Chapter Text
Inko likes to think she's a good mom.
Sure, she isn't the best mom. She knows there are many times where she has failed to give her son the best, but she certainly tries to every time. She doesn't question where the new bruises come from, she doesn't ask Izuku too many questions about his day.
She knows where they come from, she knows how his day was. Izuku's increasing frustration when he was 12 at her fussing made her realize it might just be best to comfort him instead of ask questions. The fussing won't change how he's treated, so she gives him some freedom to do what makes him happy.
It's not rare for Izuku to come home quite late, even past midnight some nights. The boy has always preferred to be outside, so she always waits patiently despite her worry. Even after the attack with the sludge villain, as much as she wanted to call him and tell him to come home, she knows he likely needed the time and space to breathe.
However, passing out at 3 am and waking up at 10 in the morning with not even a note or a text from Izuku immediately made her worry. She tries calling his phone but it goes straight to voicemail. Then she tries calling the school, but he hasn't been marked on the attendance sheets all day.
Her only option is to call her best friend, Mitsuki Bakugo.
Her friend, luckily, isn't one to ignore her calls.
"Inky!" Mitsuki calls out. "What a surprise! What are you calling for?"
“Mitsuki...” Almost immediately the waterworks came out. “Have you seen or heard from Izuku at all…?” Inko manages to ask through her tears.
"Little Zu? No, I haven't. Shouldn't he be at school?" Mitsuki asks, clear worry in her voice.
“He isn’t...” Inko starts pacing around her living room, listing off everything she knows. “He isn’t in school, he hasn’t been marked in attendance all day and none of his teachers have seen him. No text, no note, no anything! Any calls I make are going straight to voicemail too.”
"That doesn't sound like him at all." Mitsuki mumbles before speaking clearly again. "I'll be over as soon as I can, we can go to the police about this. He wouldn't just disappear like this, not when he knows what happens to quirkless kids."
Inko’s heart aches. “Thank you, Mitsuki.” She wipes the seemingly never ending stream of tears. “Can you ask Katsuki if he’s heard anything once he’s home too…? I know Izuku adores your son.”
"I'll ask him." Mitsuki sighs. "Not sure how helpful he'll be. He’s been getting so... brash ever since he started that middle school. He hasn't had any nice things to say about Little Zu for a few years now, but hopefully he'll know something."
“I know…” Inko looks towards Izuku’s empty room. “Izuku is stubborn. I’ll still see his eyes light up when Katsuki is mentioned. If Izuku told anyone what’s happening, even indirectly, it would be him.”
"That is true, he is such a sweet boy. I hope he is okay..." Mitsuki takes a breath. "I'll be there soon, okay? I'll send Masaru to get Katsuki and check with the school about him."
"Thank you so much Mitsuki.." Inko sniffles.
"Of course, Inky." Mitsuki says softly. "You and Little Zu are family, we'll find him, okay?"
"Okay..." Inko nods. "Okay. I'll go get ready too."
"I'll be there soon, Inky." Mitsuki promises before the phone call ends
After the call, Inko cried and cried at the lack of information. Her poor son was nowhere to be found and they were at a loss of where he could be or what to do. But he couldn't have gone that far, right?
So, she gets dressed and waits as patiently as she can for her friend to arrive. It doesn't take long for Mitsuki to arrive, likely breaking some speed laws, to get to the apartment and knock on her door. Inko, who had been waiting by the door, swings it open and throws herself into Mitsuki’s arms.
"Oh Inky." Mitsuki mumbles, holding her friend close. "I got you."
Mitsuki holds her for a while as Inko tries to pull herself together. She’s not sure she could make out any words with how strong the urge to burst into tears is. Inko eventually lets go of Mitsuki and steps aside so she can come in and they can figure out their next steps.
"I'll make us some tea, okay?" Mitsuki says. "Maybe something in his room will be a clue or hint."
"I looked in there, but there was nothing." Inko says sadly. "Nothing new or out of place.”
"Maybe some fresh eyes can help? It wouldn't hurt, at least." Mitsuki suggests.
"Yeah, you can." Inko smiles weakly at her, thankful for the help in any way.
"Okay." Mitsuki nods and leads Inko to the couch. "I'll get that tea and look."
