Chương 26: Mall trip and food decisions
Just as he had thought, Uraraka had asked him to come along with her to the mall. The trip had been arranged early in the morning, the weekend after classes had officially ended after their first semester of UA for their summer break.
Unfortunately, that was also when he had agreed to meet with both Kaneki and Hide once again; the trio all strictly sticking to the weekly food plan which worked safely and sufficiently enough for the three of them. Thankfully Uraraka had been more than willing to create a cover story for him, telling their classmates there he would be joining later in the day; arranging to meet up just after lunch.
The trip to Kaneki and Hides went as usual as possible, the same pigeons and people going about their early weekend commute. It didn't take long for him to arrive at their apartment and soon after he had knocked on the door, Kaneki welcomed him in with a smile.
Hide sat in his usual place with the stuff he needed all prepared as he walked in, greeting him with another smile as they got on with what they needed to do. No extra words were shared, the trio all knowing exactly what they needed to do, the silence somewhat comforting; Kaneki and Hide a little while after leaving him to his food.
it didn't take all that long for them all to reunite in the two older guys' living room, the usual conversations of school, college, and work all filtering freely around.
It didn't take long for the topic to turn to UA, the conversation quickly reminding Izuku to mention the summer camp to them both.
"Hey, Kaneki..? Hide..?" Izuku called out to them, interrupting the debate the pair of them had been having, causing them both to look over to him with puzzlement.
"I forgot to mention earlier but UA is having the first-year hero course go on a summer camp for extra training. It's meant to be for a week away somewhere, but I don't know where it's gonna be: none of us are until we arrive..." finished slowly, explaining their dilemma.
Both Kaneki and Hide grimaced slightly, a whole week without food would be a problem...
Their food plan was enough to prevent Midoriya from going hungry over short periods of time, eating every couple of days to replenish what he had lost through school training. It wasn't designed to last him over a week, especially a week filled with possibly harsh training and injury..
Injuries required healing and healing required food.
Always trying to be the one to solve all their problems, Hide responded first, "Couldn't you tell us the location of your summer camp once you've arrived.? We could come find you and-"
He trailed off as Izuku shook his head, "I could do... But there is no possibility that you would be able to find me, I don't even know how far away we're going; it could be on the other side of Japan." Izuku paused, sighing, "Even if you could reach me, it's unlikely id be able to slip out for long enough to eat, clean up and get back without anyone noticing.
He didn't mention how serious the consequences would be if the pair of them were caught there, the teachers had a very valid reason for keeping the camp location confidential. He was already seen as a villain, and if the heroes found the pair of them, their operation would be canceled. He would be caught and some of the only people he trusted with his secret would be deemed as assisting criminals, thrown into prison alongside him.
Izuku had worked hard to ensure that would never happen to both Uraraka, after the USJ, and later Todoroki; he'd be damned if both Kaneki and Hide were arrested because of his lack of foresight and carelessness. He had been careless in the past, causing Uraraka to be deemed as a suspect, he wouldn't let it happen again; he wouldn't risk getting caught.
Kaneki slumped down at his response with a sigh, annoyed with the overall idea of a training camp an worried at the implications it came with. Hide seemingly just furrowed his brows in deep thought.
Sensing the stress and pressure he had caused, izuku continued on with an uneasy smile; trying to reassure the two adults in front of him as a sense of dread slowly grew at the ramification of the other options they had...
"It'll be alright though, I've lasted weeks before without eating, ill just do the same as what I did before-"
Hide cut him off before he had a chance to finish,
"No..! You're not doing that, Midoriya.
Izuku jumped slightly at the sudden loud tone of his words, even catching Kaneki by surprise as Izuku offhandedly saw his eyes widen out of the corner of his eye.
"I'm not going to allow you to kill anyone else again, Hide exclaimed, even though they all knew he held no physical power over both Kaneki and Izuku, "that's not what heroes are meant to do."
Izuku almost felt like sighing. That was obvious but what else could they do? He couldn't think of another option, they were already pushing into unknown territory with Hides quirk with the amount both he and kaneki were having to use; the thought of what could happen if quirk exhaustion began to set in...
