Chapter 13

Ms. Shimura heaves a sigh. "I wonder if Toshi really realizes how much of a handful you are," she mutters, crossing her arms. "Well, he's safe enough here that I don't need to watch him. Lead the way, kiddo. I don't think I've ever seen you work before."

"Oh, well, there isn't much to it," Izuku says with a shrug. "Rei, can you find him?"

She nods vigorously.

"Wait, what? That's it?" Ms. Shimura blinks. "I'm confused, did she go out and look for him before?"

"Uh, no." Izuku looks to Rei for confirmation. His friend shakes her head and shrugs. "That's why we have to look for him now." Rei stands in place for a few moments more, cocking her head this way and that with a frown on her face. Finally, she drifts off down the hall, back in the direction they came. Izuku scoops Mika up off the ground and follows.

"Oh." Ms. Shimura falls in step with him. "Okay then. So… what's the process, though? How's she know where to go?"

Izuku frowns, confused by the question. "Well… it's a poltergeist."

"...Yeah?"

"They tend to be pretty angry, as a general rule of thumb," Izuku goes on.

"...And?"

"It's… pretty simple," Izuku says. "She just does that… that sensing thing."

Ms. Shimura stares at him, looking baffled. "What sensing thing?"

"You know, where you just… feel for emotions?"

"I don't follow."

"...Oh." Izuku turns back to look at Rei. She's always had a strong level of empathy; he's never been able to hide his feelings from her. Years of seeing her and communicating with her has shown him that it's not just a matter of reading the mood; she can sense these things in people. Izuku's always assumed it was just a ghost thing, but if Ms. Shimura can't do it, then… maybe it's just a Rei thing. "Well, it's something she can do. I just figured… other ghosts are always so nervous when there are poltergeists around, so I thought everyone was doing it."

"Kiddo, other ghosts are nervous when there are poltergeists around because poltergeists are both strong and usually crazy," Ms. Shimura says bluntly. "Like that one at the beach, back before you started school. The second I was in reach, it tried to tear me a new asshole."

"She," Izuku says.

"What?"

"She." His voice is much quieter when he repeats it. "Her name was Sachi."

"Oh." Ms. Shimura's face and voice soften. "Right. Is she…?"

"She's gone," he says. "She moved on. No one can ever hurt her again."

Ms. Shimura doesn't ask him anything after that, so Rei leads them onward in silence. For all that his best friend is quiet, Izuku can't help but notice how nervous she is. Her hair stirs, as does the hem of her white nightgown. Izuku can feel the tension spiking off her, sending chills up the length of his spine. A quick glance at Ms. Shimura tells him that she's feeling it too.

Before long, he starts to hear it, and feel it. It's colder here, so much so that Izuku half expects to start seeing his breath. Incoherent whispering emanates from the walls, sounds that can't just be noises in the plumbing or the walls. More shivers tell him that they're headed in the right direction. What's more, he knows the sounds aren't coming from anyone living, because by now they're beyond the hallways and areas that any of the students, faculty, or spectators would use. Living people are avoiding this place.

So are the dead, apparently. Besides the three of them and the cat, there's no one here.

And then, in a heartbeat, there is.

Rei hisses at the sudden apparition—she doesn't like surprises. This one comes in the form of a woman that Izuku has never seen before. She doesn't look much like a poltergeist; mostly she just looks… worried? Scared? Normal, mainly. He can't tell how she died just by looking at her, and with poltergeists he can always tell. They wear that sort of thing on their sleeve, if there's anything left of them that remembers who they used to be.

"Oh dear," she frets. "Oh dear—please go back. Don't go this way." She addresses Rei and Ms. Shimura when she talks. "Please, if there's any way you can warn him—"

"I can hear you," he tells her, and she lets out a small 'eep' in surprise. "There's a poltergeist this way, isn't there? Can you tell me what's wrong? I'd like to help if I can."

Her blank eyes are as round as saucers as she looks at him. "I… oh." She hesitates. "I, um." After a moment of dithering, she looks to Ms. Shimura for help.

"He's used to this kind of thing, apparently," Ms. Shimura tells the ghost. "This isn't his first rodeo." She pauses, then snaps her fingers. "If you don't mind me asking, your name wouldn't happen to be Suzuki, would it?"

