Forget Me Not

(16)

After the second round...

"Come with me." Immediately, the blonde was marching behind Izuku with Todoroki in tow.

Seeing the three walk off into the dark tunnels alone, Denki huffed as he was now left alone with Hitoshi Shinso from the General Education class. "Do you have any idea what they could be talking about?" Shinso shook his head, casting a worried glance at the blonde. "I just hope they don't hurt him."

Silence.

"Wanna listen in on them?"

"We can't do that; isn't that like a violation of privacy?" Hitoshi shrugged. "They never said we couldn't come with. Isn't that why Todoroki went with them even though Izuku only wanted to speak with Bakugo?" The blonde gnawed at his bottom lip, contemplating if he should just give in to his curiosity. "Fine. But we can't let them know, okay?"

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"Does candy-cane have to be here with us?" Bakugo scowled and the other two shrugged, unbothered by the rather interesting nickname Bakugo gave him.

"So, blondie, what's your problem with me? And why the hell do you keep calling me Deku?"

A downcast look covered his face, "It's because I know you from way before." He started. The other two waited patiently for him to continue.

"I overheard you tell Pikachu that you can't remember most of your life from five years ago. Five years ago, you died. At least most of us thought you did." Izuku frowned and wondered if he should keep listening to the bullshit Katsuki was spitting or indulge the blonde.

"Five years ago, you went missing and when someone finally reported it to the police, they found out you had been attacked. Viciously." Katsuki swallowed, forcing back the images and smell of blood and grime that filled Izuku's room five years ago.

"Everyone did a nation wide search for you but after a week and nothing came up, as expected, the case went cold and you were reported dead."

"That's not possible. There's no way a child would have gone missing and they would've only searched for a week. That's cruel, even for—"

"I'm serious, dammit." Izuku paused after hearing the crack in his voice, "They buried the case quickly and stopped it from getting publicity because Izuku Yagi was quirkless."

As if on cue, his head throbbed with blinding pain and he clutched his head tightly. The ravenette held up a hand in front of them both, stopping them from checking on him. "I'm fine. I just get those headaches every once in a while."

Warily, they backed off, watching as Izuku crouched and buried his face in his knees, "Go on, I'm still listening."

"Um, even if you don't believe me and even if everything I'm saying sounds absurd, then you can go search the about the Izuku Yagi case online. It's hard to find anything on but it's there. And Mr Aizawa was one of the heroes working on the case, he'd tell you everything you need to know—"

A chill ran up their spines and a dark shadowy figure crept up behind them, "What are you boys talking about?"

"Dad?" The shadow figure shrunk until it revealed the one and only Akuma Yūji underneath. "Izuku, your mom and I have been looking for you all afternoon. Akina even ran all the way from school to see you in the last round."

The ravenette tilted his head, "Really? Let me go find Denki so we can go together; mom loves having him around." The previous conversation almost forgotten as he made his way to the stands.

The remaining three stood in silence.

"Bakugo Katsuki. Your quirk allows you to make your own explosions. An extended history of violence, aggression and bullying throughout elementary school all swept under the carpet. What do you think would happen if all of the information was suddenly made public?" Bakugo swallowed thickly, his gaze never leaving Izuku's "father".

"Bullying?"

"Young Todoroki, I also have an offer for you but that'll be discussed after the Sports Festival. As for you, Bakugo— What exactly are you trying to achieve by bringing back his memories? You saw how he reacted didn't you? You're hurting him; just like you always have." Akuma tilted his head playfully, "The only question is whether you're still enjoying seeing him in pain."

"Th-thats not it! I just want to help him and bring him back to his real family." Akuma let out an annoyed huff.

"His real family? You mean the family where his sister stabbed him twenty two times? The family that completely forgot they had a son for seven years? The same family who quickly shut down the search for him because they didn't want the story of their neglect to get out? I think Izuku is safer and happier with his faux family."

Todoroki stood off to the side, wide eyed and confused as to why Bakugo didn't seem surprised by the information. "Don't look too shocked, Todoroki. There's no way they don't know who tried to kill Izuku and caused him to lose his memories. But I do need you two to keep Izumi away from Izuku or I'll let the world know of everything you did, Bakugo."

"Wait! Why am I being lumped into this?" Todoroki spoke up, slightly alarmed by the situation. "Well, I can help you. If you're willing to keep Izumi away from my son, that is?"

"Help me?" Akuma smiled softly, "With Endeavour. I can help you enough to get away from him. Do we have a deal?" Todoroki stared warily at Akuma's outstretched hand. "You don't have to accept it immediately. It's your choice anyway but if you do decide to let me help you, then I'll be with my family in the stands. Good luck, young heroes."

With that, the father of two walked off, leaving a shaken up Bakugo and a conflicted Todoroki. "Let's go back. The final round will start soon." The blonde muttered with an audible edge to his voice and the half and half teen had no choice but to follow.

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"I don't think we should have heard any of that..." Hitoshi murmured. Denki stared blankly at the ground, wondering why such a trivial thing could cost someone their life. "Izuku's most likely looking for you, let's head back. Before Izuku's dad finds us here." The words barely registered in his head but he went with him anyway.

"You're not going to say a word to Izuku, are you?" Denki snapped out of his daze and sent Hitoshi an offended look. "When Izuku's dad is doing his hardest to keep it a secret from him for his own sanity?"

"Fair point. But you better hurry, Izuku's looking for you."