Izuku shook the dark thought away, it wasn't worth finding out.
"If we can't reach during the trip, we'll just have to make sure to feed you triple beforehand. I'll just take a sick day off college after."
Izuku watched Hide with surprise, eyes widening before furrowing slightly with worry, wouldn't that sort of thing severely affect his healing rate..? He looked over to Kaneki. He was mirroring his look slightly before seemingly coming to terms with it, what about his food as well..? It was just as dangerous for Kaneki to go hungry as it was for him-
Kaneki must have picked up on his concern as he looked over with a small smile, "Midoriya, don't worry about me. I very rarely use my quirk and I never need to heal myself, if necessary I can always skip a meal or two-"
"Kaneki won't be missing out on any food either-"
Kaneki looked at him with pure confusion and concern, "Hide, missing a meal or two so Midoriya can have more won't make me crazy, just a little hungry. I can control that..."
Izuku slowly slopped listening as he fell deep into thought watching the two friends argue, eyeing Hide as he did with something of a mix of wonder and confusion. Hide, while being able to camouflage it with his blind smiles, bubbly personality, and joy, was something of an enigma.
He was already willing to dismember himself, an unnatural and horrific thing that would cause anyone else extreme mental stress and terror, just to keep them both fed on a regular basis. The thought of pushing his body further, terrorizing and mutilating his own body so often so freely just left Izuku feeling deeply concerned and worried.
The way Hide had never once complained about the pain he felt, even after doing it for so long, spoke unsettlingly of his pain tolerance levels.
So why was he so desperate to go out to feed them both..? It would be so easy for one of them to go out and find someone elsewhere, even if there was the heavy mental weight which it brought; so much less risk of being caught than pushing Hides untested quirk to its limits.
The risk of his death was far too high if his rate of recovery slowed from exhaustion, something neither Kaneki nor he wanted to risk, and the excruciating pain it would bring if he did live through the long recovery... Just the thought made Izuku cringe internally. Even with his own quirk and heroic nature, he would still be skeptical and scared of going through with the strain, but Hide had never seemed anything but determined...
Another fact that had bothered Izuku was that Hides' quirk didn't come with heightened pain tolerances, his were just alarmingly inhuman...
That just brought him back to the memories of his past, remembering the small comment Hide had mentioned in the past about believing he had been quirkless. It made Izuku wonder if his childhood had been anything like his own...
Desperate to make himself no longer seem worthless and to find a way to finally become useful.
It made him feel a little sick to think that was why
Hide may have been so determined to use his quirk to feed both Kaneki and himself.
That thought actually left Izuku feeling quite sad...
He didn't mention anything once he realized both Kaneki and Hide had stopped arguing and were watching him with concern as he slowly came too after blanking out for so long.
Thankfully though, it seemed as if while he had been thinking Kaneki and Hide had both finally agreed to go with Kanekis' idea; after so very necessary persuasion on Kanekis' end, leaving
Hide disgruntled with the agreement.
It went unsaid between them that Izuku would have to carefully watch how much damage and energy he used during the training camp, closely monitoring the amount of human food he ate and purged to maximize the extra food Hide would be providing for him.
It would only give him just over a week if everything went to plan, with no broken limbs or overeating of the wrong foods but it wouldn't last much longer than that.
Soon after their conversation ended and it was time for Izuku to leave, he gave them both a quick thanks before lightly jogging towards the train station; hopping on the one going in the direction of Musutafu Shopping Mall.
As soon as he had hopped back off at the station he sent a quick text to Uraraka, to which she replied, dropping her location. It wasn't long until he saw her and the rest of his class hanging around the food court.
Ochako looked up towards him as she heard him call out her name," Oh Deku! How was your morning? "She called out to him, with a cheerful smile.
Izuku sent her a small smile back as her words caught the attention of the rest of the class, who all slowly started to get up from the food court and edge towards some of the other shops in the area left unexplored.
"It was alright, I had to speak to them and tell them I would have to miss a couple of sessions over the summer because of the training camp." He finished carefully, cautiously choosing his words so as to not draw attention to what he was saying.
Ochako nodded with understanding, hiding a faded wince as she too realized their implications.
