Chapter Text
Izuku was really starting to question his friend making decisions, or lack there off, as he was running down a small alleyway that belonged to the Musutafu district. Izuku went to school there. Aldera middle school to be more exact.
Izuku lived a dangerous life, always on the run from potential threats. Yearning for people to stop looking down on him for things he couldn't control. He wanted nothing more than to become a hero who saved people like himself because no one ever did stick up for him.
Everyone always left him in the shadows to deal with everything by himself. Izuku was overlooked and cast aside all because of his lack of quirk. He was bullied, humiliated, beaten and bruised to the point where he would go home and cry into his pillow at night doing his hardest to muffle his sobs. He didn't want to concern his poor mother.
Izuku had so many things he wanted to do, so many goals. He wanted to be great. He wanted to be liked and he wanted real friends who didn't call him by insults and names and told him to kill himself.
His only goal right now though, was to make it back home to his apartment complex before they caught up to him, and by ‘they’ he meant Bakugou and his friends. Bakugou had been tormenting Izuku for a long time. As long as he could remember. Anyone would laugh at you if you told them the two boys used to be best friends.
But they used to be friends.
The very best of friends actually. Their parents had gone to school together and thus resulted in them having playdates as soon as they were born. People used to say that “this was Izuku and Katsuki’s universe, everyone else was just watching from the side” they had no idea what that would start in the head of a young boy with a new powerful quirk. And that is where it started wasn't it?
It did start when Bakugou got his quirk and Izuku didn't. Everyone at school shamed him and Izuku was a fool to believe that his best friends wouldn't. Instead of being there for him, Bakugou did a full 360 and started bullying him, doing anything from simple name calling to actual abuse.
Izuku still had burn scars shaped like hands on his shoulders and back. A forever reminder of his middle school torture experience.
But even though all odds were against him, Izuku never did give up on his hopes and dreams. sure they were shattered into nothing but small pieces everytime someone made a dumb remark, called him useless or told him to kill himself, but they were pieces nonetheless. Pieces Izuku wished he could use to become something great. How badly he wanted to prove everyone wrong. If only he could just get the bullies to leave him alone.
That brings us back to the now where Izuku was running down a dirty street with his heart in his throat. He could feel the adrenaline pulsing through him as he ran. And boy did he run. With Bakugou on his tail he ran through dirty puddles that splashed up in his face and clinged to the black fabric of his uniform. He had just gotten a new one since the last one he had was burned by Bakugou.
Izuku leapt over a dirty soaked cardboard box and turned around the corner pushing his back up against a wall behind a dumpster. He covered his mouth, with his hand, to muffle his heaving breath as he heard the sounds of yells, laughter and explosions come closer.
This whole scenario was something straight out of a horror movie and Izuku felt his heart beat fast and hard. He just wished Kacchan couldn't hear it.
“Where the hell did that loser go?” shouted one of the voices not known to Izuku.
Bakugou had gotten a lot of new friends since starting middle school and sometimes it was hard to keep track of them. He only kept them around if they were willing to torment Izuku or had a nice,cool and powerful quirk. Even if he didn't want to admit it, Izuku was a tad bit jealous of Bakgou’s new friends. Izuku had tried everything to become one of Kacchans friends.
“How the fuck should i know” Bakugo roared at the other side of the wall and Izuku had to physically stop himself from crying. “That bastard is quick but we’ll get him, he needs to get humbled.” he added on.
something made a noise from another alleyway and Bakugou and his group were quick to run after it. Once out of sight and hearing Izuku slowly removed a shaking hand from his mouth and breathed a sigh of relief.
he had really dodged a bullet there.
He walked out from behind the dumpster and took a look around. He had no idea where he was and therefore no idea on how to get home.
Izuku started walking down the alleyway he had turned in on, deciding against going back towards the school.
Bakugou didn't usually take the bullying outside of school but something had pissed him off. Izuku had scored higher than him on a pop quiz and Bakugou had been furious. Izuku kicked a can on the ground and scoffed.
A sudden noise snapped Izuku back to reality and he made eye contact with someone standing in the shadows. their eyes were filled with panic, probably realizing they had gotten caught in the middle of something. The mystery person dropped whatever they were holding and walked towards Izuku. instinctively he backed away.