Inko gets far too antsy just sitting on the couch and drinking tea. It feels wrong to sit there and not help, so eventually, Inko places her cup down on the kitchen counters and goes with Mitsuki to Izuku’s room. Since she’s already looked, she goes on her phone searching to see if she can find anything on a missing kid, or really anything that could be related to his son's disappearance.
Mitsuki blinks at all the All Might merch in Izuku's room but can see where he is packing stuff away from the empty spots on shelves and on walls where the colors are darker. She wonders what made him start putting away his collection.
"Hey Inky, why is he packing? It looks like he hasn't changed this stuff out in years." Mitsuki asks as she looks around, checking under things for keys or notes he could hide.
Inko looks over to the sound of her voice. "He's been doing this ever since... him and Katsuki got attacked by the sludge villain." She sighs. "He said it felt childish... I tried asking him if anything happened but he wouldn't tell me."
"Hmm, it did look like those heroes were yelling at him on the news report..." Mitsuki says. She spots an 'analysis' notebook on a shelf and coos at it.
"Aww, I remember this. He had Masaru and I in here in crayon with you." Mitsuki starts flipping to find her entry. "It was so sweet, he called you his favorite hero for your title if I remember right."
Inko smiles with a mix of sadness and fondness. "Oh, he's so sweet.. that boy deserves the world."
"Mhm." Mitsuki goes to not but stops, finding a loose paper in the book. "Oh no, I think a paper fell out. I hope I didn't do that."
Inko, now feeling too restless again, walks over with Mitsuki and plucks out the paper, handing it back to her. "I'm sure it's fine, he has a lot of these notebooks and has had most of them for years, I wouldn't be surprised if some of the pages are loose."
"I guess. Let's see if I can find where this goes." Mitsuki starts to read the paper before she stops and flips it to the back. "Hey Inky, this isn't about a hero... I think it's a diary entry?"
Inko blinks. "A diary entry? I... don't remember him ever using a diary..."
"Hmm." Mitsuki loosely closes the notebook and taps it against her other hand to shift out any other loose papers. Two pop out at random spots and she pulls them out to give a quick glance over.
"These are both dated different years from each other and the first one. This one is marked for last month too." Mitsuki looks back to the shelf of notebooks with a frown. "You don't think..."
Inko hesitates for a moment before going into one of Izuku's drawers and pulling out another book. After shaking it for a moment, two more papers fell out. She picks them up and silently looks at Mitsuki.
"Okay, little worrying off the bat." Mitsuki says cautiously. "Maybe it will be cleared up when we find them all? There can't be that many books in here... right?"
Inko laughs, reaches back into the drawer, and picks up a stack of many, many books and places them on the bed. There have to be at least 15.
"...Damn. Your kid sure can write." Mitsuki shakes her head amused and opens the first notebook again. She starts checking page by page. "Might as well get started."
Inko sighs and sits down on the bed, getting one of the books from the pile and beginning their search.
They look through all the notebooks and even normal books just to be sure, and find a total of 12 papers ranging from age 10 to this year. From just a quick once over, none of them are happy entries. Once laid out on the bed they are organized by date. The most recent entry must have been right before his disappearance, judging by the date, two days ago.
"I can check the newer ones?" Mitsuki offers. "It might not be good if he has hidden them and I don't want to stress you more, Inky."
Inko shakes her head. “No… no because if it’s something important I need to know.” She takes a shaky breath. “At least give me the rundown?”
"Okay." Mitsuki nods and picks one up near the middle to read it, cringing at the tear water marks on it. "Hmm... oh."
Mitsuki gets a saddened look. "The other kids at school have been bullying him... looks like the teacher ignored it happening in class or... encouraged it... quirks get used often...."
Inko frowns once she reads through the older ones, which spell out a similar story. "...The bullying was always common. No matter how many times I addressed it to teachers or the principal, it went ignored." She sighs. "I guess it hasn't gotten better."
"How could teachers allow this to happen? Bullying is bad enough, but this... this is breaking the law!" Mitsuki growls and scans a few more, most of the same with progressively worse and worse attacks by students. She freezes seeing her own son's name. She hesitantly picks up the paper and reads.
