Chapter Text
It took a little bribery to get Shinsou to agree to go to the mall, but paying for his coffee for the next two weeks was a small price to pay in Izumi’s opinion. The six of them spent hours going from store to store, Uraraka and Izumi leading the charge, dragging four reluctant boys along with them as they got everything they could feasibly need for the summer training camp. Izumi was still riding the high of having a great day at the mall with her friends and classmates as they made their way home.
“That’s Touya’s motorcycle.” Shouto’s comment pulled Izumi from her musings. Turning, she saw that her boyfriend was right. Touya-Nii’s motorcycle was in its normal spot in the parking lot of her apartment.
“I thought he was going to stay at your place,” Izumi murmured.
“Me too.”
Kirishima picked up on their confusion and asked, “Maybe he changed his mind.”
“He knew you lot were coming over.” Kacchan frowned, clenching his fists around the bags in his hands. “He wouldn’t be here if he could help it.”
The six of them paused in the lot, staring at the motorcycle as worry crept up Izumi’s spine. Was something wrong? She pulled out her phone, double-checking that she didn’t have any missed calls or texts, followed closely by Shouto and Kacchan.
“I don’t have any notifications. You?”
“Nothing,” they agreed.
She put her phone away as she focused on her string with Touya-Nii, brushing lightly over the surface emotions on his end. He was definitely in the apartment, but his emotions were a bit of a jumble. Worry, agitation, impatience, and a hint of regret, but they weren’t screaming at her like something was wrong.
“Should we go?” Shinsou asked.
Reluctantly, Izumi nodded. “I’m not sure what’s going on; it doesn’t seem urgent, but something’s up.”
“I hope everything’s okay.” Uraraka reached for Kacchan, holding his wrist lightly. “You’ll text us if you need anything?”
Kacchan pulled her into a one-armed hug, made a little awkward by the bags in his hands, and pressed a kiss into her hair. “Relax, Cheeks. We’ll handle whatever this is, and then I’m kicking his ass for cutting our day short.”
Shinsou rolled his eyes at them before setting his bags down and pulling Izumi into a hug. “Seriously, call or text if you need anything.”
“I will,” she promised. When Shinsou let her go, Izumi gave Uraraka and Kirishima brief hugs as well. “Sorry about the change in plans.”
“Don’t sweat it,” Kirishima smiled. “Stuff happens.”
Izumi, Shouto, and Kacchan watched their friends as they made their way back the way they’d come, heading for the train station until they turned the corner out of sight. When it was just the three of them again, the boys turned to Izumi, defaulting to her lead. She swallowed her anxiety and quickly made her way up to the apartment.
“Nii-San?” Izumi called out from the genkan.
“Living room.” Came the response. “Send your Herolings home, Izumi.”
They traded their shoes for slippers, and Kacchan took all their bags, beelining for Izumi’s room to drop them off so she and Shouto could go to the living room and confront whatever had brought Touya-Nii to the apartment.
“We already did when we saw your motorcycle,” Izumi said.
Touya-Nii was in his preferred chair, glaring at his laptop. Izumi’s mom was in the kitchen, and while she seemed anxious, she wasn’t hurt or upset. Touya-Nii was similarly unharmed.
Shouto made the same assessment of the apartment’s other occupants as Izumi; when he couldn’t see a reason for his brother’s presence, he asked, “Is something wrong with Mom or–”
“No,” Touya-Nii sighed. “They’re all fine, kid. Not why I’m here.”
“Why are you here?” Kacchan demanded, coming back from Izumi’s room.
Touya-Nii sent an icy-sharp glare at Kacchan in warning. He was usually fairly tolerant of Kacchan’s attitude, giving just as good as he got, but when he was in a bad mood, Kacchan’s brashness was less palatable.
“Found something you should see,” Touya-Nii said to Izumi.
She took the laptop when he handed it to her and sat down at the table in front of him. She could feel Shouto at her back, looking at the screen over her shoulder as well. Touya-Nii had the browser open to a forum Izumi didn’t recognize. Since she doubted he’d be worried or upset if he were just showing her a new site, she ignored the unfamiliar format and read the post he had open.
