumbled and hard to understand, and Toshinori sounded downright out of it. He’d only heard the man like that once before, when he came back from a difficult mission and had to take some strong pain meds to deal with the pain he was in afterwards. What in the world could’ve made him sound like this, not knowing where he was or what was going on?
“That was worrying, you know?” Midoriya murmured. “I got concerned, so I went to visit him… he gave me his address in case of an emergency. And when I got there…”
Naomasa could imagine how frightening it must’ve been for him. “It’s alright, take your time.”
“Um, when I got there, I knocked on the door. It was open. The furniture was tossed around, there was a broken window in the living room facing the alley, and there was this… powder all over the living room,” Midoriya explained. “It was bright pink. Really weird. And another thing, the glass from the window was on the inside. That means the window broke from the outside, right? How does somebody break a window from the outside of the fourth floor? It was just a bunch of weird things all together.”
Naomasa wrote all of this down with a serious expression. The kid certainly had an eye for detail. That was good, though - very useful. “Was there anything else you noticed? Anything that stuck out to you in any way?”
Midoriya’s face scrunched up in thought. “I don’t… think so? Nothing else really seemed super important, at least. But I could tell something bad happened, so I went straight to the police after I saw that, and I tried to file a police report.”
False.
Naomasa’s quirk pinged in his head. False. The kid had just lied to him. Why? “Midoriya, I’m sorry, I should’ve told you - but my quirk, it’s called Lie Detector. I’m able to tell whether what somebody says is the truth or a lie. And you just lied about going straight to the police. For the sake of this investigation, I need you to be totally honest with me. What did you do, exactly?”
“That’s such a cool quirk!” Midoriya’s eyes were wide with fascination. “No wonder you’re a detective! It must make work so smooth for you!”
“Izuku,” his mother murmured, a hand on her son’s arm. “You didn’t answer his question. What weren’t you telling the truth about?”
“Oh… um…” Midoriya ducked his head a bit out of embarrassment, it seemed. “I may have… taken something… from the crime scene…”
Oh, god. Naomasa could feel his blood pressure rising already. Just what kind of a successor did Toshinori find himself, anyway? No, no, Naomasa took a deep breath. He needed the full story first. “Thank you for being honest. What, ah, what exactly did you take, Midoriya?”
“Some of that pink powder,” he mumbled, picking at the skin around his nails. “I just thought, y’know, Yagi-san is All Might’s secretary. If it’s somebody going after All Might through his friends, then they must have a plan or be crazy strong. And if that’s the case, then they might’ve come back to clean up their mess. I got there right after he called, so I might’ve just missed them. And I thought… if they come back, all the evidence would be gone! So I… took some of that suspicious powder. For evidence.”
Toshinori really picked the kid that would send Naomasa to an early grave. He was too smart for his own good. Naomasa sighed, long and exhausted. “I… alright. In all honesty, it’s probably good that you did. There were officers at his apartment earlier that were apparently investigating a missing person’s report, and they seemed less than agreeable. It’s highly unlikely I’ll get anything from them, so I can use your sample in my investigation. If you agree to not do something like that again, I’ll let it go this once.”
“I promise,” Midoriya nodded quickly. “I’m sorry, Tsukauchi-san. I knew I shouldn’t have, I was just panicked and worried.”
“Like I said, it’s okay. It worked out for the best. I just don’t want you getting in trouble in the future, alright? Go ahead and bring me the powder you collected,” Naomasa said, and the boy scurried off to another room to grab it. Once he came back, Naomasa had a small, taped-down black plastic bag of the powder Midoriya had observed at the scene.
Now he just had to… think for a moment. Think very hard. This definitely indicated a kidnapping; perhaps that broadcast from the HPSC was them covering their ass with a pre-recorded video when they realized they couldn’t get in touch with All Might all of a sudden. It would make sense, Naomasa thought. They would want to keep very good tabs on their number one.