"...'Kacchan hit me with his quirk today. The teacher announced our test scores and I forgot to get questions wrong because I was so tired from watching underground hero videos for my notebooks... It meant my score was higher than his... I was accused of cheating because a... a Null couldn't be as smart as the other students. That's what the teacher said. Kacchan didn't like my better score, cheating or not '..."
Inko stares wide-eyed at Mitsuki, completely frozen as she takes in what she read aloud. Against her better judgment, she takes the paper from Mitsuki and reads it.
“…Izuku…” Inko covers her mouth in disbelief as more tears form in her eyes.
Mitsuki wraps an arm around Inko and gives a squeeze. "We'll go after the school for this, they can't treat Zu this way or let kids do it for them. I'll... I'll even tell about Katsuki's involvement as well. I raised him better than... this."
“I’m so blind Mitsuki…” Inko sobs. “I knew he was hurting, I knew things were getting worse, but I didn’t think… he would never talk about it and I didn’t want to make him feel worse …” So many ‘what if’s’ are running through her mind as she realizes how she should have been much more persistent. Her son was hurting, and she did nothing.
"Inky no," Mitsuki hugs her tighter. "He hid things from you. Zu is the smartest kid we know, If he didn't want us to know how bad it was we... likely would never have learned about it until we looked in the books."
Inko hugs Mitsuki tight as she sobs. “I-I know your right but… I can’t stop blaming myself...”
"Inky..." Mitsuki says softly, holding her friend as she cries.
“I’m so sorry, I’m a mess, Mitsuki.” Inko says softly. “Thank you for being here.”
"Hey, it's okay to be a mess. You have every right to be a mess right now, okay?" Mitsuki says, pulling away a bit to hold her shoulders and get the grieving mom to look at her. "And remember what I said in high school? 'You're my mess, for forever you big cry baby'. I meant it when I said that."
Inko shakily laughs and weakly smiles at her. “I know you did...” She’s always a mess, but with Mitsuki, at least she can hold herself together for a little bit longer.
"Want to read the rest?" Mitsuki asks softly. "It's dated yesterday."
Inko simply nods, giving Mitsuki permission to let go so she can get the papers to read easier.
"Okay, this might be the hardest so..." Mitsuki takes a breath. "So let's do our best to read it."
Mitsuki was right, it was the hardest one.
‘Kacchan found out I wanted to go to UA the other day. He got angry, more than usual. He always uses his quirk against me but today he exploded one of my books and told me if I wanted to be a hero, then I should… ‘take a swan dive off the roof’ and ‘hope for a quirk in my next life’.
The rest of the day was just as bad. I got attacked by a sludge villain. All Might saved me but I distracted him and made him lose the villain by asking if I can be a hero. I knew the answer, but maybe I was hoping he, of all people, would say something different. He left me on the roof of a building.
I considered it.
Later, Kacchan was attacked by the same villain. I tried to get him out of it but I think I only got in the way. The heroes yelled at me afterwards and so did Kacchan when I was walking home. ’
When I came home, mom was sobbing. Kami, I feel so bad. I worried her so much, though when don’t I? She seems even more worried that I'm packing my All Might stuff.
It doesn’t matter much, I still think heroes are cool, I’m just being more... realistic now. I wouldn’t have lived long enough to be one anyways. I want to apologize to her for everything. Maybe I can get her some pastries, like cupcakes or something? I know one of the markets will sell me good ones, even if it is more expensive than normal.
…yeah, that’s a good idea. I’ll get mom some cupcakes tomorrow. ’
Mitsuki had frozen at the part of her son, her own child, telling Izuku to end his life. She couldn't believe he would say something so vile so... so villainous and claim he wanted to be a hero? ‘ The best of the best ’?? Who told him that was what heroes did!? It wasn't her or his father, that's for sure!
Inko managed to read through all of it, if only because she forced herself to. She just couldn’t believe it. She considered the Bakugos family, and they feel the same towards them. And Inko knows how much Izuku adores Katsuki, even through all of this. Katsuki smiled at her and called her ‘Auntie Inko’ while doing this to her son.
There’s sounds by the front entrance, and Masaru’s voice calling out. “Inko, Mitsuki, we’re here!”
Fire seems to light up in Mitsuki's eyes and she looks ready to go out there and rip her son a new one after she hears his grumbling in the halls. Inko grabs Mitsuki's hand before she can do anything.