Lust For Glory
65128 views 390 replies
Lust For Glory posted by mournfuldust
<< on: 21XX年6月12日>>
Villains are a reflection of our society. The problems inherent in the system breed malcontent. We need only look at people like Stain to see that this is true. If it weren't for the corrupt pillars of so-called nobility we worship like sheep, we would have a much better world. The truth is obvious to anyone who bothers to look! Numbers don't lie. Injuries. Property damage. Civilian casualties. And that's just what they do in public. We all remember Endeavor. We give heroes a license to inflict violence on whoever they deem fit; we shouldn't be surprised when innocents are hurt as a result. Heroes are no better than government-sanctioned bullies, in it for the fame and the money and the power, hired for their ability and desire for violence. A system that values only the mettle of the arm rather than the strength of the heart does not create heroes. Only conflict. The only people they serve are themselves. Get rid of them.
The reply threads were open below the main post, but Izumi stopped reading. A foreboding chill climbed up her spine, settling into screaming alarm in her brain. Her breath came faster, shorter, her hands shook, and she looked away from the screen, pushing the laptop away. Shouto pulled it from her lap, still reading with a pinched look on his face. Izumi turned to Touya, begging him to answer the questions roaring in her head without having to ask.
"I found a reference to that post on an anti-hero forum," He confessed.
"What the fuck were you reading anti-hero shit for?" Kacchan barked.
Touya shot him another withering glare, but otherwise ignored him. They all knew how Touya-Nii felt about heroes. It wasn't a huge surprise that he might read anti-hero rhetoric, but it still hurt a part of Izumi to hear. Her Nii-San knew it too, which accounted for the regret she'd caught on his string. He grabbed her hands, bowing over them briefly in apology before looking her in the eye with a deadly serious expression. "The post I originally found only paraphrased, but it still sounded familiar, so I followed the link to that post. I recognized it, just like you did. Those are your words, aren't they."
Kacchan yanked the laptop from Shouto's hands and began to read while Shouto sat behind her and wrapped his arms around her, pulling her against him. Neither of them had read the essay she'd slipped under Nedzu's door after the entrance exam, but they knew about it and had listened to her often enough that they could no doubt pick up on which parts of the post used her words. Touya-Nii had read it—demanded to read it—after Nedzu and Aizawa-Sensei had left.
Someone had used her words directly. This went beyond someone who had similar thoughts; the post had taken the core of her essay and twisted it to their own anti-hero purposes.
Faintly, she nodded, confirming Touya-Nii's assertion.
He squeezed her hands. "Who else besides your principal and homeroom teacher saw that essay?"
Izumi had kept it from everyone before using it as her backup plan; she'd even locked and hidden the folder on her computer that had the document and all her sources, so no one would see it before she was ready to give it to the principal. She'd opened the folder to show Touya-Nii when he asked, but hadn't bothered to remove the privacy settings afterward. The only hard copy she was aware of was the one she'd given to Nedzu.
"Just you."
Touya-Nii sighed and let her hands go as he stood. "Then someone they showed it to either wrote that or gave it to whoever did."
"They wouldn't-"
"Evidence says otherwise!" Touya-Nii snapped, gesturing angrily at the laptop.
He was wrong. He had to be wrong. She trusted Aizawa-Sensei and Nedzu-Sensei. They wouldn't use her, use her essay like that. It was getting harder to breathe. She pushed her way to her feet, and Shouto let her stand without resistance. She made her way to the kitchen, into her mom's waiting arms, and breathed deeply, taking in the comforting scent of her mom as she ran a hand up and down Izumi's back, murmuring soothing words gently into her hair.
They all waited until she was back from the edge of her panic attack. She wiped her eyes, buried her face in her mom's neck one more time, inhaling to steady herself, before she pulled away and faced the others.
"What do you need, Izumi?" Shouto's dual-colored eyes were filled with concern, and the tension in his frame spoke of his desire to help.
There was nothing he could do, though; he had no more answers than she did.
"I need to call Aizawa-Sensei."