𝗨𝗡𝗛𝗔𝗣𝗣𝗬 𝗕𝗨𝗟𝗟𝗬

09. 𝗦𝗡𝗔𝗣𝗣𝗬 𝗘𝗡𝗗

Izuku had been sitting in his office, frequently closing his eyes and massaging his forehead. He hadn't let himself get up and turn on the lights since he got there, looking fragile and exhausted, he didn't allow himself any sleep either, fixated on the screen showing live footage of the city.

At least where Aoi had been previously spotted.

Along with his task of finding his friend, he had to remember he had other duties to fulfill, one of them was locating whoever had Aoi been working with, his former classmate now a villain. Leaning back, he tried to remember if he had seen her lift her hand when everyone wanted to be a hero in their careers, but maybe he hadn't noticed her.

He only remembers Aoi and [Y/N] having a strange friendship, if he could even call it that. Had jealousy played a role in their conversations? Although he recalls many things, some details just slip his mind and get lost in time. He should have been more attentive.

He really should be paying attention to the screen but even though his eyes remained glued to them, he found it hard to understand and formulate any questions.

Further leaning back and directing his eyes to the ceiling he let them rest, thinking about all the things he could have done, and all the things he couldn't. He should have learned to go easy on himself a long time ago, but stress and work wouldn't let him, he had to stay on his toes. Even on Sundays, villains did not take a vacation.

MATCH FOUND

The automated robotic sound from his computer cut short his break and brought his attention back to the screen he had been staring at for so long, he squinted his eyes and saw the details on the screen, a screenshot of a woman adorned in black, her red heels a nice contrast, lowered her face while walking away from the CCTV, along with the analysis and possibility of this being their suspect, it was 96.01% sure this was her.

They'd gotten a few false alarms a couple of days back, but the possibility had been low and the location was far from where she had been seen before.

He sat up straight and slowly zoomed in on the picture, pushing his face closer to the monitor, he focused and attempted to but the image was pixel-elated and her features weren't clear enough.

However, scrolling away from it and to the background, he recognized the street, the few trees, and the vast empty place, and the final clue in the screenshot was the sign, hidden in the corner but he knew exactly where he had seen it.

It led right to Kacchan's house.

He knew it couldn't be a coincidence.

****

Smoke waffled in the air, black foggy fumes and the burning stench of wood and trees encompassed the location, the safe house that once stood proudly shackled to the soil and blackened, broken in half, and the land forever haunted by the fire, the flames now extinguished as the remnants remained to be soothed and put out.

"We are sorry for your loss." Katsuki stood unmoving, his eyes dare not to look away from the burned house, a sorry sight for passengers. "We could not find your loved one's body. We believe we were too late to save her." Now that he glances at the man, katsuki realizes it was the detective. Should he be scared for once that his heart was hurting?

"If you would like, we can investigate this for you." fully turning around, he stared at them and he noticed the man's partner standing behind him like a child hiding behind their parent, "I'm sure you are in shock, we are sorry for putting this on you so soon but if we need to find who did it, time is of the essence," Cameron spoke calmly, even with a hint of pity that slipped past Katsuki's mind. He seemed like he didn't care.

He had yet to speak up and provide any information.

He stands, the day's worth of hardship written all over his face and body, cuts and bruises littering his arms and all in his glory was a man unable to move forward and speak. Even though, he wanted to yell, and ask why they decided to bother him, they could never question her now.

And, he could never see her again. Forever.

If ONLY THAT STUPID VILLIAN HADN'T BEEN SO DIFFICULT, HE COULD HAVE SAVED HER.

He clenched his fist, he couldn't let them see how weak he really is. A man crying, let alone him, a pro-hero tearing up and being weak should never be shown when everyone could see and judge and deem him a weakling, but would it be that bad? He just lost her and, he couldn't even see her one last time.

He should have stayed longer. He shouldn't have left.

"We'll give you space." Cameron softly muttered and walked away from the blonde, answers weren't about to be given and he knew that. Teo catches up to the man and looked at the destruction around him, "isn't it strange that we can't find the body or her bones?" he commented, carefully looking down at the ash and following his senior, "Yeah, but my theory is that someone took her."

"Like kidnapped her and set the house on fire? You think we can recover the data from the CCTV, I mean it would help, right?"

"Of course, it's possible, but if it was tapered with or destroyed already, I don't think it will be much of help. Let's look for clues and shreds of evidence, anything will work at this point."

"Uh... yeah, sure. I'll just up some ash-like evidence, there's nothing else here besides that and maybe some burned items."

Cameron stopped and looked at Teo, "ANYTHING works, we need something rather than nothing, get yourself together rookie, at this point, you won't even solve one case."

"Boo... rude." Teo pouted, letting the man search on his own and not boss him around, he sighed before moving deeper into burned ruins, observing the resilient structures still intact and the rest about to toggle over with one final push, 'I guess he could be right, but then again, she could have run away, maybe she had a secret love affair.'

Crunch...

He glanced down, he had stepped on something hard, lifting his feet he found a phone. This had to be their something.

"Hey, guys... I think I found something."

OKAY, SO... I'm thinking I end it with one last chapter, but hmm I'm wanting some angst, you know? But, let me know what you think. Has this story been dragging on for a long time? (Which I'm sure it is because of me-) Or it's been interesting enough, whose phone do you think it is? I think it belongs to someone important. 

But, if I decided to end it next week, and if you want something much better both storywise and writing-wise, you can check out DEKU. If you haven't already. 

If you had to rate this story on a scale of 1 to 10, what would you rate? Your feedback would help me improve and provide higher-quality stories, so take care!