"Mitsuki... please, let's see if he heard anything from him first." Inko's angry too, but she needs to know.
Mitsuki takes a deep breath and lets it out harshly. "Right. Okay, I- I can keep it together. For Zu."
“Thank you, Mitsuki...” Inko gives her another moment to breathe before walking with her to where the others are.
Katsuki is putting on the guest slippers with little explosions they had the last time he visited as a kid, they had bought them a size too big online but kept them on the slipper rack so they fit now. Izuku asked to keep them there in case Kacchan ever visited, and now he isn’t here to see he was right, they do fit.
Inko wipes her tears to try and remain as calm as possible as she sees them. She can be angry later, she just needs to know.
“Masaru… Katsuki.” Inko smiles shakily at them before looking at the youngest blond. “Katsuki… did Izuku at all call, text, in any way contact you yesterday?”
"The nerd? Yeah, wouldn't tell me what it was he wanted." Katsuki huffs.
"...What did he say?" Inko asks.
"I asked how he got my number and he said you gave it to him for emergencies." Katsuki looks at his mom. "Asked what he wanted and he kept stuttering until he said nevermind and the call ended. Woke me up so I back went to bed"
"Did it ever occur to you that he was calling for an emergency ?" Mitsuki asks, barely restrained anger in her voice that surprises Katsuki and his dad.
"Okay, wait," Masaru steps up. "What's going on, is Izuku okay?"
Inko tearfully shakes her head. "He's missing... He's been missing since yesterday and no one can get ahold of him..."
"What?" Katsuki asks. "He sounded like always on the phone."
"Terrified and about to cry?" Mitsuki asks harshly.
"He isn't here, Katsuki." Inko, although having much better control of her tone and temper, is audibly frustrated at the blond teen and for the first time in front of him. "Every call goes straight to voicemail, there's no note, letter, nothing, and he isn't at school. You're the last person he called."
"Me!?" Katsuki says in surprise. "Why didn't he call you, his mom?"
"Considering what you said to him a few days ago, I wonder the same thing." Mitsuki huffs.
"Wh-" Katsuki blinks in surprise.
"Swans, Katsuki. Swans." Mitsuki growls out, making her son go pale.
"I don't know or care what you think of my son, Katsuki, but that boy adores you. Kami knows I don't know why now." Inko's crying, but her eyes aren't filled with sadness, but rather anger. Rage. She's never looked this way in front of Katsuki. "He's looked up to you for years, he cares so much about you that he'll ask me to text Mitsuki when you're out of school or have a visible injury. He wanted to be a hero with you because he sees you as someone who is destined to be one."
She wipes her tears. "Izuku is smart, he knows how anyone else would have reacted if he was in danger. He knows I would have panicked, he knows Mitsuki would have jumped the gun. He called you because he knows you're smart too, he knows you could have figured out what to do better than us, and he trusts you-! "
Inko clenches her teeth and squeezes her eyes shut. She takes a deep breath. "...I'm finishing that tea before I say something I'll regret." She turns around and leaves for the kitchen without a second of hesitation.
Mitsuki gives her son a glare before she heads to check on Inko and make sure she is okay. Bakugo is still pale as a ghost and looks worried by his dad.
Masaru looks concerned and conflicted, eventually patting his son's shoulder. “Just… wait here, okay? I’ll get more information to give to you. See if you can call or text Izuku.” He goes to follow the two, leaving Katsuki alone.
"Right... Yeah." Katsuki nods, getting his phone out and unblocking Izuku's number. There’s no missed calls from the night when he was blocked, no texts either. The severity of this situation finally sets in and weighs heavy on Katsuki.
He huffs as he sends out texts; asking where Izuku is and that his mom and Auntie Inko are worried.
But the messages stay on delivered. No matter how many minutes pass, they don’t get any response, they don’t even get read. Izuku is an early bird, always doing so much so early on in the day. If he had his phone on him and was awake, he would have responded by now.
Katsuki even goes so far as leaving voicemails, still as rough as always when he talks but you can hear the worry growing as more and more get left.
The adults talk and plan what police station they should go to and which is more likely to even do anything about a missing quirkless kid. They’re not trying to be quiet about it, so Katsuki can hear clearly.
Izuku is radio silent after an hour of constant attempts at contacting.