Soon enough the rest of the class had scattered off in different directions leaving both Ochako and Izuku alone; even Shouto deciding to scamper off to go look at something down the other end of the mall.
The pair stood in silence as they looked around the mall, both wondering where they should start exploring before Uraraka slowly turned to speak to
him.
"Hey, Deku..?" She asked softly, catching his attention away from the hero store across the mall; "While you were at Kaneki-sans place this morning, did you manage to come up with a plan for the training camp...?"
Izuku paused slightly as he nodded, " Yea we did, Hide wasn't too pleased with the idea but we agreed that I'd have triple meals beforehand, and Kanekis going to miss one or two."
Uraraka furrowed her brows with worry as she looked down slightly, "But won't that make him hungry..?"
Izuku felt a little like sighing; her understanding of how hunger works, for ghouls, still not quite accurate. "Yes it will, but we don't go feral from just missing a single meal instantly, you know..?" he started with a whisper only she could hear, so no eavesdroppers could overhear, pausing as he saw a flash of guilt flash over her face. "Hey. don't worry about it, you're just concerned, it's alright."
Uraraka nodded with understanding, the air around them awkward as they stood in silence; looking over the rows of shops around them.
"So... Do you know what you need to get..?" Izuku started off awkwardly, rubbing the back of his head with his hand trying to ease the atmosphere.
Ochako stayed silent as she looked up and down the rows of shops, bringing her mind away from their previous conversation, spotting the camping store a few shops down.
"uh... Bug spray.!" She said with a nervous laugh, turning to look at Midoriya, "Yep bug spray!"
Izuku turned his attention towards her as she looked towards him with an awkward eye-closed smile, before quickly regretting her decision as she opened them and made eye contact with him.
Embarrassed, she quickly began to speed walk off, leaving a slightly flushed Izuku from the sudden eye contact behind as he called out to her, "Bug spray? Wait..! You don't mean me, do you?!"
His panicked voice caught her attention as she paused and looked back at him with a mirrored expression.
"Uhh? No, I didn't mean you! You're not a bug!" She blurted out even more embarrassed than she was before from the words he had miss interpreted.
Izuku almost let out a sigh of relief from the silly mistake, "Oh ok, that's good.!" he began awkwardly.
It was odd, the amount of conversation about his darkest secrets they had shared together, perfectly content, but neither of them could hold normal conversations without flushing and awkward eye contact with each other being involved. In some ways Izuku didn't mind it, he hadn't had any real friends before UA, Bakugou hadn't seemed to have cared about him at all throughout Middle school.
Uraraka nodded with a nervous smile as she rubbed the back of her head, slowly turning to look towards the camping store nearby, "So... Do you want to come with me and find me some..? It's alright if you need to go look for stuff elsewhere, it's just that we haven't really seen each other outside of school apart from at your house."
Izuku was inclined to agree, "Yea sure! l've got some things I need to buy, but I can just buy them later." He started, giving Ochako a warm smile as the pair slowly wandered off together.
They wandered all over the four floors of the mall, riding up and down the escalators and checking out all the stores; especially the hero merchandise ones, much to Izuku glee and Ochakos' amusement.
They got the bug spray she needed and even some extra training weights for Izuku before they made their way together to the bottom floor of the mall.
It was only once they reached the bottom that Midoriya saw Todoroki sat next to someone only a couple of meters before them. His pause in his pace caused Uraraka to look at him quizzically before facing whatever he was looking at.
"Hey look, it's Todoroki! Whos that sat next to him..." She trailed off as the excitement of seeing their friend wore off.
Izuku frowned, this wasn't someone he recognized.
He stayed silent as he looked at their friend who was not the most comfortable at the close contact with the stranger. All though Uraraka and Midoriya hadn't been friends with Todoroki for all that long, class 1-A were all familiar with his similar habits as Izuku when it came to close contact with other people.
"I don't know," He began slowly as he slowly started walking in their directions, "Todoroki isn't all comfortable with close contact so we should probably go and rescue him..
Uraraka nodded in an agreement as she quickly followed behind him.
