A Trip

Izō blinked, a bit lost to what the rodent principal had just told him over the phone, through his ear buds. He had snuck out of Aizawa's apartment for who-knows-how many days now to do some snooping around and some investigations to find one of the potential threats in this time—it's better to eliminate them earlier than one could expect.

He paused on his steps over at the dark alley before leaning his back onto the wall. "That's… four days from now?" He sounded a bit surprised, not really expecting the news… but he should've expected it.

"Ah… yes. It's my apologies for… forgetting to tell you that… the Entrance Exam is less than a week from now." The rodent laughed awkwardly, seemingly scratching the back of his head. "Wait," He paused, "I actually didn't forget to tell you—neither Aizawa nor I hasn't been able to get in touch with you for a while now. Where the heck are you?"

"… Oh…" Izō realised that… he, too, forgot about the upcoming important day because he was too immersed in investigating that… he may or may not have forgotten about the time.

He has always been like this, ever since the war had fully sunk into him. He'd often lose track of time even when doing the simplest things just because he has so many things in his mind, which would often result in an unfavourable end on his side. He'd completely forget to take care of himself…

It's pretty obvious to where this is getting.

Fatigue quickly settled onto him when he realised how long it has been since he had rested and had eaten a quick meal (which wouldn't be really called a meal since it's just half a piece of crackers). He flinched a bit and slid down from the wall and onto the floor. "I'll… be… right back…" He told the principal before hanging up the call.

He then sighed, ruffling his own hair. "If Ochako had known about the things I'm doing…" A laugh escaped from his lips, his hazy eyes losing their gloss as memories from his past resurfaced back in his mind. "She'd surely…" He clicked his tongue, standing up, only to stumble on his steps.

"What the hell am I doing?" He heaved yet another long sigh, "I need to get back and… fix things…" As he fixed his footing, preparing to leave the dark alley, a presence from behind made him stop. 'Seriously…' He thought as he cocked his head to the side, avoiding a sharp object that had went passed him. But the knife had caught his earbuds' wires, making him click his tongue, 'Can't I have a break… even in this time?'

"Aiya… the little boy has fast reflexes…" A voice echoed from behind.

'A villain, probably…' Izō thought, not bothering to move a single muscle to see whoever's behind him. It'd only be a waste of energy to do so… seeing that the villain is nowhere near as strong as the people behind the villainous war.

Heck, his Ochako's a lot scarier than the villain behind him right now.

Another sharp object was flung over towards him, aimed at his face. He casually took a step aside to avoid the object, fixing his eyes on it once it stuck onto the grimy wall. It's pretty sharp, he can't lie about that.

"Now, now…" The same raspy voice drew closer, lurking behind the once top hero. "If you don't resist… you may keep your life…" A smile latched onto his face once he got out of the shadows, his piercing gaze locked onto his target.

His words made Izō to turn around. The young man took this chance to observe the villain. It seems like he can produce the sharp objects he's been throwing at his will. He noticed that six knife-like objects literally sprouted from the villain's hands.

Would you look at that; the person Izo's been trying to find throughout the week had showed himself on the last second. "Ah…" He blinked, leaving his thoughts to himself because his target decided to just run to him in open arms. 'What a familiar face…' He doubts that the man remembers him. Heck, they haven't even met until now. 'The world is rather small…'

Only Izō's the one who remembers the guy. Well, why wouldn't he remember him? He's the one that made Izuku start the Izō façade in the first place. He's the… he will be the leader of a rather large criminal organisation in the future… of this time, anyways.

The young man's pretty sure the villain is just starting his organisation at this point of time. Wait… what was the man's name again? "Colonel…" Izō mindlessly blurted out the villain's name while immersed in his thoughts.

He knew the man as Colonel, in his timeline. He became his… "boss" in his disguise as Izō. Of course, a few of his friends went undercover to check on his well-being because they're pretty sure he's forgetting to take care of himself during those times. Kacchan also nearly blew their cover due to his temper, almost bringing Izō's 6-month worth of façade to naught. Thankfully though, they had already destroyed the organisation before the villains could find out the truth.

They wiped them out, to say the least... and it does not belong to Izō's most favourable moments because… there were lots of blood and fire involved. He doesn't want to remember that.

"Hm? You've heard of me?" Colonel asked, pretty proud of himself.

"Who… knows?" Izō shrugged, maintaining his monotone voice as he slouched forward, eyes lazily following the villain's. He's sure that Colonel here is in the process of gathering intel for his future organisation—too bad the villain decided to dig his own grave by deciding to pick on the wrong person.

Colonel couldn't really understand as to why he suddenly felt a chill course through his whole body when he locked eyes with his… target. He couldn't figure out if he's the predator and the child's the prey… or unknown things had turned this concept of his upside-down.

He flinched when his target's eyes seemed to have glowed in the tint of bright toxic green, making him take a shaking step back. 'The heck's up with this brat…?!' He thought, gritting his teeth.

Izō suddenly flashed a rather disturbing smile without himself knowing. When he realised that he has been smiling creepily, his act already reached the villain in front of him. He lazily touched his lips, quite disappointed to himself, "My… bad…"

"…" Colonel remained silent as a bead of sweat rolled down from his forehead.