“I’m- I'm so sorry! I didn't kno-” he got cut off when the other guy grabbed his arm with a firm grip. They had slender muscles and bright pink hair.
Izuku looked down at where they had grabbed his arm and froze. their hands were covered in blood. He skeptically looked over the guy's shoulder to see a person lying limp on the floor.
“You didn't see shit got it!?” they growled and Izuku started nodding so hard his head almost fell off.
“I- I swear! I didnt- I didnt see anything!” he squeaked back. Fuck this is how he dies. At the hands of some off brand willy wonka high on drugs.
“Why should I believe you?” they asked Izuku with weary eyes. Yup he was getting murdered right there right now. Please let it be quick.
Izuku sank the lump in his throat but still no words came out. He could feel tears forming in his eyes.
The villain's eyes were filled with panic and with the hand not holding a bruising grip on Izuku they ran it through their hair, leaving blood stains on their forehead.
The villain exhaled shakily and looked back at the corpse.
“No, we can't have that. I gotta get rid of you.” they said and turned their head around again, presumably looking for something to kill him with. Oh god.
They dragged Izuku to a nearby wall and pushed him up against it. the enforced eye contact made him dizzy and did his eyes start glowing? He was gonna die right here and he hadn't even met All Might yet.
Izuku felt a wave of exhaustion rush over him making his eyes and head terribly heavy and a weird pricking feeling started sizzling over his body. It felt weird and oddly tingling. Maybe he had a gas nullifier type quirk? Was dying supposed to feel this calm? In the distance he hears Bakugou yelling at him. Did they find him? Thankfully he won't have to hear any more torment from him. Maybe he would get lucky and get a quirk in his next life like Kacchan had said.
“That's good. Just keep looking here it'll all be over soon” the guy said in a voice filled with venom and panic. It was creepy. There were more people yelling now but izuku's head felt like it was underwater. God he really just wanted to go home.
It seemed like Izukus attacker had finally noticed the other people that were watching him and from Izuku's drowsy stage he noticed a surge of panic run through the villain.
Out of nowhere the villain grabbed Izuku's head with his large hand, covering almost his entire face, and pounded it into the wall behind him. Two times.
Everything went black.
-
just as fast as his lights were off they got turned back on like an annoying child playing with the lights.
Izuku's eyes shot wide open, the bright green eyes staring up at the small patch of sky, you could glimpse through what seemed like never ending walls. He continued to lay still for a while trying to gather his thoughts. Someone was touching his arm, shaking it softly.
Through his terrible headache and seemingly soaked clothes he constated a few things:
- He was hopefully not dead, but he did have a terrible headache.
- He had just gotten attacked by a villain that looked like Willy Wonka with pink hair on drugs.
- It was raining heavily and he was lying in something that smelled like piss and blood.
- He was bleeding from his head and he could feel a lump on the back of his head poking into the wet cement.
The sound of nearby yelling and police sirens brought him out of his thoughts and with struggling movements he slowly sat up and looked around. The rain was falling hard and making it difficult for him to see properly. The soft shaking stopped and someone put a hand on his shoulder.
Once his vision stopped spinning he was met with a chaotic mess.
Off brand willy wonka was thrashing against a police officer while being in quirk cuffs and a homeless looking man with a weird scarf stared him down. There was a single police car, apparently that was all they could get in through the alleyway, and it had definitely seen better days.
What shocked Izuku most of all was seeing Bakugou calmly talking to one of the police officers. The rest of his friends standing behind him all adding in. Izuku couldn't hear what they were saying.
“-llo can you hear me?” a feminine voice made Izuku snap his head to the side.
It was a paramedic and they were holding a first aid kit in their hands.
“Sorry what?” Izuku answered and the lady sighed in relief.
“Hello, my name is Kira and if you would please follow me to the car so i can check you for injuries that would be lovely” she said with a kind smile.
“Uhm sure” Izuku answered and got dragged to his feet.
Now standing up he could see the whole scene better. His legs wobbled as he walked over to the police car. He ducked his head down when he passed Kacchan and walked as quickly as he could.
He sat down and Kira started working on aiding the back of his head, as well as a few scrapes he had gotten.
“Right so you must be Izuku Midoriya '' a deep gruff voice said and Izuku slowly turned his head up. He hissed in pain when the antiseptic wipe grazed the wound on the back of Izuku's head.
