Detective Midoriya

Chapter 35

Izuku woke with a jolt, heart racing. "Where's Eri?" His surroundings were unfamiliar, which only made him more agitated. "Eri? Eri!"

He was working himself into a frenzy when a strong, familiar voice said, "Calm down, Midoriya. It's alright."

Forcing himself to calm down, Izuku finally noticed that he was in a hospital bed, and in the bed next to him was -

"Detective Tsukauchi?"

"It's good to see you awake, Midoriya. How are you feeling?" the detective asked with a tired smile.

The detective looked terrible. Wires seemed to sprout from him, monitoring various things, and a constant, comforting beep filled the room.

"What happened, Detective?" Izuku demanded, not noticing the way his own heart monitor was picking up speed. "Which of the Eight Expendables did this?! I thought my plan-"

"I wasn't at the raid, Midoriya. Your injuries were the worst ones out of anyone on our side, your plans kept them all safe. Especially Eri."

"They're okay?"

"Every last one of them."

"Where is Eri?" Izuku asked, looking around like she might magically appear.

"She's just fine. She didn't have any injuries, they just have her in quarantine while they assess her control over her quirk."

"Where's everyone else? And what happened to you?"

Tsukauchi laughed a little, though he almost immediately winced in pain. "You've been in a coma for three days, Midoriya. I'd be furious with you if I weren't so glad you're okay."

"Three days?!"

"You were caught between two quirks that were both trying to destroy you, Midoriya. They may have canceled each other out, but it put immense strain on your body. The doctors honestly didn't expect you to wake up for at least a week. Speaking of which," Tsukauchi said, pushing a button, "we should probably let people know that you're awake. The nurse, at least."

Izuku squeezed his eyes shut, shaking his head a bit. "That makes sense. My head feels... foggy."

"Yeah, I hear comas will do that to you. But to answer your questions, Midoriya, everyone else is gone because it's the middle of the night. It's actually a miracle we convinced them to leave. Your mother insisted on staying at the hospital all hours of the day until they agreed to put you in the same room as me so you would have company. Oh, and I forgot to mention, Eri is just right next door."

"Thank goodness. So what happened to you?"

"I'll tell you my story, but you have to tell me yours afterward."

"Deal."

So the detective told Izuku about his assignment with Gran Torino. Partway through, a nurse came in, delighted that Izuku was awake. She checked his vitals and asked a few questions, jotting notes down in his chart, but Izuku only paid as much attention to her as necessary, captivated by the description of the man called Gigantomachia. His quirk was fascinating, but the longer Naomasa spoke, the more Izuku was consumed with the need to stop the man. He wanted to meet Gran Torino as well, an older hero that, shockingly, Izuku had never heard of before.

The story was short, largely because he wasn't conscious for long. However, his stress was visible when Izuku began his story.

The nurse had left shortly after he began. Even with his visits, there were a lot of things about being undercover that Izuku hadn't had time to tell him about. Every so often the detective's heart would speed up, but it usually got back under control fairly quickly.