The Force Of Nature

unknowable

Detective Okabe sat alone in his office late into the night, the hum of the fluorescent lights above him providing the only sound in the otherwise silent room. He had been through dozens of cases, each one more difficult than the last, but nothing had prepared him for the enigma that was Izuku Midoriya. The girl, or perhaps now the woman, was a puzzle—a reality-altering, uncontrollable force that threatened to upend everything he thought he knew about power, about justice, and about the world itself.

Okabe leaned back in his chair, rubbing his temples as the events of the past few days replayed in his mind. He had seen the aftermath of Izuku's wrath firsthand. The six thugs, who had dared to harm her family, were nothing but melted remnants now—bodies twisted and disfigured beyond recognition. The horror had been indescribable, but it was not the brutality of the scene that kept Okabe awake at night. It was the question that gnawed at him: How did she do it? And more dangerously, What else could she do?

His mind had gone over the details repeatedly. The report from the officers, the statements, the evidence—all pointing to something beyond human comprehension. Her quirk. Her power. It defied all known laws of reality. She could change the very fabric of existence with a glance, with a thought. She could alter perceptions, manipulate space, and force reality to bend to her will, and yet no one had any clue how to measure or classify it. There was no precedent. No guideline. No rulebook.

Izuku Midoriya wasn't a hero. She wasn't a villain. She wasn't anything that made sense.

Okabe had spent his life chasing criminals—dealing with the quantifiable, the explainable. But this? This was beyond his experience. Beyond his expertise.

And that was exactly why it terrified him.

He looked down at the file on his desk, the one he'd been unable to focus on for hours. The contents were a mixture of reports, photographs, and notes on Izuku Midoriya's life. On the surface, there was nothing unusual about her. She was a quiet, introverted girl, raised by a loving family, until everything changed. She had been diagnosed as quirkless, just like so many others. The system had failed her, and for years, she had lived with the expectation that she would never develop anything extraordinary. But when those thugs attacked her family, that illusion shattered, and the girl had transformed into something else—something incomprehensible.

Okabe thought back to his own family. His wife, Haruka, and their two children, Riko and Keiji. His life had been a careful balance of work and family, each part of his existence grounded in the belief that everything could be explained, everything could be controlled. But now? Now, he wasn't sure of anything anymore. He had seen enough of the Midoriya family's situation to know that Izuku's power wasn't something easily understood—or contained.

His fingers traced the edge of the folder, his thoughts drifting to his wife and children, who had no idea what kind of danger he was swimming in. They were still unaware of the depths of his investigation into Izuku and the unsettling truths he had uncovered. He hadn't told them about the case. He hadn't told them that he had been drawn into a spiraling nightmare that could change the world as they knew it.

Haruka had always been the grounding force in his life. She was practical, level-headed, and supportive, but she had a protective instinct when it came to their children. If she knew about the kind of threat Izuku posed, the kind of danger she represented, she would be furious with him for not closing the case and protecting their family.

The weight of his responsibility to both his family and to the investigation pressed on him. He had to keep them safe, but that meant uncovering the truth about Izuku.

He stood up from his desk, feeling restless, his mind racing in a thousand directions. His obsession with understanding Izuku's quirk, her reality-warping abilities, was consuming him. There was a part of him that couldn't accept the unknown. He needed answers. He needed control.

But what if he couldn't have it?

Okabe paced back and forth in his small office, his thoughts tangled and frantic. He had tried to gather as much information as he could. He'd talked to the officers involved in the case, to the Midoriya family, even tried to get access to any records on the girl's earlier life. But no one could explain it. No one could measure the true extent of her abilities.

What if she was more powerful than anyone realized? What if she couldn't be contained? What if she was a threat to everyone—including his own family?

He stopped abruptly, the thought hitting him like a punch to the gut. His heart skipped a beat as he turned toward the window, staring out into the dark night. The city seemed so quiet, so calm, but he knew it was only a matter of time before something changed. Before Izuku's power spread further, before it affected others beyond her immediate circle.

The unknown felt like a tangible thing now. A presence in the room, pressing in on him. What if she's a force of nature? The thought flashed through his mind. What if she can't be controlled?

Okabe sank into his chair again, his mind a whirlwind. I can't let her destroy everything. I can't let her destroy them.

His thoughts turned to his own children. Riko, with her brilliant mind, her endless curiosity about the world. Keiji, the kind-hearted boy who always wanted to help others, who looked up to heroes and dreamed of making the world a better place. Okabe felt a tightness in his chest as he imagined them being caught in the chaos Izuku could cause, should she lose control—or worse, if she decided to use her power against others.

He thought of his wife, Haruka, who had always been the calm in the storm of his life. He thought of how she would react if she knew the extent of what was happening, of the danger he was risking by continuing his investigation. Haruka would never stand for it. She would never forgive him for exposing their family to the unknown, to the possibility that their lives could be upended by something they couldn't understand or predict.

But now, Okabe was too far down the rabbit hole to stop. The more he uncovered, the more it consumed him. The deeper he dug into Izuku's case, the more obsessed he became with finding an answer, with understanding how her power worked. He couldn't accept that there might be no explanation, no way to comprehend the extent of what she could do. He needed to find the key, the point of entry where he could control it, stop it, or at least understand it enough to keep it from spiraling out of control.

It was late when the decision solidified in his mind.

Okabe stood abruptly, the weight of the realization pressing down on him. I will stop her, he thought fiercely. I will stop this madness.

But in the back of his mind, the truth lingered: What if I can't? What if she's already beyond my reach?

He closed his eyes, the image of Izuku's black eyes haunting him. Her power was so far-reaching, so incomprehensible, it had driven him to madness. Driven him to the brink of losing everything.

He thought of his family again—his wife, his children—and he felt the cold, suffocating sense of dread settle deeper into his bones.

There was no escaping it now. The truth had already begun to unravel. And Izuku Midoriya, with her impossible, terrifying quirk, was the key. The force of nature that could not be stopped, and one that would change the world.

And it was already too late for him to turn back.

Okabe's hands trembled slightly as he picked up his phone. The decision had been made, but even as he dialed the number to continue his investigation, the weight of what lay ahead crushed him.

There were no answers for him. Only a maddening descent into the unknown.