Another Kind of Hero

5

Shinso wasn't answering my texts.

After I left the boba shop, I had worked for hours to find anything on the Todoroki family. Anything about Endeavor abusing his children, something I could use against him. All I found was a tiny obituary for one Touya Todoroki, and a veritable footnote about Endeavor's wife being sent to a mental hospital after burning their youngest son in an accident. Eventually I gave up and went to bed. Endeavor seemed to be very good at covering his tracks, and if I wanted any more info than what I had, I'd have to comb the dark web, and it was already midnight.

When I woke up, I realized I needed to message Shinso to apologize for up and leaving like that. Bleary eyed, I fumbled with my phone password and sent him a quick text of apology. Then mom called me for breakfast and I abandoned my phone on my bed to eat whatever amazing food she made.

When I came into the kitchen, mom had made blueberry pancakes. I sat down to eat and noticed my mom looking at me worriedly.
"Is something up mom?" I asked between bites of pancake.
"Well... Izuku, are you alright?"
"What?" It took me a moment to process her question. "Oh, yeah I'm fine." Of course, you couldn't have guessed from my appearance. My eyes were still red from crying, and even though I'd gained back some of the color in my cheeks and wasn't looking so pale, it wasn't a good look combined with my new eye baggage.
"I'm sorry I was so quiet last night, if that's what worried you. I had a lot on my mind, that's all." Mom wrung her hands, still not convinced I was truly fine.

"Okay, I'm not gonna pry. But I saw that you were doing some research last night. Did you find what you were looking for?" I sighed.
"No, but I'm gonna keep looking. Gotta be really good at research if I want to be a detective!" Mom laughed and went back to eating.

Mom had to run to the store to pick up a few things, so went back to scouring the internet for info. I checked my chat with Shinso, but he hadn't responded. Wait a second... He fucking left me on read! I was so tired I couldn't focus on it, I almost fell asleep at my desk, but i put on a bot that would save anything with all the keywords in it so i could look through them later. I flopped down on my bed to relax for a minute.

I opened my eyes and checked the clock. It had been over 3 hours since I'd fallen asleep! I stood up and grabbed some food from the kitchen before sitting down at my desk to see what the scanner bot had found. Nothing... nothing... nothin— Wait what? The scanner bot had found a police file detailing the facts about the death of Touya Todoroki, the eldest of Endeavor's children. As I read, I became more and more horrified. Endeavor killed his own son?!

"Honey! Dinners ready!" My mom's calling pulled my out of my stupor. I headed out to eat my fill of whatever mom had made. Soon enough everything on the plate was gone and I had run to my room. I put my phone on the nightstand and rubbed my face, watching the street lights turn on through the window.

*ding*

As soon as I heard the noise, the phone was off the nightstand as quickly it was put on. My heart was pounding hard. I opened my phone and read the message.

S:What do you want?

Ohh my god he actually answered.

I: Shinso!! I'm so glad you answered are you alright??

S: Obviously not considering I got walked out on

Sora jumped on my lap and rubbed her head against my hand.

I: I'm sorry for leaving like that, I had solved a important investigation.

S: Sure, an "investigation". You were probably investigating an officer's asshole!

I've only known Shinso for a little while, but that's...not..like...him

I: What? Why are you so upset? Im really sorry but you're being irrational

S: IM being irrational? You couldn't have bothered to tell me that you had somewhere else you'd rather be! You just ran off! You left me alone without any explanation? What did I do wrong?!

I choked on air. He thinks this is his fault! He blames himself for it! This is your  fault you idiot, you shouldn't have just run off like that!

I: Im sorry! I really am! I lied about the investigation!

S: So now youre lying to me? Just tell me whats going on!

I: I had a panic attack! Okay! Are you happy now! I was nervous about leaving my house because of my old bully from middle school, because he still wants to kill me and it was making me nervous to be out in the open like that!

I crossed my fingers as I wrote the lies. I couldn't tell anyone what I'd found about Endeavor. They wouldn't believe anything.

*read*

Great.

We're back where we started.

I tried to call him a few times, but went straight to voicemail. Ughh, why is this so hard! All I want is to figure out why he's so mad at me for having a panic attack! I felt tears streaming down my face and collapsed on the carpet. My phone tumbled and hit my desk, at just the wrong angle, cracking in the corner. "Shiiiiiit... Could this day get any worse!"

"Izuku? Can I come in?" Mom asked, peeking through the doorway. I nodded, so she stepped in and sat on the bed near me. "Izuku what's wrong?"

"Shinso's mad at me for running out on him at the boba shop. And even though I told him why, he's still mad. He won't answer my calls or texts even though I know he sees them, and I finally found what I was looking for, but it makes me feel so bad, and it makes me think badly of someone who I used to admire."

Wordlessly, mom pulled me up onto the bed and wrapped me in a hug.

"And there's so much going on. I'm worried about school and making friends and if I'm gonna live up to Mr. Tsukauchi's expectations and making my schedule with homework and my apprenticeship and- and..." My voice petered out and melted into my mom's hug.

"Ok, deep breaths now, calm down. So you learned something new about someone and now you think poorly of them. So what? That's on them for doing something wrong. Don't always put the blame on yourself pumpkin. Same thing goes for the situation with your friend. If you apologized and he's still mad, maybe he just needs the time to cool down and process things. If he doesn't stop being mad, then that's on him, not you. Not everything is your fault. We can deal with your schedual once Tsukauchi sends you a proper final version of it, and I'm sure your teachers will be understanding with homework and stuff since you have an apprenticeship with the local detective branch. You'll be okay." Mom gave me a tight squeeze and let go, wiping the tears off my face like she did when I was a little kid. "Now relax. You have things to worry about, but those are for another time. You'll be okay."

I'd be okay.

I already was.

(1233 words)