The Silent Gamer

Chapter 23 : Comfort

To say that Yui was worried would be an understatement. Well... you can't blame the woman for her distraught. It's not everyday that your boyfriend suddenly disappears without saying a word and in Yui's case, he was her first boyfriend (and hopefully the last). The streamer didn't even hesitate and as soon as she ended her call with Setsuna, she quickly grabbed her hoodie, put Kuro in the travel crate, dropped him at Ibarra's place and quickly hailed for a taxi to the nearby station. There might be a big chance that she might not come home tonight and she really hoped that Setsuna didn't mind a roommate today. Right now she was on the road, the taxi's destination was Izuku's house. She was glad that the trains were open, but it was also a point that trains were open late at night and it was just recently that the darkness set in.

Yui knew something was definitely wrong when Izuku dropped her at her place and she was berating herself for not pushing the matter at him during that moment. The meeting with his ex definitely shook him to the core, but she didn't expect him to be disturbed to such an extent that he had to disappear with a word. What exactly did they talk about? What exactly took place when she was watching Izaiah and Hanabi.

"Ma'am, we are here", the taxi driver says and Yui promptly slides a 1000 yen bill and as she gets down hastily, she says, "Keep the change". The suburbs Izuku lived in definitely looked different in the evenings with all the street lights lit. Yui would have taken a step back to admire the orange-white hues of the street, but she didn't have the royalty of that now. Her eyes trained on Setsuna who was pacing down on his driveway, with the phone in her hand and Izuku's mother standing by the door, with an equally worried expression on her face. As she approaches the dinosaur lover, she asks, "Any news on where he is?"

This causes Setsuna and Inko to look up, and it was very much evident that Yui's presence didn't elevate their tension at all. The female animator simply says, "No... Kyoka and Denki checked the studios and he was not there. Mirio-senpai and Tamaki-senpai checked out the bars he used to frequent, but he is not there either. Juzo is on his way to Ochako's grave and Kyoka and Denki are planning to check out the gazebo by the beach".

"Any other places?" Yui asks frantically to which Setsuna simply shakes her head in denial and says, "No... Eri and Kota decided to check out Black Mist restaurant, you know... by any chance he would be there. Turns out he didn't show up at all".

"What about that high school teacher he meets from time to time?" Yui asks to which Inko replies, "I called Yagi-kun and he said that he didn't appear at all. I even contacted Tokiko-san regarding this, but she claims that Izuku never visited her". Then suddenly, the distraught mother lets out a sob and says, "I don't know what is going on... He was so excited for today... but when he came back, he seemed... disturbed. It felt like something was bothering him. He just left". She then looks at Yui and asks, "Yui-chan, do you know what happened?"

The gamer girl had a slight idea, but she was not entirely sure. Before she could say anything, a voice says, "I believe I'm the reason for his disappearance". This causes everyone to promptly look in the direction of the voice, just to see Melissa standing there.

"Melissa?" Inko simply asks in confusion to which Setsuna says, "I contacted her. I thought that he might be at her place, which she denied".

"I understand but why are you saying that you are the reason?" Inko asks to which suddenly, the car which was parked behind Melissa, opens and Izaiah climbs out and stands beside his mother, hiding a bit behind her legs. Yui simply looks at Setsuna, who had a guilty look on her face. She then looks at Melissa, who had the look of shame and finally, she looks at Inko with dread. The Midoriya matriarch's face was a storm of emotions. The gamer woman could recognize confusion, introspection and enlightenment clearly on her face. The elderly woman grimaces a bit, figuring out who the boy is... what was the boy's relationship to her family. Yui swore that the entire Midoriya family could have become highly sought-out detectives considering how quickly they figured things out.