Chapter 16

The teacher's lounge made Izuku feel claustrophobic. Different eyes were on him as he sat in front of Tsukauchi nervously. Katsuki sat next to him, arms crossed and staring at the wall across the room. The detective calmly set his things down on a table with All Might and Aizawa standing behind him. After Izuku's episode the day before, it was best for the sleep deprived teacher to be present. He didn't look too happy about it, though.

Once Tsukauchi was settled, he grabbed a pen and notepad, offering Izuku a reassuring smile. "Are you ready to begin?"

No. "I guess so"

With a nod, the detective cleared his throat. "I know this topic might be hard on you, Midoriya. I apologize for dropping the news on you so suddenly."

"It's alright," Izuku said with a lazy wave, wanting to get things over with so he could get out of the suffocating room.

"Geez, hurry up already," Katsuki said with an eye-roll, growing desperate already.

"Sure thing," the detective chuckled lightly. "Alright, Midoriya. Would you please tell me what happened yesterday? After I asked about your father?"

Gulping, he glanced quickly at the blond who was now looking at him with his brows furrowed in concern. Running a hand through his green curls, Izuku turned his attention back to the detective. "When that man found out that I was quirkless, he was...mad. So mad that he tried to kill me by choking me. I was four."

"Quirkless?" Aizawa asked, narrowing his tired eyes slightly. Izuku looked over at All Might nervously, not knowing what to tell the teacher. All Might simply placed a hand on Aizawa's shoulder, telling him that he would explain later.

After noting a few things down on his notepad, the detective continued. "So he was abusive towards you?"

A pained expression overtook Izuku's features, lips tugging down into a frown. "N-No, he was a great father...until then. He just...disappeared. He abandoned my mother and then sent the divorce papers through mail. My mom...she was heartbroken."

He left because of you!

"What does this have to do with the damned investigation?! Cut to the chase already," Katsuki grumbled, earning a glare from his homeroom teacher.

Tsukauchi sighed and reached inside a folder, pulling out what seemed to be a picture. Placing it down for the boys to see, he looked between the two and gauged their reactions. "Does this man look like Hisashi Midoriya to you?"

Katsuki stood up abruptly, snatching the picture from the table while Izuku sat frozen. "What the fuck is this?!"

The picture was clearly from a CCTV. In it was a tall man, wearing some sort of ventilator going through what seemed like a portal. A very familiar portal.

"We checked the security cameras from in and around the building for when the events happened. The cameras seemed to be tampered with, and at first we couldn't get anything from them. That was until last week." Tsukauchi explained, gesturing for Katsuki to sit back down. "We hired a technician whose quirk can access any tampered or deleted clips from any electronic device. Thanks to her, we got a hold of this."

"T-That can't be," Izuku whispered, eyes wide.

"We did a double check for authenticity, to make sure she wouldn't come up with a false image. She didn't." Tsukauchi gave a sad smile, feeling bad for the greenette.

Slowly taking the picture from Katsuki's hands, he inspected it. Sure enough, the man in the picture resembled his father. Same height, same posture...but there was something different. "My dad...he had white hair. How could this be him?"

"That's why I'm here," the detective sighed. "Your mom didn't seem to have any enemies that would target her. Not even Bakugo's parents could think of anyone that held something against her."

"Wait, my parents know?!" Katsuki asked, surprised that his old hag haven't mentioned anything to him.

"Yes, they do. I had to interview them first since they were close friends to Inko and have Izuku's custody. They were told to not say anything to you, since it is a confidential matter."

The blond let out an irritated huff, running a hand through his hair. It was true that after Inko's death his mother would not rest until she had Izuku's custody. She was afraid that they would find his father and send him away with that poor excuse of a man. So, being the determined person she was, managed to get the greenette's custody.

"Regarding the picture, we tried doing a facial scan to see if we could come up with an identity. Turns out that there is no person in file to match his identity. Just like there are no records in file of Hisashi Midoriya. Its like they had just vanished. Not even the technician could get a hold of them."

"B-But how?" Izuku asked, his thoughts becoming a jumbled mess. "That's impossible. It has to be! What about that portal?! Isnt that Kurogiri's quirk?!"

Tears were threatening to fall down his cheeks. He refused to believe what the detective was saying. It didn't make sense. How could that man be his father?! It couldn't be!

Tsukauchi glanced over at Aizawa, who was readying himself in case Izuku lost control once more. It was obvious that he was growing desperate, his body starting to tremble. "Breathe, Midoriya."