“Right sorry” the homeless man squatted down in front of Izuku and allowed Kira to get better access to his wound by turning his head down.
“Who are you?” Izuku asked and cringed at how small his voice sounded. Why did he have to be so weak?
“I'm Eraserhead, an underground hero and the person who is now on your case” he said as he shifted his eyes from Izuku to the villain briefly. “Do you remember what happened?”
Izuku's eyes lit up at the mention of a hero. A real hero! and an underground one at that! How lucky had he been to meet someone like that!? And all it took was a near death experience.
“Are you a real hero!? What is your quirk?” Izuku asked quickly “I have never seen you on tv before but i guess that makes sense you did just say you were an underground hero! Wow you look so cool now that i'm actually looking. That came out wrong. It's just that I thought you were a homeless witness before but this is even cooler!”
Izuku stared at Eraserhead with stars in his eyes while the man himself just shifted uncomfortably in his position.
“Right,” he said.
“So do you remember what happened?” the hero tried again.
Izuku froze and his cheeks heated up. He just fanboyed in front of a real hero, how stupid could he be?
“Sorry” he said, averting his eyes.
“It's alright kid” Eraserhead said “do you remember what happened?” he tried once again feeling his patience slipping.
“Uhm well i was running” Izuku started and Eraserhead quickly peaked up. Finally this was going somewhere.
“Why were you running?” Eraserhead asked and noticed the way Izuku's eyes shifted towards the other kids.
“I was just- uhm i was- i was just running i guess” he answered looking back at the hero.
“Right, yeah, i was running and i turned at the corner here and uhm” Izuku continued his hand on his chin looking deep in thought as he tried to recollect his memories.
“I turned the corner and there was this guy? He was looking really panicked and I think he had just killed someone” at this Eraserhead looked confused over at the villain who was now sitting in the backseat of the police car.
“Uhm i mean his hands were filled with blood at least because he like got blood on my uniform see?” Izuku continued quickly showing his arm to the hero “And well he went over and sorta grabbed my arm? It really hurts now that I think about it. But yeah he pushed me up against the wall and he was like staring at me and I got all tired and dizzy and then Kacchan and the others came back and he panicked and smashed my head into the wall.” Izuku finished and tried to reach behind to feel his bump. His hand got smacked away by Kira and he winced.
Eraserhead sighed. “Alright kid thank you. I'm gonna let your friends come over here now while I go talk to my colleague really quickly. Your friends are worried sick about you alright?” he said before walking over to the police man.
Just as Eraserhead got up Bakugou and the others came running over. izuku's whole body began to shiver. Please just leave him alone
“What the fuck was that?” Bakugou yelled, making Izuku flinch. He hissed when the antiseptic wipe once again touched his wound too suddenly.
“Im- I'm sorry Kacchan but I was just trying to get away” he stuttered out. Damn that stutter.
Bakugou looked puzzled at him and Izuku did everything in his right mind not to start crying.
“Why would you do that? One second you were with us and the next this guy is holding you against the wall and like you can't just run away like that! not when you’re a weak quirkless!” one of Bakugou's nameless friends shouted back and Bakugou sent them an ice cold glare over his shoulder.
“What-”
“Midoriya, if you are done getting fixed up i would like you to come show me where the corpse was before you go to the hospital” Eraserhead shouted from the alleyway.
Izuku hadn't even noticed when Kira stopped aiding his head and he was now very aware of the throbbing pain in his head.
Izuku shot Bakugou and his lot and apologetic look and walked over to the hero and the police officer. He stepped over the small pool of what he hoped was his own blood and made his way towards them.
“Well it was right here in the shadow” he started as the two law enforcers followed him. “I only saw the legs and some of their hip but it was a bloody mess. Looked pretty terrifying” he continued and stepped under the tunnel connecting the alleyway to another alleyway.
He looked at where he last saw the corpse but nothing was there.
“Welp, this is weird.” Izuku chuckled nervously, “I could have sworn there was someone here.”
Eraserhead and the police officer exchanged glances behind his back.
“It's alright kid we’ll take care of this lets get you to a hospital yeah?” the hero said, putting a hand on Izuku's shoulder.
“Alright,” Izuku said as he let the hero guide him back to the car.