As for how it might’ve happened, the pink powder could’ve been from a quirk, or it might not have been, he wouldn’t know until he got it tested. But for now, he would assume it was a quirk-based powder. But that didn’t explain the window broken from the outside. Somebody would’ve had to have the ability to either jump, float, fly, or climb up to the fourth floor while being able to shatter a thick window like that. Naomasa had seen his apartment, he knew which one Midoriya was talking about. That could’ve indicated two people, but multiple people attacking one apartment surely would’ve alerted one of Toshinori’s neighbors. Unless the people or person attacking was capable of nullifying sound or making their presence seem perfectly normal? But then that would mean there were more quirks at play, and that still left the matter of the pink powder…
The only conclusion Naomasa could draw from this was that somehow, multiple quirks had been used in the process of kidnapping Toshinori. And like Midoriya said, anybody going after All Might, whether they knew his identity directly or were trying to get him through his friends, had to have a plan, or be strong enough to back up such an insane choice.
Of the possible suspects that would have a motive and fit that profile, well…
Naomasa’s mind went straight to All for One.
All for One, Naomasa had learned, was a SS-tier villain, the only person to ever exist with that label. He was the man who’d given Toshinori his scar, who had killed Toshinori’s mentor, who had plagued the users of One for All for over a hundred years. And yes, Naomasa knew that Toshinori had fought him; hell, he had reportedly caved in the man’s head. That would surely kill any normal person.
But there was one thing that made Naomasa very, very nervous: they never recovered All for One’s body. In the haste to get Toshinori to a hospital, the body of All for One had been left behind, and so his death was never one hundred percent confirmed. Naomasa had never seen the villain before as he met Toshinori after his injury, but from all of Toshinori’s accounts of him, he had his doubts as to whether the villain was truly dead. And though he never openly admitted it, Toshinori did too.
And if this, Toshinori going missing with no warning, was All for One’s doing? Midoriya and his mother were in more danger than they could ever imagine.
“Tsukauchi-san?” Midoriya’s voice brought him out of his thoughts, and Naomasa realized he was clutching his notebook so hard he’d nearly crumpled it in his grip. “Is… is something wrong? I mean… other than the obvious…”
“I have an idea of somebody who might’ve done this,” he said, his voice soft. “And if I’m right, you and your mother are in a lot of danger. I don’t know all the details about him, but I know enough to know that this person has the means and motive to pull this off and move on to worse things. For now, I want to know if it’s alright if I stay with you two for your safety. I know somebody I can get to watch you full-time while I investigate, but for now, somebody needs to keep an eye on you.”
Midoriya went pale. “Is… is it… really that serious? Is Yagi-san… will he be okay?”
“I don’t know… I’m sorry,” Naomasa murmured. “If who I’m thinking of is really behind this, then there’s really no certainties other than the fact that you are in danger. There’s no doubt in my mind about that much. He would do anything to get to All Might, no matter how cruel.”
Inko put a hand over her mouth in shock. “Then… then please, detective, please watch over my baby. Until this situation gets resolved, I’m asking for your help as well.”
“I promise I’ll do whatever I can,” Naomasa nodded seriously. “Toshinori made me promise to watch out for Midoriya, no matter what, and I always keep my promises. I’ll contact the person who can watch you more long-term when I’m able to. For now, please just stay inside. I’m going to go and get a few things that’ll be necessary for my investigation.”
“I want to help,” Midoriya said suddenly, standing out of his seat with that same intense look he’d had at the door. His expression was one of grim determination, and Naomasa got the feeling that he was going to be… what did Eraserhead call his students once? Right. A problem child.
“That’s going to be a no, young man,” Naomasa shook his head. “It’s too dangerous. Like I said, you need to stay inside until I get somebody more than just me to watch over you.”
“He’s right, Izuku,” Inko insisted, a pleading look in her eyes. “It’s dangerous. Listen to him. You already helped a lot, so just stay here with me. Detective Tsukauchi will be back soon. You will, won’t you? I don’t like the thought of my son being in danger at all…”
“I will,” Naomasa agreed. He’d keep his promises. He would keep Midoriya safe, and he’d do everything in his power to find Toshinori and get him back safe and sound. “I’ll come back as soon as possible.”
Naomasa just prayed that All for One, if he was the one behind this, hadn’t already done something irreversible.