Katsuki isn't sure what more he can do now, he left the messages and calls but Izuku just never even read them. He always at least reads a message, Deku hated the little red alert dot because it messed up his phone background.
Eventually, Masaru comes back to where he left Katsuki. “Did you get anything?” He asks.
"No. Not even a 'read' on my texts." Katsuki says quietly. He bites his lip and taps his phone on his hand to keep from fidgeting or sparking his quirk.
“Breathe, Katsuki, we’ll find him.” Masaru says softly. “Come on, we’re heading to the police to report him missing.”
"...Will they even help?" Katsuki asks quietly.
"If we're lucky, we'll work with someone who will." Masaru responds. "It's better to try than to give up."
Katsuki hesitates. "Yeah." He nods and puts his phone and hands in his pockets as he moves to his dad's side. His mom doesn't seem... accepting of him being near her right now.
“Come on, we’ll wait for them in the car.” Masaru leads Bakugo out, nodding to the two mothers before making their way outside. Katsuki follows, looking confused and uncharacteristically guilty. Last time they saw this was when his quirk first came in and he kept sparking by accident and hurt Izuku.
Masaru enters the back of the car with Katsuki, after a few moments of silence, Masaru sighs.
“Do you want to talk, Katsuki?” There surprisingly isn’t any anger in his voice. Just gentle concern.
"I... I don't get it." Katsuki says, frustrated confusion in his voice. "All our Sensei said I was doing good ... that all of us were doing what we were supposed to... were our Sensei wrong?"
“…Katsuki,” Masaru sighs. “You told Izuku to kill himself. Does that really sound like something good?”
"...I thought sensei would have stopped us if things went too far." Katsuki has to make some small sparks in his hands to stop the build up of sweat from getting dangerous. "They never told us what 'too far' even was and said similar things, so..."
Masaru sighs. “You did bad things, Katsuki.” He says bluntly. “What you did to Izuku was cruel and undeserved. You will be facing consequences for these and when Izuku is back, you're making it up to him. But, the school should have been reprimanding you and your peers. Your teachers should have never let the bullying go on for so long, let alone letting it start at all.”
"I thought teachers were supposed to be an example and stuff." Katsuki says, confused. "The whole reason we go there is to learn how to act and do things. Teachers can lie?"
"Everyone lies." Masaru says. "Some people lie worse than others. Sometimes it's because they don't know they're lying, other times they just don't care."
“Oh…” Katsuki says quietly.
"Do you know any of the statistics for quirkless people?" Masuro asks, keeping his voice calm.
"No... the yearly discrimination class never covered it and the teachers never included them in the paper on it." Katsuki says.
"20% of the population have quirks, yeah? But that statistic changes depending on what country you're in. Countries closer to China tend to have a lower quirkless population. People believe almost 2% of Japan's population are quirkless." Masuru takes a deep breath. It was always hard to talk about this sort of thing knowing Izuku's status. "Out of that 2%, Its said that 1 out of 10 quirkless individuals, teens especially, die from suicide."
"...Oh..."
Masuru nods and continues.
"85% of quirkless individuals are victims of some sort of crime because of their status, though it's estimated that the number is higher because certain crimes are never reported or people are too scared to speak up." Masaru explains. "...60% of quirkless children and teens are killed or kidnapped, almost every single one aren't coincidences either, they're targeted attacks."
Masaru looks back at Katsuki to make sure he's okay.
"Do... Do you think he was taken?" Katsuki asks quietly.
"It's more likely than him running away." Masaru says gently. "He had diary entries he hid away, not a lot but the most recent one was from two days ago, before his disappearance. He wrote that he wanted to get Inko something to cheer her up, so him running away or... commiting suicide isn't likely."
"What..." Katsuki swallows his nerves. "What do kidnappers... do with quirkless kids?"
“It… depends on what they want..” Masaru grimaces. “Sometimes they’re used in villain organizations to do dirty work, some are In illegal trafficking rings… it’s… not anything good.”
"But... we're kids." Katsuki says, looking horrified.
“It doesn’t matter to them, Katsuki. Especially if they’re quirkless.” Masaru sighs. “Even most heroes don’t care enough to pick up cases with missing kids if it’s known they are quirkless. It’s why your teachers were okay with the treatment towards him. They don’t care.”