"How did you—oh." Suzuki blinks. "Did you talk to Hino?"

"Who?" Izuku pipes up.

"I think I did," Ms. Shimura says. "He's the douche in the suit, right?"

Suzuki winces. "Sorry about him. Anyway—listen. You… don't want to be here right now. I've been warning everyone off so far, just to make sure Okumura doesn't hurt anyone, but beyond that there's not much I can do. He won't listen on the best of days, and right now…" Fear flashes across her face. "I'd really rather not get near him, to be honest with you."

As if on cue, a shriek rattles the surrounding walls. The voice barely sounds human, and sends prickles spider-crawling along Izuku's shoulders. He shrugs the feeling away.

"Do you know why he's upset?" he asks.

The reply comes instantaneously, but not from Suzuki. Something slams, like a door banging open, and Izuku barely has time to blink before something carries him off his feet. His back hits the wall with enough force to rattle his teeth, and he shuts his eyes as a poltergeist howls its fury an inch from his face. Icy, clawlike fingers curl into the fabric of his gym uniform. Off to the side, mostly drowned out by the poltergeist's yelling, Suzuki cries out for it to leave Izuku alone.

He feels Rei's familiar answering shriek like a physical pressure on his eardrums, and the poltergeist is abruptly yanked away from him. It—he—Okumura?—had been holding him at least a few inches higher than Izuku's normal height would have allowed, and once released, he slides down the wall until he touches the floor. He opens his eyes to find that Ms. Shimura has placed herself in front of him while Rei and the unfamiliar poltergeist tousle in the center of the hallway. Shadows twist along the wall, and the nearest lights flicker. One of them sputters out entirely. At his feet, Mika presses herself against his ankles and hisses.

A proper deep breath takes two tries to accomplish, but eventually Izuku manages to get his stuttering chest under control. "Ms. Shimura," he says, once he can trust his own voice again. "Keep watch, will you? Let me know if someone's coming. Someone alive."

"Kiddo, I don't think—"

Izuku pitches his voice a little louder as he steps around Ms. Shimura. "Rei?" A pale face, features dripping like candle wax, turns away from the equally malformed poltergeist and tilts quizzically to one side. Izuku smiles. "Thanks, Rei, but you can let him go now." To the poltergeist, he says, "I just want to talk. Please don't do that again? It upsets my friend, and when she gets upset, I can't really tell her what to do."

The twisted form flickers, and for the space of a blink Izuku can see the person that the poltergeist used to be. A few features stick in his head—dark, wavy hair, a pointed nose, and a grayish tint to the dead-pale skin—before it goes back to swelling shadows and nightmares given form. Rei backs off, but she doesn't exactly back down. Izuku's glad that no one else is here, because he'd hate to wonder how much of this would be visible to someone who doesn't have his sight.

"Hello," Izuku says—maybe he should have opened with that. "My name's Midoriya. Would you like to talk?"

The reply is a mixture of spectral white noise and curse words.

"Whatever you're angry about," Izuku goes on, "I promise it won't be fixed by yelling at everyone here. It's Endeavor you're mad at, right?"

Pressure builds in his skull, as if he's suddenly been dropped miles beneath the earth. His ears ache from the strain, and he knows he's touched a nerve.

"I'm dead because of him." Okumura's voice makes Izuku wince with pain.

"Ow. I'm sorry, that must have been awful—"

"Shut the fuck up, you mealy-mouthed brat." Harsh words skim off of Izuku harmlessly. "If I wanted someone patronizing me, I'd talk to fucking Hino."

"Sorry."

"Don't get in my way," Okumura snarls.

"I don't plan on it," Izuku tells him, still steady. It's important to keep calm. Experience has taught him that poltergeists feed off of strong emotions from the living—fear and anger and grudges. "I'd like to help, if I can."

"I don't need help from a little shit like you," Okumura snaps. "As soon as that bastard dies, I'll tear his soul to shreds." Shadows billow, and for a moment Izuku wonders if the poltergeist will goad Rei into another fight. But then, in an instant, the shadows vanish and take the poltergeist with them, and the hallway is quiet once more.

"Well that could have gone better." Ms. Shimura sounds… not scared, exactly. Anxious. Maybe even a little frazzled.

