Suspicions (Part 2)

Aizawa took out the access card in his pocket and and waved it across the scanner. The machine beeped, and the doors slid open. Aizawa walked through the door and looked around. The damage caused by the League of Villains were still being cleaned up, and the roof of the USJ has not been fixed. Moonlight spilled into the building, creating an eerie but peaceful atmosphere.

Of course, Aizawa wasn't here to admire the view. He was here to investigate something, and he didn't have a lot of time. He had managed to get away from Present Mic's surveillance with the excuse of going for a walk, so he had to be back to teacher's lounge in less than an hour.

Aizawa walked to the place where All Might had battled the Nomu. He was interested in the places the Reaper had been. Aizawa wanted to see if he could find any clues about the mysterious villain. He laboriously climbed up the building in his bandages and squatted down at where the Reaper had been when the battle occurred.

A bird cooed. Aizawa whirled around immediately, on high alert. No one should be able to get into USJ, not even a bird.

"Relax, it's just a pigeon."

Aizawa narrowed his eyes as he located the owner of the voice, and he immediately shifted into a defensive position. "What are you doing here, Reaper?"

The Reaper was perched on the roof of a nearby building. He wore a black hoodie and black jeans. A black face mask covered the bottom half of his face. The Reaper stroked the pigeon in his hands. "I found this little fella trapped in a building. He must have fallen through that hole in the roof and broke his wing."

The Reaper gently tossed the pigeon into the air and watched the bird fly away. "I thought it was pitiful, so I healed its wing for it."

The Reaper tilted his head to look at Aizawa. "You should tell whoever is in charge of repairing the building to pick up the pace. If I hadn't come by, the pigeon would have died."

"I'll keep that in mind," Aizawa replied coldly.

The Reaper took a couple glances at Aizawa's bandages before chuckling. "It's Eraserhead, right? I recognize your voice. You got patched up quite nicely."

Aizawa glared at the man. "Answer my question. What are you doing here?"

The Reaper stretched his arms. "I bet if I said I was here for a stroll, you wouldn't believe me."

"I won't," Aizawa agreed.

"In any case, I'm not here to fight you, so you don't need to be so on guard. You don't want to stress yourself with your injuries," the Reaper reminded. Aizawa didn't reply.

"You know, you have built yourself quite a reputation in the underworld, Eraserhead," the Reaper said. The Reaper casually picked himself up from the ground and started to walk along the edge of the building. "If I were to knock you unconscious right now and tie you up, I think many of the big bosses in the underworld will be eager to bid for your head."

"Is that supposed to be a threat?" Aizawa asked.

The Reaper dropped to the ground and walked to the middle of the clearing. "No, it was supposed to be a compliment."

Aizawa followed the Reaper but kept his distance from the man, still not too sure what his purpose was doing here.

The Reaper sat down on the ground. Aizawa watched him pull out a plastic bag from his shadow. Under Aizawa's incredulous gaze, the Reaper took out a cup of bubble milk tea and a blue straw from the bag. He unwrapped the straw from its plastic container and used it to poke a hole in the plastic sealing of the milk tea. The Reaper inserted the straw into the beverage and gave it a couple stirs. Aizawa watched as the Reaper removed his mask and took a sip of his milk tea.

The Reaper chewed the pearls in his mouth and swallowed. He tilted his head at Aizawa and held up the cup. "Would you like some, too?"

The Reaper pulled out an unopened drink from the plastic bag and showed it to Aizawa. "It's the standard bubble milk tea. It was buy one get one free at the store I went to, and I was wondering who I would share it with. And then you arrived!"

Aizawa was speechless. The Reaper looked at Aizawa for a couple moments before smiling. He stood up, walked a couple feet forward, placed the bubble tea and the straw on the floor, and returned to his original position. The Reaper took another sip of his tea, still looking at Aizawa with his red eyes. "It's not poisoned, don't worry."

"You can here just to drink bubble tea?" Aizawa asked.

The Reaper sipped his tea before answering, "You could say that. I do still have something I need to do, but, yes, as of right now, I came here to drink bubble tea." The villain gestured at the drink again. "Go on, try some. It's good."

After taking one more careful look at the odd villain, Aizawa sighed before sitting down and reaching for the bubble tea. He fumbled around with the straw in his bandaged hands before he managed to get it into the drink. The hero took a sip of his drink.

"It's good, right? I always liked the milk tea from store down next to Sakura Blossom Café," the Reaper asked.

Aizawa nodded numbly, still befuddled by the fact that he was drinking bubble tea with a S-rank villain. "I thought the Reaper would be around the age of 30. Turns out he's just a kid that likes drinking bubble tea."

The Reaper put down his drink. "Do I really look that young?"

Aizawa gazed at the Reaper's face. Before, Aizawa couldn't tell what he looked like with the mask on, but now he could. "You couldn't be older than 21."