"Those are shitty heroes!" Katsuki looks offended someone can call themselves a hero and ignore people.
“And that would have been you with the way you were going.” Masuru says seriously.
"..." Katsuki opened his mouth to deny it. Say how he is going to be the best and a great hero, but finds himself pausing, looking lost and confused as he remembers why they are talking in the first place. He was just doing what the teachers, people in authority, said to. He's supposed to listen to them, told him was fine to do it. Encouraged it even, ever since elementary! But, finding out they were all wrong... that they lied to hurt Izuku...
"Dad I..." Katsuki squeezes his hands into fists and turns away, his eyes filling with tears. "I think I messed up."
“You did.” Masaru’s hand ruffles Katsuki’s hair. “But when we find Izuku you're going to apologize and do everything in your power to make it right.”
"Yeah." Katsuki nods, sniffling and rubbing his eyes roughly.
Not long after, the two others, after thoroughly searching Izuku’s room for any other information one more time, finally get in the car. They start their drive to one of the only police stations that might actually have a chance of helping them.
Katsuki stays quiet in the backseat with his father, looking down in shame.
The car ride feels too long and too silent, but no one dares say a thing. After far too long, they arrive at the police station and everyone shuffled out.
"Okay," Mitsuki says. "Let's hunt down a bastard that will help us."
—
The police station really had no reason to know what to expect that day, though, they kind of asked for it by risking upsetting the loud blondes.
The front desk clerk is just trying to not get noticed as the only free officer they had called over to take a case is arguing with two blond civilians, they look near identical if they weren't different genders and ages. The officer was doing so well until the quirk of the victim was mentioned and they said something to insult the family and anger them.
The officer looks to be losing the battle of wills, to the older blond that looks ready to rip him apart with her bare hands and not even struggle with it.
That’s ironically enough when Detective Tsukauchi decided to come back from his lunch break. He blinks at the scene in front of them, half considering not getting involved before realizing he really should break this up before his co-worker is his newest case. He sighs as he approaches the yelling blondes and the officer.
“Excuse me, but can I ask why you're verbally assaulting one of my co-workers?” Tsukauchi asks, not yet judging either side.
"This fucker says he won't 'waste resources' on our kid because of his quirk status!" The older female blond says, looking at the officer with an honest to Kami growl that makes him step back nervously. The secretary is trying their damnedest to fade into the background and not get yelled at too as they are stuck next to the officer.
Tsukauchi keeps a professional facade on, but he’s judging the officer so hard right now. He knows some of his fellow officers are discriminatory, but that’s unfortunately not something he can do much about.
“Okay, why don’t you follow me into my office and you can give me more details?” Tsukauchi offers. The most he can do is get these sorts of cases away from his coworkers and take them on himself.
"Sure, you don't seem like a guy with a punchable face." The older blond... compliments(?) as she walks over to him with her mini clone, a calm looking man that was just standing there, and a woman with striking green hair. Interesting group today at least?
“Follow me.” Tsukauchi leads the group back further into the station until he reaches his office and holds the door open for them.
“You can drag those extra chairs over.” Tsukauchi suggests. The man and mini clone do so as the ladies take their seats and get out a packet of papers. Possible evidence, so Tsukauchi sits down on the other side of his desk and opens one of the drawers to take out gloves, a camera, pen and paper, and an audio recorder. “Do any of you mind if I record this conversation? It makes it easier for note keeping in the long run and ensures nothing you say here can be taken out of context.”
"Record away." The older blond says. "We cuss like sailors but will try to hold it in."
Tsukauchi hits record. “Can you state your names before we go over what happened to the kid you mentioned?”
"Bakugo Mitsuki, that's my kid Katsuki and husband Masaru." Mitsuki says, pointing at them. "And this is Inko Midoriya, the mom of the kid we're here for, Izuku."
Tsukauchi nods and writes down their names, preferring to have both a physical and digital file of notes. “Alright then, explain the situation for me, please.”
"Alright, hope you don't mind me talking the most." Mitsuki says. "It's... rough and upsets Inky."
Tsukauchi looks at Inko to confirm, she nods. “It... will be easier for Mitsuki to explain.”
“Alright then, go ahead.” Tsukauchi says.
