Absence

Four - A Few Seconds

"Todoroki-kun!" Tsuyu called again, following Todoroki down the stairs. She saw his frozen figure at the bottom of the steps, and she stopped next to him. When she saw what he was so shocked by, she felt chills up her spine.

A lifeless Jirou lay in front of them.

Two wooden chairs, one with broken legs.

A bloodied rope on the floor.

And no sign of Momo.

Tsuyu ran to Jirou's side. "She's still breathing!" Todoroki heard her but didn't acknowledge her. How could this happen? And where was Momo? He'd heard Momo. He heard her. She was right here. Where could she be? Todoroki picked up the rope, stained with blood, and tightened his fists. He shut his eyes tight and threw the rope on the floor, teeth clenched. Were there any clues? He looked to the bookshelf and saw the array of old, dusty books. He noticed an old Greek book. It looked familiar... Todoroki took note of a clump of particularly dense dust. But upon closer inspection, he came to a realization. He grabbed the strange clump.

"Take Jirou, get her help," Todoroki instructed Tsuyu, and he started up the steps.

"Todoroki-kun, what about you? Where are you going?"

"To find Momo."

"But Aizawa-sensei said that everyone will get in trouble if we're not back in time, and it's already late."

"It doesn't matter if we're later then, it's already late."

Before he could take another step, Tsuyu said in slight exasperation, "Don't you remember what happened last time?" She felt pained. She knew where Todoroki was coming from. Once he had his mind set on something, you couldn't convince him otherwise. She'd learned that the hard way. Todoroki knew what she was referring to: the Bakugou incident.

Before he could say anything, his phone buzzed. He checked the caller ID. It was Midoriya.

"Hello?"

"Todoroki-kun! Where are you? Aizawa-sensei is really unhappy with you guys..."

"We found Jirou. She's in bad shape. Momo's still missing." Todoroki heard an audible gasp from the other end of the call.

"I'll let everyone know, I'll have Aizawa-sensei meet you guys at the hospital and anyone else who can come!"

"She's unconscious so I don't know if having visitors would be good for her. But I won't be there so do what you want."

"Wait, what do you mean?"

Todoroki grew exasperated. "Momo is still out there. I need to find her."

"But Aizawa-sensei is - ai!" Midoriya's voice was cut off, and a new, lower, more dead voice spoke.

"Todoroki, if you don't come back to the dorms right now, I will suspend you for a month. And I'll call your father and let him know." Todoroki paused, and then ended the call. He had no choice.

___

Todoroki lay in his bed, restless. The rest of the evening was uneventful: he and Tsuyu went to the hospital bringing a barely hanging on Jirou. The doctors didn't want any visitors for her other than family, as she was in critical condition. Jirou was operated on that same night, and the doctors said she was a strong spirit and would have a strong recovery. Her parents stayed by her side and Todoroki and Tsuyu went to the dorms. There were slight tensions between the two. If Midoriya hadn't called then, what would've happened?

He grabbed his bedsheet with one hand, squeezing tight. He was so close to her. But it wasn't close enough. If Jirou was so badly beaten, he didn't want to imagine what suffering Momo already had to endure. What did they want with her? This couldn't have been an accident. Todoroki ran through the clues he'd gathered so far: the payphone, the "road closed" sign, the clay on the tree trunks, and the old Greek book. How did they all fit together?