"Not really," Izuku says. "It takes more than one conversation to fix this kind of thing. I'll keep working at it if I catch any free time."

"You'll keep working at it?" Suzuki echoes, sounding incredulous. "You're joking, right? He almost took your face off!"

"It's okay," Izuku assures her, as Rei returns to normal and crouches down to pet Mika. "He's just mad. It happens. Do you know what his problem is? It'll take longer to coax it out of him."

"I don't really know details," she says slowly. She's staring at him like she has no idea what to make of him, which is also pretty normal.

"He said Endeavor killed him," Izuku says. "Or caused his death, at least."

"Oh, well… it wasn't direct, or in cold blood, I don't think," Suzuki tells him. "It was… oh, I'd have to talk to Hino. Hino was already with Endeavor when Okumura joined him, I think. I didn't come into all this until recently." Her form flickers in and out of view, which is like the ghostly version of fidgeting.

"What about you?" Izuku asks. "If you don't mind me asking. Why did you join them?" If you're so scared of Okumura, he doesn't say.

"Well… it's…" More fidgeting. "It's hard to say it out loud without it sounding silly. And—rash."

"I won't judge," Izuku promises her.

"I don't even know them," she sighs. "Hardly at all. I babysat some of the older ones once or twice, when I was alive. I must have seen something then, something that didn't quite register. So after I died, I paid a visit. On a whim. And I just kept coming back."

"What drew you?"

"It's—" One last false start, and the ghost seems to steady herself. "Oh, I don't know why I stay. I don't know what I'd do if it ever came to it. But it's that boy of his. His youngest."

"Todoroki Shouto?" Izuku blinks. "What about him?"

"Like I said," Suzuki sighs. "I don't know what I expect to do about it. But part of me can't help wondering if he won't kill that boy one day. Either by accident or by driving him to do something reckless, or… I don't know. It's such an unhappy place, that house. I should leave—it has nothing to do with me—but that poor boy's just so alone."

Izuku's hands curl into fists at his sides.

"I'm sorry I can't be more helpful," Suzuki sighs. "I'll try to talk to Hino—talk to me later, maybe? If you can find a way to do something about Okumura, that would be a weight off my head."

"I'll do my best," Izuku says softly. "Thank you, Ms. Suzuki."

Before he can think of anything else to say, Ms. Shimura appears at his side—he never even noticed her leave. "Voice down, shorty," she warns. "Toshi's coming."

Izuku waves a quick goodbye to Suzuki before she disappears, and familiar footsteps announce All-Might's arrival. A moment before his teacher appears around the corner, Izuku drops to a crouch and pets Mika.

"Oh, there you are," All-Might says, upon seeing him. "It's getting on to the tournament event, my boy. What are you doing back here?"

"Just looking for somewhere quiet," he says, as Mika pushes her head into his hand. "Lost track of time, sorry." All-Might steps closer, and his cat trots over to purr like truck engine and wind her way around his ankles.

"Goodness, hello." All-Might stoops carefully to pet her, before straightening again with a grunt of effort. Izuku wonders how strong his true form is; he has to have some physical power to house One For All, but he looks so… rickety like this. "You aren't late yet," All-Might assures him. "There's still time to walk. I was just a bit worried when you weren't with any of the others." He holds out a hand as Izuku scoops up his cat and follows. The hand comes to rest lightly on Izuku's shoulder. "So. Nervous?"

"A little, yeah," Izuku says. He remembers the warnings he's been given—Ojiro's advice about Shinsou, and his conversation with Todoroki. "But it's like the entrance exam. There's no way for me to be any more prepared for it than I already am."

"Good." All-Might squeezed lightly.

They walk together in silence through the halls, Rei and Ms. Shimura drifting along with them. Suzuki is nowhere to be seen; she's probably gone off to find Okumura or Hino. Whether or not he wins this fight, he's going to have to find her later. Okumura seems to hate Endeavor, but the thought of any one of his classmates living so close to such a volatile spirit doesn't sit well with Izuku.

"By the way," All-Might says suddenly. "Awkward question, but—" He points an inquisitive finger at Mika.

Izuku feels his face flush with embarrassment. "Right. Um." He hugs Mika closer to his chest, adjusting her in his arms when she bats at his chin. "My cat followed me here. Aizawa-sensei was watching her for the first two events, but…" Hesitantly he raises his head to look at All-Might. "I hate to ask this—"

The look on his teacher's face is one of amusement rather than annoyance, so that's a relief. "Midoriya, do you need me to watch your cat for you while you compete?"