Mitsuki nods, taking a breath. "Inko has a son named Izuku Midoriya, sweetheart of a kid and smart as hell. But, he's quirkless and people have been... hurting him at his school and at shops. He hid it from us, even when things went physical and he got scars from it." Mitsuki holds out the papers to the detective, who takes them after putting on the gloves and puts them off to the side next to the camera.
"We found these in Izuku's quirk analyst notebooks. They’re diary entries he hid away that talk about the bullying at around 10 to the blatant assaults happening at school now. While horrifying to find and read, that's not why we're here." Mitsuki says.
Tsukauchi nods at Mitsuki to continue.
"The last entry for the papers was yesterday, he mentioned going out for cupcakes for Inko as a gift. He... he never came back, he never went to school today, he's not even reading texts, and all calls go right to voicemail like his phone is off or has no signal. We're worried someone took him because he is quirkless and the news report said that for everyone to hear days ago."
Tsukauchi nods after writing everything down. “These are routine questions, so bear with me here. Is there any reason Izuku would want to run away from home and is there anyone he could have possibly gone to? Friends, family members?”
"No, his papers state very clearly that he had no friends at school. Barely anyone considered 'safe' at all except the janitorial staff that helped him If he got locked in closets or to clean slurs off his desk." Mitsuki says bitterly. "And his only family besides Inky is a dad that dipped to America years ago. Haven't heard from the bastard in the same amount of time."
“Can you describe the kids general appearance and anything you might have remembered him wearing?” The detective asks.
Inko decides to speak up this time. “Green hair, green eyes, he has four freckles in the shape of a diamond on his cheeks, kind of baby faced? He’s fourteen. I’m… not sure what he was wearing at the time except his red shoes.”
Tsukauchi focuses on jotting everything down before allowing himself to stop and think. “...Green hair, green eyes, freckles…” He taps his pen against his desk for a moment before picking up a phone and pressing a couple buttons to connect him to the secretary. “Can you send the tourist reports that were called in yesterday to my office? The ones about- yeah, okay, thanks.”
"You recognize him?" Mitsuki asks.
“We got calls for a similar description yesterday.” Tsukauchi explains. “Suspected kidnapping in a public market-area.”
"Kidnapping?" Katsuki asks, looking pale.
There’s a knock on the office door before it opens. The secretary enters and passes a small file before the detective nods, and they leave again. Tsukauchi opens up the file and takes out a semi-blurry photo and shows it to them.
“Is this him?” Slightly blurry or not, it’s very easy to see Izuku seemingly struggling and fighting against a large man who has him over his shoulder.
"Zu!"
"Deku!"
The two blonds gasp out at the same time.
"Why is no one stopping him?" Katsuki asks. "Plenty of extras in the background are just watching."
"You know why, brat." Mitsuki says with a huff. "He's quirkless so they won't help. Do we know who that is taking him?"
"We don't. There were no pictures taken of the man's face and no one has a good description, from the people we spoke to it seems he was wearing a mask that covered the entirety of his face." Tsukauchi explains. "A few people reported seeing him get thrown into a black car, but that's where our leads end."
"Was the mask significant at all?" Mitsuki asks. "We work in fashion and a lot of villains have themes."
The detective looks through the file. "According to this, it was a black and white, bird-like plague doctor theme?"
"Hmm, I haven't heard any villains in the area with a mask like that, but it certainly sounds like a team theme." Mitsuki says. She pulls out her phone to Google the other areas of Japan. "If they are confident enough to kidnap someone in broad daylight, they are either big and powerful or dumb."
"There's also a chance they’re smart and powerful. Kidnapping a kid in a public area, broad daylight, surrounded by people isn't a good idea." Tsukauchi sighs, "But if you take into account the mask, the fact said kid is quirkless and the people in that area knew it, and that they knew where to look for him at all, isn't a good sign."
Inko whimpers after hearing this and Mitsuki stops googling to hold her.
The detective writes more stuff down. "I'll have some of the officers here and in the other prefectures keep an eye out for anyone with a similar theme. Nothing else about the case or the kid will be mentioned unless necessary, so you don't have to worry about quirk statuses affecting their cooperation."
"Thank you." Mitsuki says. "Zu is a good kid, he doesn't deserve the shit he deals with."
The youngest Bakugo, Katsuki, looks to be thinking about something.