It wasn't until they were much closer that they both realized how dire the situation really was; the hooded creep slinging his arm over Todorkis shoulders, hiding the palm which rested tightly around the base of their friend's neck, who sat motionless beside the creep.
Their footsteps caught Todorokis' attention as they approached, causing him to look up towards them slowly with a stoic expression. It wouldn't have seemed so bad if it wasn't for the slight tremble Shouto was displaying and the slightly overly widened eyes glazed with muffled fear.
It wasn't just Todorokis attention the two friends had caught with their new presence. The shaded man shifted slightly, almost defensively, as he cautiously lifted his head to peer out of the corner of his eye towards them; their pale skin and faded hair which stuck out in small tangled clumps contrasting harshly with their dark clothes and the bright sunny mall around them.
Something was wrong, this didn't feel right...
Uraraka nodded in an agreement as she quickly followed behind him.
It wasn't until they were much closer that they both realized how dire the situation really was; the hooded creep slinging his arm over Todorkis shoulders, hiding the palm which rested tightly around the base of their friend's neck, who sat motionless beside the creep.
Their footsteps caught Todorokis' attention as they approached, causing him to look up towards them slowly with a stoic expression. It wouldn't have seemed so bad if it wasn't for the slight tremble Shouto was displaying and the slightly overly widened eyes glazed with muffled fear.
It wasn't just Todorokis attention the two friends had caught with their new presence. The shaded man shifted slightly, almost defensively, as he cautiously lifted his head to peer out of the corner of his eye towards them; their pale skin and faded hair which stuck out in small tangled clumps contrasting harshly with their dark clothes and the bright sunny mall around them.
Something was wrong, this didn't feel right...
It was only as Uraraka took a closer step, as she asked what was going on, that they noticed the palm which rested around the base of Todorokis neck tense and shift as the suspicious man leaned in closer to their classmate's ear; the motion and seconds after causing Todorki to momentarily freeze with a look of horrified fear.
"Stop coming closer! Please.! Stop..!"
Midoriya narrowed his eyes as Todoroki's unnerving behaviour started to push worry out the window into harrowing concern.
He didn't move any closer as he spoke, "Todoroki?
Whose this... What's going on..?"
Todoroki didn't reply, rigid with alarm, as the man beside him shifted back to Midoriya and Urarakas' direction. Their grip didn't once loosen as Izuku slowly caught more of their face through the hair which curtained shortly around them.
It was only after they shifted their head up a little more than Midoriya caught their eye, and subsequently, the man in question recognized him.
"Oh, It's you..."
Izuku narrowed his eyes with dislike, caught off guard by the familiarity in the scratchy tone, setting him on edge as the now clearly light blue-haired man turned towards him as a loathsome grin spread across his face; his eyes growing wide with a hostile stare catching his attention.
A knowing vile chuckle rang out, fading the sounds of the mall out as all his attention was directed to the next spine-chilling words which were spoken.
"Sensei told me to watch out for you..."
Izuku froze momentarily, reeling from the statement, as he felt the fear Todoroki was feeling begin to flood in. There was no good reason for anyone to be glaring at him at first glance, he hadn't even used one-for-all at the USJ, Sports festival, or the stain attack...
The knowing smirk on the man's face widened manically as he slowly revealed more of his face towards him. Cold dread rushed through him as the crusty skin and cracked lips became ominously prominent as the sun emphasized their flaws.
The news always had a habit of being oddly specific when it came to describing villains, and Tomua Shiggaraki was no different.
The infamous villain who held the face of the League of villains, covering the mastermind All for One behind him.
The same villains who Izuku knew had come all too aware of what he was...
The tense atmosphere around them was starting to attract the attention of the civilians' curious stares around them as Izuku and Shiggaraki had a silent standoff in the center of the mall. Horrified fear silently swirled through Izukus' mind as Shiggaraki made no move to remove his hand from around his friend's throat, Todoroki subconsciously lifting his hands up to his neck to try and lose the grip as he began to shake with fear.
The time ticked by agonizingly slowly, Midoriya's mind racing to think of a way to save his friend. He was about to take a cautious step forward when something made the villain tense at his movement, causing him to jump up and slowly back up.