They picked up izuku's yellow backpack on the way back to the car, it was soaked and dirty. All of his books were probably ruined. The villain was taken into custody until they could question him and Izuku got driven to the hospital. Bakugou and the others stayed behind while Izuku got to drive with Eraserhead.
They arrived at the hospital and Eraserhead stayed with Izuku until they could get in contact with his mom.
“Listen kid, you might be a little scared or even have some bad dreams about this experience” Eraserhead said “it's a totally normal thing to do when you have been attacked.”
He started scribbling something down on a piece of paper.
“I just want you to know that if you don't have anyone to talk to or if someone picks on you because of this, you can give me a call alright?” he finished writing and handed the paper to Izuku.
Shouta Aizawa, Eraserhead xxx-xxx-xxx
Izuku looked up at the Hero with stars in his eyes. The underlying words of what he had said lingering in the air. Had he noticed the bullying? Was someone finally going to help him? Take his side in things for once?
“Thank you Eraserhead!” Izuku bowed his head before pocketing the small piece of paper.
Not long after that, his mom arrived along with Bakugou and his friends. That shocked Izuku to his very core. The Kacchan he used to know would rather follow his own advice and take a swan dive off the roof of a building than to make sure Izuku was okay. This certainly was a weird day.
They were informed that he had a minor concussion and just needed a few days rest. The doctor wrote him a prescription on pain killers and told him to stay home from school for the Rest of the week. Izuku liked learning at school but after this little incident he was glad to miss school for a while. He would be the laughing stock of the class and it would bring on more attention than he wanted.
Eraserhead left once everything was settled. He ruffled Izuku's hair on the way out and gave a small wave before sticking his hands in his pockets.
“Alright honey, I'm gonna go check in with the doctors and then we'll go home” Inko said and kissed Izuku on the forehead.
Izuku eyed the other boys in the room with a weary look. Inko had been crying the entire time she was there and now that she was gone everything was quiet. Too quiet considering THE Bakugou was in the same room as Izuku. He was just waiting for the other to blow up.
The blow however did not come from Bakugou.
“You know midoriya this wouldn't have happened if you were quirkless right?” someone with red bat wings said and Bakugou instantly looked pissed. Oh god.
“Yeah we can never take you anywhere” another guy chimed in.
“You should honestly just-”
“Will you guys shut the fuck up?” Bakugou said and Izuku held his breath. This was it. He had just survived a villain attack and now he would die at the hands of a pomeranian.
“It's not Izukus fault that he doesn't have a quirk and if you blame him for it there's something seriously wrong with you. Seek help fucker” Bakugou said and everyone tensed. His red eyes were glaring daggers into the three other boys.
To say Izuku was shocked was an understatement. He was baffled, wordless, shocked, mind blown and everything else that could describe this. Kacchan had just stood up for him. Not against him. FOR him. And he had called him Izuku. IZUKU!
Izuku was starting to think that the doctor might have underestimated the condition of his concussion. Maybe he was actually going insane. Or maybe he was dead.
“Right sorry Midoriya” one said
“You know we didn't mean it like that” another one added on and quickly everyone was apologizing to him.
Yup he was definitely dead. 100%.
Izuku was at a loss for words and he simply sank a lump he didn't know he had in his throat.
He was about to say something. Ask them why they were being weird, when Inko came back into the room with a slightly happier expression. Her eyes were red and puffy and she was tearing up again. She was a very emotional woman.
“Let's get you back home Izuku honey” she said and everyone silently walked out to her car.
Izuku noticed the way Bakugou walked beside him and eyed his every step with curiosity and worry. Something inside Izuku silently yearned for his mind to not be playing tricks on him. For Bakugou to finally realize they could still be friends. For this whole moment not to be made up by the fractions of Izuku's mind that so desperately wanted his friend back. His only friend.
But then again the scars on his body and the countless death threats and faking sick days were not something he had made up.
They were not something he could simply change with one sweet comment. Something felt off. Something didn't feel right. He touched the piece of paper in his pocket briefly before opening the car door and getting in.
The drive home was quiet and all you could hear was some indie artist singing softly on the radio. It was late and the stars were starting to show. Izuku looked at Kacchan in the rearview mirror only to find him already looking at him. He looked annoyed.
“Now you boys get home safe alright” Inko said as she unlocked the door to the staircase in the apartment complex “We don't want a repeat of this incident today or ever again”
The boys started walking home but one stayed behind.