Tsukauchi nods. “I tend to take on quirkless cases more than others, so I know how to get the people we need to help.” He reassures them. “Is there any other information any of you have that could be relevant to this case? Even if you're unsure, it could be useful.”
"...maybe." Katsuki says, the others turning to look at him.
“Go ahead.” The detective nods.
"De- the nerd had notebooks, like she said." Katsuki nods at his mom. "Quirk analysis on heroes; weaknesses, strengths, gear, everything he could learn and make theories on. He always had at least one on him all the time, if a villain got even one..."
Tsukauchi hums. “Is it possible we can have someone fetch one of these notebooks to look through? You're correct in thinking that could make him a target, especially depending on how accurate and detailed the notes are.”
"I think I grabbed one." Mitsuki says. "Inky, can you check your bag?"
Inko looks through it for a moment, her shaking hands making it hard for her to focus before finally finding it and handing it to the detective. It’s number 11.
While reading through a few pages, It doesn't take long for the detective's professional, calm persona to slip for a moment. "...How old is he again?"
"Fourteen?" Inko responds.
"This... is a scary amount of detail." Tsukauchi says quietly. "Well, we have a potential motive now." He quickly puts the book aside for evidence and writes more notes down.
"You think they might use him to go after heroes?" Mitsuki asks.
“It’s possible.” Tsukauchi says. “Not only because of the detail, but.. he has heroes in here some of the public don’t usually know of, let alone with this much detail. Underground heroes are what they’re called. We’ll keep an eye on any attacks on heroes that may occur to try and find a connection.”
"Poor Zu." Mitsuki says. "He loves heroes, having his work used to hurt them..."
“It might take a while, especially if the kid has resilience.” Tsukauchi gives a somber look to the group. “But if they have something hanging over his head, they might be able to force him to help them.”
"There's us, but we're all he really has." Mitsuki says.
"Nerd will protect other kids." Katsuki says, looking at the floor sadly. "No matter who it is he has to go against, if there is another kid, he'll do anything to protect them. ...it's what a hero would do." Masaru frowns and pats his son's tense shoulder.
“We’ll do what we can to find him.” Tsukauchi swears. “You’ve given us a good amount of information to start off with. We’ll keep you updated if we get any new leads.”
"Okay. Thank you." Mitsuki gives him a serious look. "We didn't have much hope our case would be heard at all, so you actually going to try and find him means a lot to us."
The detective turns off the recorder and sighs.
“I can see why. All the odds seem to be stacked against you, but there are a few of us who work and specialize with quirkless crimes.” Tsukauchi smiles at the family. “Izuku Midoriya’s case has more information than a lot of other ones we get, this is a good thing. The more information we have, the easier he will be to find.”
"The worry for hero safety probably helps, as bad as it sounds." Mitsuki says.
"Other authorities and heroes will start paying attention once heroes safety is at risk. It's cruel, but we can use that to help get the kid back and keep the heroes safe, so it's fine." Tsukauchi shrugs.
"What about school?" Katsuki asks. "They did, and let, a lot of fucked up things happen."
"A couple other detectives that also support the quirkless can start searching and building up a case against the school. Our main priority will be finding Izuku, but we'll make sure to focus some of our attention on this as well. Once Izuku is found, it will be easier to fully conduct investigations." Tsukauchi says.
"Okay. That... that's good." Mitsuki takes a breath and puts an arm around Inko. "I take it we are done for now? Not sure what else we can tell you the papers won't."
“Yeah, we’re done.” Tsukauchi grabs a few business cards and after checking his notes, writes a couple numbers and letters down on each of them. “Text this number with your names and the case codes I wrote out on the back. I’ll keep you updated on our progress and request a meeting if anything big comes up.” He hands the cards to them.
"Okay, thank you." Mitsuki takes the cards and passes them on to the other adults. "Come on, Inky. Let's get you to our place. You're not staying home alone tonight."
“Oh thank you, Mitsuki...”
The group makes their way out of the police station while Tsukauchi looks at his physical copy of notes and sighs. Hopefully this kid won’t be just another statistic, but others haven’t always been so lucky.
But at the same time, others also haven't had two pages worth of notes on the most recreative underground hero there is. Eraserhead might want to know about this and would be a great help on the case.