Whispers

Weak and Vulnerable

Students began walking into the school and Izuku could only hopelessly look around for someone to ask. Izuku stopped one guy, "Excuse me. Do you know anything about Mikumo Ushia? or Sakura Akizuki?"

The guy furrows his eyebrows and shakes his head before walking away. Izuku stops a few others and most of them just say no or get annoyed and just walk away. Izuku sighs in defeat and sits by the wall, "This was pointless after all..." He puts his face in his hands and sits there for a while. He flinches as someone taps him on the shoulder. He looks up and meets eyes with a girl with droopy brown eyes and long black hair, "I heard you were asking about Sakura..." She said quietly. Izuku stands up quickly, "Y-yes! I was! Can you tell me anything about what happened here?"

She looked around nervously, "Well, y-yes, but not here. People don't like to mention that incident. It's best we take this somewhere else..."

They go to an empty park bench and sit down, "What do you want to know?"

"What can you tell me about Sakura Akizuki? Specifically, anything before she died." Izuku asked eagerly. The girl hesitantly answered, "Sakura and I were really close. She was a sweet girl but after she started getting closer to this student...Mikumo... she started acting differently."

Izuku listened to her words. Especially after the mention of Mikumo,

"She started getting closer to him but as time went by, she started to hang out with only him. She started to get sick soon after. She wouldn't show up to school for days on end and no one knows what was happening. When she started coming back, she pulled me aside one day and started crying. She...She told me she was scared. I can't forget her face when she grabbed me. She looked terrified and she kept saying 'He was watching her'. I knew was Mikumo the moments she pulled me aside. He had done something to her. I confronted her the next day while she was with Mikumo and...and she..." She hesitated and put a hand to her head, "She slammed my head into the edge of the table. I was hospitalized after that so I can't tell you anything after that. All I know is when I got back...she was found dead behind the school."

Izuku took a moment to process the information, "I'm so sorry..."

"It's fine...It's been a year. By the way...Who are you? Why do you want to know so much about her? Or Mikumo for that matter?" She narrowed her eyes at him, "O-oh...My name's Midoriya...I just..." Izuku swallowed, "What can you tell me about Mikumo Ushia? Could you at least describe to me what he looked like? Or his quirk?" Izuku evaded her question.

She kept her eyes narrowed, "Mikumo was a sociopath. He digs up information about other people and used that to his advantage. That's what he did with Sakura as well. He was fairly tall, with messy black hair and dark scarlet coloured eyes. His quirk was called Mindbreaker...I bet he somehow used his quirk to change Sakura. He can use his quirk to mess with a person's brain."

Izuku looked at the ground and begun to shake. With no doubt, he knew that was Mikumo, "You think he killed her?"

"I know he killed her."

Izuku stayed silent. Mikumo most likely killed those other two people and he wouldn't be afraid to kill him too. Izuku only had one thought running through his head.

I don't want to die

I don't want to die!

"Why are you asking these questions? As someone looking for the whereabouts of Mikumo I want to know what you know." She said forcefully, "I-..." Izuku doesn't want to say anything. If Mikumo finds out he told someone. He'll kill him...He'll kill him for sure. The fact that Mikumo could probably kill him without even being physically present scares him, "I'm scared..." He whispers. Izuku doesn't turn his head to look at her. She sat there with a shocked expression on her face, then it turned to a horrified look of understanding, "You- You've seen him. Do you know where he is?!" She grabbed him abruptly, "N-no I don't! He never comes to me in person, He just talks to me through my head."

She lets go of him with a disappointed expression and turns away but looks back at him with wide eyes, "Has anything happened to you?"

"You mentioned Akizuki got sick...Was she hearing whispers in her head? Or has she thrown up blood or passed out multiple times?" Izuku muttered. The girl nodded, "Some stuff like that happened...So, do you know anything else about all...this?"

"I know about two other murders of teenagers that looked like Akizuki's death...Maybe Mikumo did it too..."

"I heard about those... I know that the guy, Akane Yamazaki told his teacher about what was happening to him. I know because he was Sakura's older brother's friend from middle school. Yamazaki told his teacher but after the murder, the teacher had no recollection about anything."

Izuku swallowed roughly. That means it might be impossible for him to get help, "O-oh..."

The girl sighed and looked at him, "My name's Chiharu Suzuki, and I'll do anything I can to help you. I don't want anyone else to die because of Mikumo. I'll do what I can and you can ask me anything." She vowed.

Izuku stared at her, "T-thank you."

Chiharu looked at him with a concerned look and hugged him, "I'm sorry..."

"H-huh?"

"It's been a year. If I had found him and gotten rid of him already, this never would have happened."

"It's not your fault."

Chiharu let go and gave him her phone, "Let's exchange numbers. If anything happens, you tell me."

He nods and gives her his phone, "Remember. Mikumo's quirk is Mindbreaker. He can make you hear things, see things, say things and he can mess with you as much as he wants. If anyone says something out of line or if you do. Try to remember it's not real."

Once he gets his phone back, he suddenly feels very afraid again. Like someone's watching him. He whips around and looks at the empty park around them. Izuku's breath quickens and his chest feels tight. It's worse than last night. Outside in the open makes him feel more unsafe than he did on UA grounds, "Hey, are you okay?"

"N-no... There's something wrong." Izuku shivers, "Go home. Make sure you're safe. Mikumo's stronger than you think, use anything you can to protect yourself from him like your quirk."

Your quirk

"My quirk?" Izuku froze. His quirk?

He gave up One for All because Mikumo promised him his own quirk.

"He digs up information about other people and used that to his advantage"

"I... I don't have a quirk." Izuku faltered,

"Are you serious, Mikumo? Picking the weak because they have no way of defending themselves."

Weak? He wasn't weak. Not until he gave up his quirk because he listened to Mikumo. No...He is weak. He let Mikumo take advantage of his weakness and now look where that's got him. Without another word, Izuku got up and left. As he was leaving, he felt afraid and scared out of his mind. Someone was watching him so he ran faster. An enemy he couldn't see or touch scared him because he couldn't do anything about it. When he reached campus he went immediately went to the dormitory. Everything he had learned so far finally caught up to him and Izuku collapsed in front of the building and begun sobbing. Why was he so weak? If he wasn't weak than Mikumo wouldn't have thought of him vulnerable enough to make a victim out of. He was so weak he couldn't do anything but cry. He was still the worthless quirkless nobody he always was. Sure he was physically stronger but what does that matter if you're so easily broken emotionally or mentally? He didn't want to die, but it didn't seem like there was anything he could do about it. He heard someone running to him from behind. He tried to stop crying but turns out it wasn't that easy, "Midoriya??"

Izuku looked up at his friend,  "Todoroki?" His friend's face was etched with worry, "What happened?"

"I don't want to die!" Izuku sobbed and violently rubbed away his tears. Todoroki kneeled beside his friend and did his best to comfort him, "You're not going to die, Midoriya. We won't let that happen. It'll be okay..."

So, Izuku cried onto his shoulder because what else could he do? He was so weak after all...