The villains' eyes momentarily made contact with his own as he registered the hostile but vigilant expression he held, almost weary of his presence, the reaction causing him to pause defensively at the unexpected movement; Todoroki simultaneously hunching over from the sudden gasp of air he was able to shakily take in, Uaraka wasting no time rushing cautiously around the villain to tend to him.
"Ahh..! I'm sorry! I didn't know he was here with friends!"
Shiggaraki backed up with an artificial smile, his tone changed as he spoke clearly aloud, diffusing the strained undertone which had hovered around them since his arrival. His drastic change of attitude caught Midoriya off guard, leaving him unnerved at the scarily skillful forged emotions.
Izuku stood silently as he watched tentatively as the league of villains slowly wandered past him, his hand tense with anger as they both silently make knowing eye contact, forced to acknowledge the shared blackmail between them that neither of them could afford to expose in front of the hundreds of people who were scattered across the mall.
Now wasn't the time to reveal his secret, even as the face of the league of villains, Shiggaraki wasn't the final boss he needed to worry about...
He paused a few steps away, when only the back of his dusty hoodie and jeans were visible, to Izuku when he heard their next words trail coldly out.
"Don't follow me... All thought, I know you wouldn't be stupid to get into a fight here.."
Something in the villain's words struck a chord in him, sending a flash wave of anger and annoyance towards the villain, as Izuku narrowed his eyes darky, "What does All-for-One want with me..?"
Shiggaraki had only taken a single pace before his words reached his ears, pausing before slowly turning his head to Izuku with a sly, choleric grin, the omniscient aura revealing the truth shared between them.
There was no need for Shigaraki to answer his question when he knew that he knew the horrific truth.
The villains' grin reached his eyes as he slowly trailed out.
"I'm sure you've already figured that much out..."
His expected words left Izuku motionless as he watched the villain disappear silently into the crowd. It didn't take long for the police to show up and escort him to the police station, leaving Izuku and Ochako both despondently behind, class 1-A slowly gathering together as the mall was evacuated.
This wasn't how the mall trip was meant to go...
Izuku looked away dejectedly towards the ground as he clenched his fist, the feelings of anguish and desolation filtered through his mind. Did this happen because of him..? Was that why Todoroki had been targeted?
That night Izuku laid awake in his bed, too many thoughts from the day running through his head as he tried to sleep them off.
It was obvious, Shiggaraki knew about the ghoul quirk he possessed and the purpose he held, and by his reaction as Midoriya had pushed forward, the imminent threat he posed; All for one must have told him to be wary. As far as Midoriya was aware his disintegration quirk was fast-acting, whether it was fast enough to bet his regeneration even from a short limited time was now up for debate.
Had Shiggaraki been planning to see him today..?
Targeting Todoroki to get his attention.? The questions left him bitter with guilt. It was only just hitting him that there were still people out there who would put his only friends at risk because of what he was, the extreme lengths he had gone just to hide and protect them meant nothing...
It left Izuku laying awake for hours, thinking over the thousands of things that had happened to him over the last year and a half of his life and possibly more.
How many things had been the result of the league of villains..? A consequence of All for one.?
The USJ? Stain? Akuma entering his life? The explosion had ultimately led to her demise..?
It was at that point his thoughts trailed back to that night, the explosion had been declared a freak accident in the end; Izuku quickly came to realize how deep those lies lead.
Izuku couldn't help the tears slowly fall from his eyes as the devastating revelations hit him, times like this made him wish that the explosion hadn't happened. At least then he would have died at the hands of his friends and not been forced to play the villain's game for months on end as if he was nothing but a toy.
And while his life had eventually leveled out to something akin to normality, with more friends than ever before, if given the option he would never choose to go through with it all ever again...
It hadn't been an accident, she would have murdered him if it wasn't for that explosion, striking her perfectly to kill her from the rubble's impact; while he was just far enough away to survive and suffer from the consequences.
It was too much of a coincidence, did that mean that the rest of the buildings in the area had also been rigged? Waiting for the perfect moment to destroy both their lives.
Everything had been planned, right from the start, and it left Izuku wondering what else All-for-One had planned for him...
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