"If it's not too much trouble," Izuku says in a small voice. "I'm really sorry—"

All-Might interrupts him by chuckling out loud. The hand leaves his shoulder to give Mika's ear a scratch, and Izuku feels her purr against his chest. "She's a friendly little one, isn't she?"

"I've never met a person she doesn't like." They're nearing the central stadium, and Izuku can see people again—living and dead—though All-Might is careful to steer him away from the former. He's in his true form, and even though his chances of being recognized are low, people might ask uncomfortable questions. "She's never had a problem with being held, either," Izuku tells him. He feels shy as he looks up at All-Might. "You're sure you don't mind? I could probably find a side room to put her in, or ask Aizawa-sensei again."

Instead of answering, All-Might holds out his hands. Taking the hint, Izuku gently sets Mika in his arms. Even without his hero form, All-Might's proportions are way bigger than the average person—Izuku's only a little taller than his elbow. Mika can fit in his cupped hands, and she seems happy enough to do so. "I'll keep an eye on her, my boy. You focus on your match." He chuckles. "Who knows? Maybe if I run into Endeavor again, the sight of her will put him in a better mood."

"Oh." It's almost time for him to go out, but the opening here is too good to pass up. "Was he in a bad mood before?"

"Endeavor can be… difficult." All-Might shifts his arms to cradle Mika more comfortably, and she slips free of his hands to hook her claws into his jacket and climb to his shoulder. "He's a fine hero, but not the most personable."

"I see." The memory of Todoroki's tense face flashes at the forefront of Izuku's mind, and he blinks it away. Todoroki made it sound like Endeavor hated All-Might. "Do you get along with him?" he asks. "I mean, you're Number One and he's Number Two, so, do you at least work together a lot?"

"We did, but…" All-Might's voice trails off. "Well, it was quite a while ago. I've been traveling a lot in recent years, so I've lost touch with many of my acquaintances." He reaches up to pet the cat on his shoulder. "One benefit to my current teaching position, I hope—I'd like to reconnect with old colleagues. As for whether or not Endeavor and I get along, well… our positions being what they are, we're both well-suited to fighting solo, so we haven't had many opportunities for collaboration. But I respect him a great deal as a hero, and I like to think he does as well, in his own way. I think Japan is lucky to have him."

"Jesus Christ," Ms. Shimura mutters. "Hey, short stack? Endeavor hates him. And I mean, hates him. And he's an asshole."

Izuku nods in response to both of them. The entrance to the stadium is just up ahead, and All-Might finally comes to a halt.

"Young Midoriya," he begins. Then he pauses, long enough to fix Izuku with a deep, considering look. Izuku returns it steadily, wondering what his mentor might be thinking. At last, All-Might gives him a little smile and clasps his shoulder one last time. "Show them what you're capable of, my boy. Make sure they pay attention."

"Yes, sir." Steeling himself, he turns toward the stadium entrance and walks.

"Did you hear what the brain-dead monkey said earlier?" Shinsou asks, loudly enough to be heard across the ring. "He talked big about pride, but it was pretty stupid of him throw out his chances like that, huh?"

Izuku opens his mouth to tell Shinsou exactly where he can shove it, and barely catches himself when Rei shrieks at him from the sidelines. He shuts his mouth so quickly that he almost bites his tongue, and shoots Shinsou what feels like the ugliest glare he's ever given anyone.

"What?" Shinsou smirks. "It's true. There're people who'd kill for half the chance I gave him, and he flushed it away without a thought. Pretty high and mighty of him, that's all."

That's his strategy, Izuku thinks. He's gonna bait me into talking so he can brainwash me right out of the ring. He purses his lips, curls his hands into fists, and takes a step to close the distance between them. It'd be better to end this quickly before he can slip up, but he has no idea what Shinsou's capable of, physically. Better not underestimate him.

Shinsou's on his guard now, circling instead of advancing, forcing Izuku to match his movements to keep him from getting behind him. "Must be nice for somebody like you," he says. "With a quirk like that, you must've been born with 'hero' stamped across your ass."

