Requiem of the Broken

Chapter 74: Requiem

Izuku trudged up to his front door, soaked from head to toe. Dawn would soon be upon him and he was about ready to pass out from exhaustion and blood loss. He'd gone to an old safe house he'd shared with Stain, and found some old clothes and bandages. Not much else though, he'd have to go back with a duffel bag and retrieve his armor and wakizashi. He had kept Sasakura's katana though, both for any impromptu defense, but also because it hadn't felt right leaving it behind. He had certainly drawn strange looks, even some fearful ones that he might be a criminal or villain. Not that he blamed them, he certainly looked the part.

Izuku gripped the doorknob and immediately noticed it wasn't locked. Every muscle in his body tensed and he slowly opened it, keeping a hand on his katana. As the door opened, he noticed the lights were on, and sound was coming from the living room.

"Is the TV on?" Izuku thought, confused.

As he opened the door completely he took a few tentative steps inside and he saw sure the TV was on now. He closed the door silently, then he removed his shoes just as silently. He slowly crept down the hallway until he was at the point where if he moved forward anymore and he'd be visible. He tensed, crouched, then leaped from the hallway and rolled across the floor. Drawing his sword at the same time, he came out of his roll only to see a glowering Bakugo staring back at him.

Izuku blinked, and his brain stopped working as he tried to process the scene in front of him. Bakugo was on his couch, a can of beer in one hand, feet propped up on the table, and watching the news.

Izuku glanced at the news and he felt his stomach drop.

"During the night, a battle was reported occurring on the top of the local MS&AD Insurance Group building. The battle seems to have taken place between the Hero Killer Stain and an unknown individual, which ended with Stain falling from the top of the building onto an empty vehicle. Hero Killer Stain was reported dead on impact, while his opponent is still at large. An investigation is underway, but due to the rain, authorities are not confident that they will be able to find much evidence of who Stain's opponent was. Though initial speculation points to a villain or vigilante fighting Stain for dominance." Said a reporter, standing next to a car with its roof dented in.

The news report then switched to another person who started outlining Stain's history of terror. Throughout the entire initial report, Bakug just continued to glare at Izuku.

Izuku stood up, eyes not able to meet Bakugo's eyes.

"I should arrest you," Bakugo said at last.

"I didn't kill him. He jumped off on his own after the fight was over," Izuku said.

Bakugo didn't say anything at first, just continued to glare at Izuku before sighing and settling back on the couch.

"Whatever, even if you did kill him, I wouldn't arrest you anyways. Stain had it coming one way or another. Would have preferred a hero either to take him down or bring him in, but you work just as well." Bakugo said, reaching down and grabbing a beer, and tossing it to Izuku.

Izuku caught it, looked at the can, then he tossed the katana onto a chair, and then plopped down on the sofa with Bakugo. He opened the can the took a long drink before letting out a sigh.

"You and Ochako together?" Bakugo asked after a long silence of them just watching the TV.

"She surprised me," Izuku said.

"The two of you are annoyingly similar, and you both deserve this, but neither of you will actually believe that. You'll also take forever to get anywhere, so don't be a wimp about all this." Bakugo said bluntly.