Detective Midoriya

Chapter 3

Kimiko gradually calmed down, flashes of her personality shining out from under her fear and confusion. She listened to the officers and for the most part she did as they asked, but she absolutely refused to move very far from Izuku, who was still dazed, but happy nonetheless. 

She was a cute child underneath the dirt, with  wide brown eyes that still held too many tears. From what the officers could ascertain, she wasn't very injured, only a handful of scrapes and bruises. Izuku felt an odd protectiveness towards her, but he supposed it made sense that the feeling was foreign- he'd never been able to protect people other than replacing them as a target before. So when a grubby hand anchored itself in Izuku's, he couldn't help but melt a little inside. 

Apparently Kimiko loved stories, and so at his prompting she started telling him a rambling tale that could vaguely be recognized as Cinderella. She was in the middle of telling Izuku the details on Cinderella's carriage when the door swung open. 

"Where is she? Where's Kimiko?" a frantic voice rang out. 

Eyes wide, Kimiko snapped to attention. "Momma?"

A small smile settled on Izuku's lips as he carefully set the child on the ground. He observed as the two rushed towards each other, meeting in the middle of the station in a flurry of hugs and tears, each almost disbelieving that the other was there. 

All present police personnel watched, smiling witnesses to the reunion. Many of the officers nodded to Izuku, acknowledging what he had done. Despite the pounding in his head, Izuku couldn't help but grin widely, tears streaming down his face. 

Matching tears in her cheeks, Kimiko's mother clutched her daughter with desperation. "Where was she? How did you find my baby?" 

Detective Tsukauchi smiled. "You have that boy over there to thank. His name is Midoriya Izuku, and he's the one that found and saved Kimiko."

A gasp came from the doorway. "My Izuku did what?"

It might've all been in his head, but Izuku would have sworn that all of his pain dulled slightly when his mother walked in. Inko immediately rushed to her son, worry etched on every line of her face. "How are you feeling, Izuku? Do you need anything?"

The battered boy shoved himself to his feet, throwing his arms around his mother. "Mom, I can still help people. I want to be a detective."

Inko was clearly surprised, but she merely patted her son's back. "You'll be an amazing detective." 

Kimiko's mother walked over to the Midoriyas, Kimiko still tight in her grasp. "I'm so sorry you got hurt, but thank you for protecting my baby. I can never... I just..." The woman promptly burst into tears, losing any semblance of composure. "The police near my house told me to prepare to have her brought back in a body bag. You saved me from planning my daughter's funeral alone." 

Unable to help herself, Inko gently embraced the other mother. "It's okay now, your daughter is safe now. I don't know how you've been able to function, I can only imagine how I would feel if my Izuku had been taken." 

Kimiko had taken the opportunity to latch once more onto Izuku's leg, giggling when he ruffled her hair. He turned his attention to her mother once his own mom finally released the emotional woman. 

"I'm Tanaka Amaya," Kimiko's mother said with a wobbly smile. "I can never thank you enough for bringing my daughter back to me. I just... I just need to know where and how you found her." 

He had the full attention of both mothers, as Inko clearly needed to know what had happened as well. Swallowing, Izuku once more tried to focus his hazy mind. Where to start? "I... I was on a run, and I went farther than usual. I wandered into and abandoned neighborhood when I heard a little kid. I thought that didn't seem right, so I went to investigate. I saw Kimiko and a man that seemed really suspicious and it was obvious that they had been kind of living in this alleyway? After a minute I recognized Kimiko as a missing child, so I knew I had to do something. The man saw me, and we fought. He won, and left me there, but I couldn't just leave her. I'm pretty sure it was all adrenaline, but I got up and grabbed her before he noticed I was there, and then I ran as fast as I could to the police station. I barely made it in the doors and set Kimiko down when he caught up to me."