Let Us Become Our Heroes

Beginning of Act 1: Chapter 4: A father's arrival

"When a child disappears, the space she'd occupied is immediately filled with dozens of people. And these people—relatives, friends, police officers, and reporters from both TV and print—create a lot of energy and noise, a sense of the communal intensity of fierce and shared dedication to a task.

"But amid all that noise, nothing is louder than the silence of the missing child. It's a silence that's two and a half to three feet tall, and you feel it at your hip and hear it rising from the floorboards, shouting to you from corners and crevices ...

"It's a silence that's different from the one left at funerals and wakes. The silence of the dead carries with it a sense of finality; it's a silence you know you must get used to. But the silence of a missing child is not something you want to get used to; you refuse to accept it, and so it screams at you.

"The silence of the dead says, Goodbye.

"The silence of the missing says, Find me."

― Dennis Lehane

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Mitsuki Bakugo: Age 30

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Mitsuki sat with Inko as the silence comforted them. Inko didn't say anything. Nor Mitsuki didn't say anything. Maybe she needed to. As soon as she pulled the smaller woman towards her with another tight hug. Inko broke down once again. Her sobs wracked her thin frame as Mitsuki's heart grew tight. As she thought of the innocent Izuku came to mind while she held Inko and cried too as some horrible thoughts inside her said, 'Thank God it's not Katsuki.'

Another said 'Why?'

Her answers remained unanswered. As time passed until the night approached, Inko calmed down just in time, Mitsuki's phone rang. She almost hung up before she saw the number. "You fucking son of a bitch. When I call, you answer your goddamn phone, I don't care if you're in the office or fucking dying."

"I- Yes, yes. Sorry. I've been trying to book the earliest flight back to Japan. And settling things in the office. I'm sorry." Hisashi's usual slow drawl was gone, instead replaced with a frenzied tone that she never remembered hearing before. He must have heard the news by now.

"So the police already talked to you then."

"... Yes. They-they did. How's Inko? Are you with her?" Mitsuki looked at Inko who was staring at her, confused.

"It's Hisashi. You wanna talk to him?"

Inko's poor eyes widened before she snatched the phone and sobbed into the phone now. Mitsuki sighed, ignoring what Inko was saying, in a half-assed way of giving her privacy, and just held her as both Midoriya's talked together. By the time Mitsuki got the phone back, the nurse had come along and said visiting hours were over. Mitsuki wanted to stay a little until Inko convinced her.

"I'll be alright, don't worry Mitsuki," Inko reassured her with a shaky smile. "You go home to your family."

She was not convinced one-hundred percent because if she knew anything about Inko, she was a woman that held a lot of shit inside and a river of tears. "I'm coming back tomorrow, as soon as this fucking place opens visiting hours again, understand?"

Inko laughed weakly, "I understand. Now go on. And thank you so much for helping me."

"Of course."

By the time Mitsuki got home, she felt dead on her feet. Like hell, she was going to tell Masaru what happened. Of course, she didn't need to since the man was already hurrying her onto the bed after making sure she had washed up. When they were both in bed, she opened her mouth to tell him about what happened, but a light peck on her lips stopped her.