The Shadows I Hide

Chapter 12: Suspicions

"Alright Midoriya, you're task is pretty straight forward," It was early Saturday morning on the UA campus and Midoriya was at the gym with Mr. Aizawa to conduct tests and exercises for his newfound quirk. In front of Izuku, there was a stone pot filled up with a couple of metal rods.

"We're going to be testing your ability to aim as well as how high your temperatures can go. When I tell you to begin I want you to begin heating up that pot right there, your goal is going to be to try and melt the iron inside it. Got it?"

"Yes sir!" he shouted.

"Good, now begin," Izuku took a deep breath in and let himself forget about the things around him. He had been testing out his fire breath since he had discovered it and he had found out that he created fire by internally heating up his body. He couldn't exactly explain it clearly in the way a person can't explain how to control a limb, it just felt like a new extension to himself. He closed his eyes and felt the temperature of his body, not too hot, not too cold. He willed the temperature to rise and as he did so he felt a rush of energy accompanied by a warmth spreading throughout his body. He willed to get hotter and hotter. The warmth intensified. Once he was satisfied he forced the heat to come out, he felt the sensation of warmth travel from where he felt it most in his stomach up through his throat before he finally opened his eyes and let a jet of yellow flame come forth from his mouth at the target in front of him. It was an odd sensation to have fire coming from his mouth, but he kept it up nonetheless. He closed his mouth a bit more to concentrate the stream closer to the target keeping the flames pressed onto it as closely as he could.

'Come on!' He thought. 'Melt!' It was taking a long time. Even as he thought that he could feel the headache already beginning to make its appearance. An unfortunate side effect he had discovered from using his quirk for too long. He was sure it was due to his body not being accustomed to such rapid changes in temperature but he was hoping his body would begin to adjust soon. At least he wasn't passing out like the first time. By the time he finally stopped spitting flames his head was pounding and he was beginning to feel dizzy.

"You managed to melt most of it," reported Mr. Aizawa. "Good work, focus on improving that heat for next time.

"Yes sir," he said as best he could.

"Okay then, that's all for today, you should probably go rest up," he advised. Deku nodded in agreement before leaving the gym and making his way back to the dormitories. Entering the common room he saw that most of his classmates were awake now, chatting and eating around the common room. There were some quick good mornings exchanged between him and his classmates as he walked towards the stairwell. As he passed through the common room his eyes were moving from one person to the next. Izuku's synapses were firing like crazy, which one of his classmates was actually a key to another dimension? He had to find out quickly. He had a few suspects already. The most obvious option seemed to be Todoroki as he seemed to possess more than one quirk, being able to control fire and ice, that didn't exactly prove anything though. Besides, he was hardly the only suspect, he was also strongly suspicious of Tokoyami; yes, Tokoyami he thought as his eyes landed on the bird-headed boy seated across the room. He had been reading more of the mysterious book that had been left to him, and a certain part of it mentioned that the powers of the demons often relied on darkness and shadow in order to be their strongest. That part made Tokoyami almost too obvious, he would need to collect more information before he could be sure though. With his attention so focused on Tokoyami, Izuku almost didn't realize he was about to collide with someone.

"Morning Deku!" greeted Uraraka. Izuku let out a startled gasp and then realizing he had almost run into her, began to apologize.

"Oh, I'm so sorry! Good morning," his friend smiled at him in that way she always did.

"Don't worry about it. Where are you off too in such a hurry?" Izuku took a moment to process the question before their meaning struck him.

"Oh, I'm heading back to my room to rest for a bit. I may have overused my fire breath again,"

"Oh. Well, okay then. Feel better Deku," Izuku thanked her and resumed his course back to his room. While he walked he couldn't shake the feeling that Uraraka had sounded disappointed when he had told her he needed to rest. What was that about? He thought to himself. As he tried to shake these thoughts from his head he realized that he was on the same floor that housed Tokoyami's room. Curiosity began gnawing away at his mind as he thought about potential clues hiding in Tokoysmi's room. The opportunity was too good to ignore. He looked around once before setting off on his new detour. As he walked down the corridor he felt a growing sense of anxiety spreading throughout his body. He wasn't used to doing anything like this. He wasn't used to trying to be sneaky. He approached the door to Tokoyami's room and grabbed the door handle. He twisted it slowly. Locked. He wasn't quite sure if he was relieved or disappointed by this. Abruptly he began to hear the buzz of a conversation making its way over to where he stood with his hand on Tokoyami's door handle. Deku panicked and tried to begin walking back to the stair causally. He kept his eyes as he walked by three people without incident. He was about to sigh in relief when a voice suddenly made his heart skip a beat.

"Hey Midoriya, what are you doing on this floor?" the voice belonged to Kirishima, he was sure of it. He could feel his palms began to sweat. 'I need to stay calm,' he told himself sternly. 'Just give them a believable response and everyone will forget about this. He turned around to look at his classmates. He was met with the faces of Kirishima, Shoji... and Tokoyami... His mind went blank for a second as he saw Tokoyami. Shoji and Kirishima were looking at him curiously Tokoyami's face was unreadable though.

"Oh yeah, I accidentally walked on this floor. Wasn't really paying much attention to where I was going," said Izuku, trying to keep his expression firm and unwavering. At his words, he thought he could see Tokoyami's eyes narrow just a tiny bit.

"Don't worry about it dude," said Kirishima, "See you later," Kirishima and Shoji resumed walking down the corridor but Tokoyami stood staring at him a moment longer before he turned around as well.

Izuku left, fighting the urge to sprint with all his will. He waited until he reached his room before gasping and trying to calm his rising heartbeat. He had nearly been caught. How indiscreet could he be? It was almost laughable how bad he had been at it. Although now he was certain there was something to find in Tokoyami's room. No else had ever kept their door locked as far as he was aware. He had to get better at stealth.