Shattered Light: A Neglected Izuku Story

chapter 15

Detective Tsukauchi stood in the dimly lit hospital corridor, his gaze fixed on the small, fragile figure lying unconscious in the bed before him. Izuku Midoriya, or Nemesis as he had come to be known, looked so much younger, so much more vulnerable than the force of destruction he had witnessed not long ago. The boy's body was a canvas of pain, the scars and wounds telling a story more harrowing than anything Tsukauchi had ever encountered in his years as a detective.

His mind raced, piecing together the fragments of the story that had been unearthed since Izuku's capture. The truth was far more twisted and tragic than he could have ever imagined. Izuku had run away from home, but it wasn't just a case of a rebellious teenager. No, this was something deeper, something far darker.

Tsukauchi's hand tightened around the brim of his hat as he recalled the reports-the details of Izuku's kidnapping, the horrific experiments he had been subjected to. It was all too much to bear, especially knowing that this all stemmed from the fact that Izuku had been born quirkless. A fact that had led his family, the people who should have loved and protected him, to turn their backs on him. The anger Tsukauchi felt toward Hisashi Midoriya burned in his chest, a deep, simmering rage that he struggled to contain.

Hisashi stood next to the bed, his face a mask of exhaustion and regret. He had barely left Izuku's side since they arrived at the hospital, his injuries ignored in favor of watching over his son. But Tsukauchi knew this man wasn't the hero everyone thought he was. He was the father who had failed his child when he needed him the most.

"Hisashi," Tsukauchi began, his voice tight with barely suppressed anger.

Tsukauchi:Do you have any idea what your son went through? What they did to him?

Hisashi's shoulders slumped, the weight of Tsukauchi's words pressing down on him like a physical burden.

Hisashi:I know, Naomasa... I know I failed him. But I never stopped looking for him. I thought-

Tsukauchi:You thought?

Tsukauchi cut him off, his tone sharp.

Tsukauchi;You thought it was okay to neglect him, to ignore him because he was quirkless? And what about the bullying? Did you even care what was happening to him at home, at school?

Hisashi flinched at the harshness of Tsukauchi's words, but he didn't defend himself. He knew he had no right.

Hisashi:I knew about the bullying... I tried to stop it, but... I didn't try hard enough. I didn't protect him the way I should have.

Tsukauchi:And where was Inko in all this?

Tsukauchi demanded.

Tsukauchi:Did she care at all? Or was she too busy being a hero to notice what was happening to her own son?

Hisashi hesitated, his expression pained.

Hisashi: Inko... she changed after Izuku ran away. She couldn't handle it. She gave up being a hero. She... she almost took her own life, Naomasa. The guilt... it destroyed her.

Tsukauchi's anger faltered for a moment, replaced by a deep, bitter sadness.

Tsukauchi: so what now, what's left of her? A shadow of the hero she once was? A mother who failed her son so completely that she lost herself in the process?

Hisashi lowered his head, the guilt evident in every line of his face.

Hisashi:Yes. That's exactly what happened.

The silence between them was heavy, the air thick with the unspoken truths that hung between them. Tsukauchi finally sighed, his anger ebbing away to be replaced by a cold, clinical focus on the facts.