Izuku bites his lip.

"And there's all of you in heroics, running around like idiots 'cause you've got it made, while the rest of us have to dance and beg just to get noticed." Shinsou's shadowed eyes narrow. "What's that look for? What're you looking at me like you're the underdog for?" His teeth flash white as his lip curls back. "You're the golden boy, you've got a quirk like All-Might's second coming. You'd hardly even have to work to get noticed around here!'

If only you knew, Izuku almost says. It's a fight just to block Shinsou out.

"Nobody's ever gonna look at your quirk and say you're villain material!" Shinsou's voice rises. "Do you even know what that's like? Having your one dream thrown in your face just because you were born with the wrong kind of power?"

The words hit like a twisting in his heart.

His mouth moves without a command from his brain. It's pure habit, a meaningless platitude, a tiny little nothing of a word, but it slips out just as it's slipped out countless times before.

"Sorry," he says, before his brain catches up and realizes his mistake. "That must have been awf—"

His tongue locks in his mouth, and his body freezes in place from head to toe. Shit, he tries to say, but his mouth will no longer obey him. All he can do is stare, blankly, at Shinsou's triumphant smile.

"Turn around," Shinsou tells him, and the command reverberates in his head like an echo bouncing off the inside of his skull. "Turn around and walk out of bounds."

Obediently, his legs respond. His body turns itself around and starts carrying him, step by step, toward the boundaries of the ring.

Izuku's head is not a fun place to be at the moment. All the vehement swearing he would be doing if he only had control of his mouth, is taking place in the confines of his mind.

Nice going, idiot. You had one job. One job! Just don't talk. Well, failed Step One. Nice work , Deku.

Maybe he should be worried that his inner voice sounds an awful lot like Bakugou right now.

Frustration wells up uselessly within him. He was supposed to prove himself here. He was supposed to announce his arrival, to attract Gran Torino's attention. And all he's going to do now is toddle stupidly out of the contest with a cockeyed look on his face.

Such a shame.

He was doing pretty well.

Too kind, that's the trouble.

No such thing.

Izuku blinks. That… didn't sound like any of his thoughts.

He's young. He'll learn from this.

Better to make this mistake here, instead of a real battle.

Better now than against my brother.

Anything we can do for him?

Yes.

A vision blooms before his eyes as he walks helplessly forward. Not ghosts—this is too hazy for ghosts. More like a mirage on the horizon, like a heat shimmer mixed with smoke and shadow. Izuku would react, would cry out, but he's not in control. Dark, indefinite shapes loom over him—eight of them—nine? Two of them look almost familiar.

He won't thank us.

It'll be a hard lesson.

But don't forget, he's had far worse.

He's almost to the edge when icy hands catch his arm. Izuku can't turn his head to look, but he recognizes the size of the hands, and the garbled whining growl. Rei drags at him, slowing his progress but not stopping it.

He focuses. He can't move his mouth. He can't speak.

But maybe… maybe if he focuses, and does his best…

The strain sends pain shooting through his head, but he does it. His failing fingers, stiff and sluggish under someone else's control, just barely form letters.

"Rei hit me," he finger-spells, and she appears in front of him, shrieking fit to… well, wake the dead. It doesn't break Shinsou's control, but she already slowed him down by pulling at him. Rei screams in his face, shoving at him to push him back toward the center of the ring. Black eyes flash up to his face, desperate and apologetic.

"Sorry," she signs to him, and her hand lashes out.

Rough claws rake his face, and his head snaps to one side with the force of the blow.

—blunt nails, fingers clutch at him in the dark, grasping for his throat. many hands, many voices, harsh breathing on his neck, eerie wails that scrape in his ears. they are angry. he cannot get out. he cannot get away—

He startles awake with a harsh gasp. The shadowy forms in his vision are gone. His feet are right at the edge of the ring, but still within it. Rei hugs his arm, and she still doesn't speak out loud but he hears the sorrysorrysorry in her quiet whimpering.

Has he stopped? Is he free?

Looks like it.

The boy has good friends.

Now try again, little one.

Izuku bites his lip. His face stings. He glances down at his best friend and smiles. Thank you, he mouths.

Rei smiles back, winks, and mimes zipping her mouth shut.

He takes a deep breath, then turns on his heel and runs back to win.