"Keep it together, nerd," Katsuki mumbled with a frown, placing a firm hand on top of Izuku's knee. The action made Izuku's panicked eyes meet his. Taking a deep breath, the greenette looked away and ran a hand down his face. Katsuki was right. He had to keep it together.

"Like I mentioned yesterday, we found traces of unidentifiable DNA under Inko's fingernails during the autopsy. We believe that those traces are connected to this man. And due to the fact that there aren't any records on file for Hisashi either, there is a high possibility for them to be the same person."

"What about that damn portal?" Katsuki huffed, glaring at the detective. Tsukauchi glanced at All Might after that question, making Katsuki uneasy. Why was he looking at All Might?

Clearing his throat, All Might approached the two boys with a frown. Taking a deep breath, he shared a look with Aizawa then directed his eyes towards the greenette. "As for the portal...we believe that this man could also be All for One."

Both boys stood up from their chairs abruptly, knocking them back with brute force. Steam was already coming out of Katsuki's palms as Izuku's black tendrils slithered out from his fingertips. "What the fuck are you saying?!"

"Eraser Head," Tsukauchi spoke, backing away a little.

"On it," the teacher mumbled, activating his quirk and getting his scarf ready.

Many emotions engulfed the two teenagers as their quirks were canceled. Katsuki was fuming, while Izuku was on the verge of having another mental breakdown. He couldn't think straight, his eyes flickering between All Might and the detective in astonishment.

"But he's in prison! You can't tell me that the man behind my fucking kidnapping, the man behind the fucking League of Villains, could be Deku's father?!"

"We didn't inform you students, but four months ago, on the same day of Inko's death, we received news of All for One's and Kurogiri's breakout," was what Tsukauchi said, making Katsuki shut his mouth. "Do they look similar to you?"

"Other than being bald and missing half of his face...they're the same," Izuku whispered, his knees giving up from under him. Katsuki caught him before he could reach the ground, pulling him back up and supporting his weight. "It's him, Kacchan."

"I won't believe this bullshit," Katsuki seethed in denial. He himself could see the similarities and the awful coincidences, yet he refused to believe it. "We're out of here."

"Young Baku-"

"Leave them," Tsukauchi said, gathering his things. "I've got the confirmation I needed."

Ignoring them, Katsuki grabbed his and Izuku's bag and stormed out of the room, still supporting the greenette's weight. It was a bit of a difficult task, but he still managed to do it flawlessly.

Looking down at the speechless greenette, he scowled. "Don't listen to them. There is no way in hell that they're the same person."

"But they are," Izuku whispered, stumbling beside the blond trying to catch his footing. "The similarities are too many."

"To hell they are," Katsuki growled, pulling the greenette inside a restroom. The halls were crowded with students getting ready for their lessons. He needed to get Izuku cleaned up before he had to show his face in class.

"Think about it," Izuku began while Katsuki leg go of him and dropped their things. "Their build, their posture, the ventilator-he had breathing problems, Kacchan. And your quirk...he would always talk about how your quirk would be so powerful when you were older. He knew about your quirk all along! He was just waiting-"

"Shut up!" Katsuki growled, splashing the greenette's face with some cold water after opening a faucet. Izuku shrieked a little, cleaning his face with the sleeves of his blazer.

"What was that for?!" Izuku huffed.

"To stop you from talking. Would you look at that, it worked!" Katsuki snorted earning an eye-roll in response. "Look, let's not talk about that shit anymore. It is not safe to talk about it in an open space."

"Yeah, I guess you're right," Izuku sighed. He felt exhausted. Not only had he not slept throughout the whole night, a bomb the size of an asteroid had just been dropped upon his head. What was next? A zombie apocalypse? A black hole? No more katsudon for the rest of his life?

"Come on, try not to think about it for now," Katsuki said, turning off the faucet and ruffling Izuku's hair slightly. "We've got to get going."

He handed Izuku his yellow bag and draped his over his shoulder carelessly, walking out of the bathroom. Izuku stood there shocked, his cheeks flushing a pink color as he reached a hand to his head. Did Katsuki just do that?

"Move it, nerd!" The blond yelled from outside the bathroom, making Izuku snap out of it and rush after him. He would try to follow Katsuki's advice. He would push his thoughts to the back of his head and try and focus on the long day ahead of them. Hopefully it wouldn't be as shitty as it had been so far.