Red eyes looked into green as Bakugou stood with his hands in his pockets.
“I know you just got attacked but you aren't acting like yourself and it's scaring me.” he started. “So hurry up and get better alright? I want my old Izuku back.” He added with an annoyed look on his face. “Don't mention this to anyone”
The two boys stood in silence before Bakugou quickly moved in and gave Izuku a tight hug.
“I'm glad you’re okay” he whispered before quickly pulling away.
Izuku froze and before he knew what was going on Bakugou was walking down the parking lot leaving a shocked Izuku behind.
Izuku was convinced that he was going insane.
When Izuku finally got to go back to school it was with a heavy heart. He had spent the last week holed up in his room trying to make sense of it all. Even though he spent so long laying in his bed, he had gotten little sleep and he had dark bags under his eyes. He quite literally looked like shit.
Izuku's head was still aching from being thrown into a wall. His mom told him he had gotten a scar on the back of his head when she was changing his bandages and cleaning the wound as she was told to do.
The scar wasn't visible unless you tried to look for it, yet Izuku could feel the thin skin of the scar carving into his skin. His hair had already started growing back over the tissue and it felt weird and prickly.
Everything had been a little weird. He had found things in his room that weren't there before and he had pictures on his phone he didn't remember taking. pictures of him and katsuki sitting on a bench, walking, laughing and acting like friends should.
One day Izuku had opened his latest hero analysis notebook (it was number 12) and turned through it to try and get his mind together. analyzing and figuring things out calmed him so why not try to get into the head of the villain that attacked him.
He wrote in what he knew:
- Glowing eyes = Mental quirk that requires eye contact or mutation caused by quirk?
- Caused drowsiness? Maybe a gas type quirk?
- Neon pink hair: Either quirk mutation or poor choice in disguise
To be honest he didn't know much. He had been unconscious for most of the attack. Still he couldn't help but think he was missing a key part in his whole research.
As Izuku tried to dig through his brain for missing clues he turned through the pages of his notebook taking note of all the mental quirks he had studied before stopping on one of his many pages of all might.
Right under his own quick scribbles of All Might's punching techniques was a neat scrawl in red pen. The small note could easily look like something Izuku had added later on to anyone but Izuku knew better.
The red note was Kacchans. His handwriting was neat and easy to read. Kacchan had picked up the habit of writing bigger neater letters due to his hand cramping up when he used his quirk too much or too little. Mitsuki had taught Izuku how to massage the cramping muscles when they were 4 and Katsuki had his first cramp during a playdate.
Izuku frantically flipped through more of the notebook. More pages and more pages had been covered in small red notes in the neat scrawl. On one page there was a red smiley face under a particularly long ramble on the after effects of present mics super move along with a ‘i couldn't have thought of that, good job’.
Izuku didn't remember ever letting Kacchan look in his notebooks let alone write in them. He pulled out his phone staring at his lock screen.
A picture of him and Katsuki on their first day of middle school with big grins and their arms around each other stared right back at him. Something was wrong. whatever had happened at that villain attack had done something and it pained Izuku that he didn't know what it was.
Izuku didn't sleep much during the night. His mind was busy wandering and analyzing everything that happened. To say he was confused would be putting it mildly. There were so many things that just didn't fit right. so many pictures that he didn't remember happening. everything was driving around in his head and he couldn't get a wink of sleep when he was laying late at night staring holes into his ceiling.
If you knew Izuku you would know that he was an analyzer. He was smart. REALLY smart. So of course he knew something wasn't right.
The fact that everything seemed out of the ordinary was alarming.
What first came to mind was Kacchan. He was acting weird and different. There was a lot less yelling and Izuku couldn't decide whether to be happy or scared about it. On one hand maybe this whole incident had made Kacchan realize that he actually cared about him or that maybe bullying a quirkless kid wasn't that fun.
But then again you don't just bully someone for years and tell them they are worthless just to turn around out of nowhere.
The next thing Izuku thought of was the missing body. After about 2 washes he had gotten the blood off his uniform. He was so sure that there had been someone lying in that alleyway. The vision still haunted his mind sometimes when he closed his eyes.
The whole experience was traumatic.