"How's the intel gathering going, Colonel?" Izō asked, cocking his head to the side, his hazy eyes reflecting the man's red ones. "Will the organisation thrive?" Since he decided to be a full on mischievous one, Izō wondered how long it would take before his words would rile up the villain.

The man had a rather confused look, making him narrow his eyes, "H-How did you…? Wh-What…?"

Ah. He's already flustered. "You know… I'm quite tired…" Izō sighed, now wondering how one earth Colonel's organisation became successful because the man looks to be pretty new to these kind of things. 'Come to think of it…' He thought, 'Colonel from my time is actually a coward… despite his muscly appearance and creepy face…'

"If you… just, you know? Surrender or something?" Izō asked him in his now lazy tone.

"W-What the? To hell with that, you brat!" Colonel snarled, throwing his knives towards the creepy child as he rushed forth towards him.

"Ah… it's not like that would work, right?" Izō started to casually dodge the puny knives, using Colonel as his steppingstone to prop himself up, doing a quick backflip before landing poorly on the ground. He narrowed his eyes. It seems like his fatigue and hunger is already getting to him.

He needs to finish this quickly if he wanted to get back to Aizawa's apartment while still conscious.

He sighed, eyeing Colonel with his attempt to rush towards him one more time. He did him dirty and left an after image in front of him before appearing behind him, pinning him down solely with his strength. He really doesn't want the villain to get the upper hand so he decided to end the fight early. It'd be a bother if he just randomly faint in the middle of a battle due to his ignorance of not taking care of himself.

He used one of his abilities to bind up the villain struggling under his feet before dragging him along. The black whip used to bind the man glowed mysteriously as it held back its true prowess, but he really doesn't care at this point. Right now, after the short conflict with the villain, all Izō wanted is a good bed to sleep onto.

As he stepped out of the alley, he took a look at the bounded man he's dragging along, mumbling out small words, "The world is… so small…" He pulled up his hood and lifted up his grey mask over his features, leaving a small space enough for him to see through.

He's very sure that clueless civilians are eyeing him. Why wouldn't he stick out like a sore thumb? He's wearing all black in the middle of the day while dragging someone along using a whip of some sort. He's pretty sure some even decided to call on some heroes for him, so he took a detour using a much faster route to get back to Aizawa's.

And what is this short route?

The sky, peeps.

The sky.

Izō just casually put on a force with his jump before kicking back just hard enough to launch himself forwards, towards the general direction of Aizawa's apartment.

These all happened in under a few seconds, which really caught Colonel off guard. The man felt like his soul has been left to where they were. He's sure he had picked the worst possible opponent one could have. He's rather thankful the brat hadn't taken his life in a blink of an eye because his guts are telling him that the brat could've easily off of his head had he wanted to.

"Ah." A lazy tone then appeared when Izō landed pretty roughly on someone's doorstep. "You're back."

Izō just stayed sprawled out on the ground for a few seconds, staring at the hero whose lazy eyes are staring right back at him. He then sighed, standing himself up before pushing Colonel towards the hero. "Either bring him to jail… or let him start a… large criminal organisation. It's… up to you." He looked back at Aizawa, sounding a bit breathless, "I suggest the former though. He's pretty easy to read so… that'll get you somewhere."

"…" Eraser Head blinked at the young man who, right after taking the first step through the door, collapsed. He stared at the person the young man had pushed towards him before using his Hobaku Buki to bind the said person (who's a villain, which is easy to figure out). He then proceeded to sling Izō over his shoulder to quickly drop him off at the hospital.

Aizawa rung Nezu's phone to quickly inform him about the young man as he proceeded to drag the villain to his rightful place, and, hopefully, find out why the young man in his care had risked his well-being to even capture this villain.

"Wait, what?" Nezu sounded pretty panicked after hearing Aizawa's words.

"Check on him, Nezu-san. He left me… someone to take care of." Then, the man hung up.

Nice.

Nezu couldn't help but to think that the two have some things in common… and it's pretty annoying. He quickly left his files that he's supposed to take care off in a rush to see what on earth happened to the young man he's responsible of.

Since the hospital is pretty close, the rodent principal got there in no time, asking for the young man. He was relieved when he heard from the nurses that Izō had just fainted due to fatigue and hunger, and is far from serious danger… but he's quite pissed to learn that the brat forgot to take care of himself during whatever trip he had gone to.

And that trip is more than a week's worth. The squirt has been out of touch for god damned two weeks, and he honestly thought the young man had already ran away from him or something along those lines.

The rodent sighed as he entered the brat's room. He closed the door behind him and proceeded to take a chair to use as his leverage to see what Izō's state is in. For a second, he wasn't able to take his eyes off of the young man—he's too skinny for his build… he's quite malnourished.

The rodent couldn't imagine how the young man could actually stand upright without toppling over, what the heck? This is actually the first time the principal had been this close to his figure. No one would really see how thin he is because of his clever way of dressing up.

Man, he needs to eat.

Nezu needs to scold Aizawa for this child's sake.