The Reaper leaned backwards and looked at the sky. "In my profession, age doesn't matter as long as you can handle a blade and get the job done. I've seen children no older than six take out a man three times their size."

Aizawa grunted. The two sat in silence for a while, Aizawa enjoying his drink while the Reaper admired the night sky. A couple of minutes passed before the Reaper sat up and reached for his drink again. He took a quick sip before looking sideways at Aizawa. "I just remembered, it was you who took out one of my business partners four years ago. Yup, the capturing weapon and yellow goggles, it was definitely you, Eraserhead."

Aizawa put the drink between his hands. "Are you going to take revenge for your friend?"

The Reaper laughed. "Of course not. There's no such thing as friends in the underworld, only mutual interests. In fact, you did him a favor. If you hadn't thrown him into jail, his body would probably be lying in a grave somewhere instead."

Aizawa shot a glance at the young man. "You were planning on killing him?"

"Not planning on, no, his fate was sealed the moment he chose to leak out information to the competitors." The Reaper's gaze darkened. "Traitors are what I hate the most."

Aizawa didn't know what to say, and he wasn't sure if the Reaper had expected a response.

The Reaper picked up the plastic bag and stood up. "It was nice chatting with you, Eraserhead. But I'm sure you didn't come here to drink bubble tea with me, so I'll leave you to your own devices. May your injuries get better soon."

Aizawa watched the Reaper walk away from him. A short distance away, the Reaper stopped, his face hidden by the shadow of a building, and turned to face Aizawa. The young man gave a short bow and disappeared into the darkness. Aizawa stared thoughtfully at where the Reaper had disappeared before taking another sip of his tea. Something about the young man felt familiar to him.

"Aizawa, All Might, you two were the ones who made contact with the Reaper. What are your thoughts?" Nezu said. The three were sitting in his office.

"The last time I saw him was two years ago. His Quirk is extremely powerful, and his combat skills are very deadly. If he is working with the League of Villains, then we will be in a lot of trouble," All Might commented.

"No, I don't think he's working with the League of Villains. That wouldn't make any sense," Aizawa objected.

"Then, what do you think he was doing at USJ?" Nezu asked.

"I don't know. All Might, you weren't there to see everything. I was there when he first appeared. The Reaper saved Izuku, Tsuyu, and I from the villains. If he had been working with the League of Villains, it would be irrational for him to interfere. Not only that, Shigaraki didn't seem to recognize the Reaper. So, there is too small of a possibility of the two sides working together," Aizawa deduced.

"The information we got from Izuku and Tsuyu lines up with what Aizawa says. Also, they tell me that the Reaper has a healing Quirk, and he used that healing Quirk on you, Aizawa," Nezu agreed.

Aizawa nodded slowly. "At first, I didn't know what he was planning to do. He threatened my students but then offered to heal my wound. His healing Quirk was very potent. I believe it was his healing that saved my eyes from going blind."

"So a S-rank villain helped a pro hero and two students? That doesn't make sense," All Might said.

"Not only that, he was the one who forced Shigaraki to withdraw his men. Considering this, the Reaper singlehandedly protected all of the students present," Nezu added.

All Might frowned. "What if Shigaraki and the Reaper were putting up an act? A ruse to make us feel indebted to the Reaper, so he could use that in the future against us."

"But then why would he save you? Wouldn't killing you make everything simpler?" Aizawa questioned.

Aizawa leaned back into the sofa. "What if the Reaper truly had no evil intentions?"

Nezu nodded. "That could also be a possibility."

"No! That's impossible. We must be missing something," All Might insisted.

"You seem to be awfully against the idea that the Reaper could be on our side," Aizawa noted.

"You weren't there two years ago. That night, the amount of bloodlust coming from him was nothing I've ever experienced. It was like I was looking at a demon!" All Might shouted. He started coughing heavily after his outburst.

"All Might!" Nezu said.

"Excuse me, I need to step outside."

Aizawa and Nezu made no motion to stop the number 1 hero from leaving the room.

After the hero closed the door, Aizawa sighed and shook his head. "What he said was true. This is the first time I've met the Reaper, so I have nothing to base off my hunch. But I didn't detect any hint of bloodlust coming from him at USJ. And a 'demon'... A demon wouldn't have protected us."

Aizawa got up from his seat and picked up a file he had left on Nezu's desk. "It can't be a coincidence that the Reaper was also present at USJ the same time as the League of Villains. And Present Mic's comment about a traitor got me thinking. What if the Reaper was one of us? That would explain a lot of things that doesn't make sense."

"I was reviewing the information Naomasa gave us and the information we received from my students. I also went through the background checks of everyone present at the USJ attack. I originally didn't want to make this connection, but... I don't believe in coincidences. And of everything I've looked through, I've found one possibility." Aizawa handed the file over to Nezu.

"What if the Reaper is him?"