Kiri(Baku?)Kami I probably won't finish

Chapter Forty

"I think Deku's still in UA. So if this place is gonna blow and we can't stop it, you guys get out. I don't think they'll have predicted that we guessed what's actually going on so I doubt it's gonna happen tonight. This'll give me some time to look for Deku, and if it blows while I'm inside, you'll all be fine," 'Suki said, his voice shockingly even.

"But—" I started to protest. I didn't want him to die just for us.

"Did I fucking stutter?" The shout, while expected of the 'Suki I knew, was still relatively unfamiliar as of late. "I'm not gonna sit around and let Deku just die like this, and I'm not gonna let any of you die because of that."

"Did it cross your mind that maybe we don't want you dead either? What if Midoriya's not even here? It's a suicide mission to do it alone!"

It almost looked like he was going to keep protesting, but eventually sighed. "Fine. But not everyone. Everyone who isn't coming with me, go alert the other teachers if they don't already know so that we can get everyone out. And someone keep an eye on Deku or whoever that little shit was."

"Well, I'm going with you," I said immediately. Denki nodded in agreement. Sero also go up, ready for action.

"As class president, it is my duty to lead the class," Iida got up. "The rest of us will go alert the rest of the teachers or whoever we see on the way if we happen to bump into someone. Then we will help with the evacuation."

"Iida, are you sure you don't want to look for Deku-kun?" Uraraka got up.

"You heard Bakugo. It shouldn't be all of us. I hate to admit it, but we can't afford for too many people to be inside of the school if it's really going to explode. Bakugo and the other three should be enough to cover the school," he explained.

"I guess you're right. Still, it sucks that we can't help more!" she huffed.

I decided to step in. "Uraraka, your job is even more important than ours. You're helping to save the whole school. Technically, the fewer of us there are, the fewer the casualties if the plan goes awry."

When the rest of us looking for Deku, even 'Suki, nodded, she sighed. "Yeah. Okay! Let's go get everyone else to safety!"

"Don't forget to actually explain to the teachers why we're looking for Deku even though they think they've got him," Denki added and she nodded, looking fired up.

Once they all cleared out, the four of us sat down together. "Where should we look first?" asked Sero.

"We should go someplace where there's the least chance of someone stumbling on him by accident," I suggested. "So probably not any of the dorm buildings or the main building. Where haven't we been for the past month at all?"

"The gyms," 'Suki said immediately. "How many gyms are there?"

I sighed. "A few. I guess we should split up."

"Yeah, once we get there," Denki nodded. "Let's go, we don't have any time to spare."

On our way out the door, Denki paused. We turned to look at him. "I, uh... what did they mean when they said it was carved into your skin? They didn't mean literally, right?"

"Why the fuck do you think I'm so scared of them? 'Course it was literal," 'Suki grumbled, tugging at his sleeves, and this time I got a sick feeling in my stomach once I realized why he kept doing that, but I didn't say anything. "Let's find Deku now, don't make me regret letting you come."

—

Just our luck, there were four gyms. However, the thing that absolutely sucked was that they were all massive.

"I guess we go in there and call for him?" I asked. "And make sure we look in every conceivable location?"

"Yeah. And listen for any noise you get in response. Anything at all," 'Suki added. We all nodded, splitting up.

I went to the farthest one. As soon as I crossed the threshold, I screamed, "Deku?" The call was met with a chilling silence that seemed to be melting into me, urging me to stop. I stepped forward again, ignoring the immediate disappointment. We're not going anywhere until we find him. He's gotta be in one of the gyms, it makes the most sense.

That was, unless they half-expected us to use our brains and hid Deku in a place we wouldn't look first.

I ran through other options in my head as I checked every nook and cranny in the gym. Support item room? No, Hatsume's always in there. What about one of the classrooms? The teachers go into their classrooms even when school isn't in session, so that's out of the picture, too. Maybe they hid him in the ceiling of one of the classrooms. It's easy to push up the boards. Well, they're flimsy, and the guy is pure muscle. He'd fall right through them. How about...

I kept thinking of different ideas that could be possible for Midoriya to be in school, and while none of the options were foolproof, the gyms still made the most sense.

Just as I had come to that conclusion, I heard a soft scratching noise to my right. I think I'd been muttering aloud, and whatever this noise was was a response to it.

There was a gap between two rocks that was so small I hadn't noticed it. That's definitely where the noise was coming from. I was glad that my fully hardened form had some sort of extra strength to it, because getting the sizable stones apart wasn't too difficult for Unbreakable.

And we had been right. There was Midoriya, covered in grime and blood, somehow looking more angry than afraid. I got the feeling that it was less anger at other things and more anger at himself. And seeing the way he looked now, a bit defeated, I didn't blame him.