Even though he walked to school everyday Inko had insisted on driving Izuku on his first day back to school. Besides Inkos' increased fretting and worrying nothing had really changed. He had been told that Kacchan visited him the days prior but Izuku had been sleeping. Since he couldn't get a wink of sleep during the night he had found himself taking a lot of naps around the house. He slept on the couch, in the armchair, on his bed and one time his mom told him she had found him in the bathtub fully clothed with a pillow.
When he had finally gotten a full night's sleep the Midoriyas went to the hospital to get him checked and they told him he could go back to school and continue about his day like the incident never happened.
That is what it was called now. “The Incident”. No one wanted to call it what it really was. a near death experience. A villain attack. an attempted murder.
Izuku didn't really care what it was called, he just wanted to forget about it. He just wanted to move on with his life and continue his path of trying to find ways to be a quirkless hero.
“Alright now Izuku, remember to take it easy and if your head starts hurting, you can take some of the painkillers I packed in your bag” Inko said sitting beside him in the car. “And if anyone gives you a hard time about the incident i want you to tell a teacher or maybe Katsuki alright?”
That was another thing. His mom seemed to believe that he and Kacchan were friends. She did used to think they still kept in touch of course, they had grown up together, but after the incident she thought they were a lot closer than they were before. Izuku didn't have the heart to tell her the truth.
“Yeah, of course mom,” Izuku answered, putting his hand on the door handle.
“I love you Izuku, have a good day at school.”
“I love you too.”
And with that she drove away leaving Izuku in front of the school.
With a deep sigh Izuku turned around and walked into his school with his head down doing his best to avoid eye contact with anyone. He could hear whispers around him and he quickly put his stuff away inside his locker before practically running to his homeroom.
Counting the minutes as he walked the hall was a routine to him. He would usually get tripped within the first 10.
Someone would call him an insult within the first 15 and then he would be at his desk.
“Hey Midoriya!” someone called out from the door to the class and Izuku looked up to see who.
Katsuki and his friends walked through the doors, Katsuki with his usual scowl and his hands burrowed deep in his pockets.
“I heard you got attacked by some villain in the alleyway last week” the guy said more like a statement.
“Is that why you haven't been at school?” someone else said with furrowed brows.
“Oh uh yeah” Izuku said, curling in on himself from all the attention he wasn't used to getting.
“Holy shit really? I thought it was just some rumor! What the hell happened?” a girl with glasses exclaimed from the seat behind him.
Everyone stared at him expectantly and waited for him to tell them the story of his attack. Katsuki looked more and more pissed with every sentence someone spit out.
“Oh uhm well” Izuku started trying hard not to stutter. He was really nervous being the center of attention. “I stumbled across this guy in the alleyway and he smashed my head into the wall” he finished.
All eyes went wide at that.
“For real?” someone with long fingers said.
“OF COURSE IT WAS REAL I WAS THERE DIPSHITS!” Katsuki yelled from his place beside Izuku.
Izuku flinched so hard he fell off his chair and everyone burst out laughing. He turned his head down in shame and embarrassment.
Of course nothing had changed. Everything was the same. He had been stupid for getting his hopes up that a simple attempt on his life would get people to care.
As he started feeling tears burning in his eyes katsukis gaze lingered on him with a dumbfounded expression.
“Wow you really need Bakugou to come save you every time huh?”
“Of course Bakugou was there! Midoriya can't do anything himself!”
“If you had a quirk this wouldn't have happened you know?”
A single tear fell down Izuku's cheek and he was quick to wipe it away hoping it would go unnoticed.
“LISTEN UP YOU FUCKS!” Katsuki yelled “IZUKU WAS ATTACKED! SOMEONE TRIED TO KILL HIM AND YOUR LAUGHING AT HIM BECAUSE SOMEONE TRIED TO SAVE HIM?”
Everyone went silent, obviously embarrassed over their actions and Izuku looked up at Katsuki with wide puffy eyes. He could not believe this.
Katsuki squatted down beside him and put a hand on his shoulder, squeezing it softly. “Dont you fucking listen to them alright? They are idiots. They think that just because you're quirkless you can't do anything.”
He made eye contact with Izuku and his red irises burned with determination.
“We'll show them. Let them watch how we become the greatest duo UA has ever seen.”
Katsuki let go of Izuku's shoulder and took his hand pulling him to his feet and as the teacher walked in he gave him a soft pat on the back.
All things were the same yet everything had changed and Izuku was determined to get to the bottom of this.