The Corpse in the Creek

Lost Boy

"You look like shit." Hatsume commented as she took Drop's body measurements for his hero outfit. She still would not let him see what it looked like, only telling him to trust the process.

"Thanks." Drop sighed, obediently holding his arms higher when she smacked them for letting them droop. "To be fair, though, I had a major truth bomb dropped on me and my comfort person snatched away from me."

The inventor paused in her measurements, jotting something down, before she reached inside her bag of apple crisps, tossing one in her mouth. "...I don't think she was snatched." She patted his shoulder awkwardly, gesturing for him to get down from the makeshift stand they were using. "Will you be okay?"

"Yeah." Drop shook his arms, massaging them gently where they were starting to subtly throb from holding the same position. "I'm sure I'll see her again."

"One time, I had an imaginary friend." Hatsume confessed as she held up two squares of fabric for him to choose from, one spandex and the other leather. "It was before I got my quirk, you know?" She hummed happily when he chose the leather. "She was all badass and I wanted to be just like her."

"What changed?"

The pink-haired girl shrugged. "I grew up. Not everyone can be awesome hunters." She grinned cheekily. "Someone needs to make their weapons for them."

Drop didn't respond for a moment, his eyes widening slightly as he stared at the ground. Hunters?

"You're afraid of heights."

"Don't be stupid."

He blinked out of what had to be a memory to see Hatsume staring curiously at him as she ate apple crisps. "Give me some." He said, snatching one, instead of explaining what happened. "I might have had an imaginary friend. It seems like something I'd do as a kid."

Hatsume turned back to fiddle half-heartedly with some machine she had been working on. It wasn't like her- usually she'd be all about making the best babies possible- but something about Drop always slowed her down and got her thinking. "Do you really not remember anything?"

"Nothing concrete." He confessed after a moment of silence. "I get sentences, sometimes little scenes, but I have no idea what they're about."

"What about your family?" She bit her lip, looking down at her hands. "I couldn't imagine... My parents were always there for me..."

Drop paused and no one said a word for a minute. "Sometimes I wonder... I wonder who my mom is or was and if..." He shook his head. "Doesn't matter. There's no use in wondering who they are or were and what they'd think of me."

Would they be proud?

"Are you sure I can't see the costume?" He tried, glancing at the table behind her.

Hatsume took the change of topic for what it was and shook her head with a growing grin. "Nope! All you get to know is that there will be leather."

"Nice. Did you narrow down the weapons?"

"Yeah, I figured I'd have you use a capture weapon like your teacher."

"Not any of the staffs?"

Hatsume grinned widely. "Nope! You'll have to see what other babies I have for you!"

Drop mirrored her expression. "I look forward to it! I'll see you later though, Bean wants to take me to an arcade or something. I think Babe might come with us. Do you wanna come with us?"

"Nah, I'm going to finish these babies here. Have fun!" She waved, already turning back to her other projects. He always left her with a lot to think about, and most of the time it wasn't even about building anything.

—

Over the years, there had been many police reports all centered around the creek Drop was found in but only one amateur article out of the hundreds stood out the most to Nedzu. For one, it was about a villain that had not been seen in over ten years. For another, it was about one Aizawa Shouta and a distraught woman. He didn't have to wonder if the hero remembered the specific case because he knew that the details of it would haunt the man for a long time.

"

As spring approached in Mustafa, Japan, many families had decided to venture outside to enjoy the cooling air and festivities. However, tragedy struck one family on a Wednesday morning as they visited the country to celebrate the eldest son graduating high school.

At the time, the notorious villain Blackout had been on the prowl, evading police capture for many months and causing the city to be on lockdown. However, without any sign of the villain, authorities had authorized for families to leave their homes for leisure, provided they returned home before seven at night once the streetlights turned on. His quirk, as explained by the police, involved extracting a person's soul, leaving Blackout able to access their memories and temporarily use their quirk for thirty minutes every two days. The ability could last, reportedly, up to three days before Blackout was forced to return the soul or suffer mental damage from the onslaught of years of memories.

The Blofis family had just left their hotel, having traveled from America, to view a street performance before they prepared for their flight home the next day. Mrs. Blofis, age 42, had decided to go on a walk with her son down to a nearby creek to speak about his future now that he was finished with high school and moving forward in the world. No one could have ever predicted that the kind woman would return without her son and bearing the world on her shoulders.

Official reports state that Blackout had made a sudden return in the city and, too far away, Mrs. Blofis and her son were not able to hear the police announce for people to take cover until Blackout was already in the forest with them. Mrs. Blofis' husband, realizing what had occurred, had informed the closest hero about his family's last known location, pleading for him to save his wife and son.

The pro hero was Eraserhead, who bravely fought Blackout alone, was only able to rescue the mother after she was nearly fatally stabbed in her stomach. "Today will be the most difficult day and it will not be for me but for that boy's mother." Eraserhead said when he was approached by the media. "I may have saved her, but her entire world has crashed around her, and I will never forget that I made that happen."

The name of the young child with his life stripped away too soon was never given, but locals have named the area The Forest of the Lost Boy in remembrance.

Published by Beth Hunt on March 17, 20XX

Edited by Pallas Athene®

"

Nedzu sighed, tiredly rubbing his eyes as he leaned back in his seat. Thinking back on it, Blackout was the only individual in Japan with the quirk to steal memories away in the way Drop was affected. However, the lack of memories wasn't what had police on an endless pursuit for the villain but the lack of soul itself. The things it could do to a person...

He leaned forward and pressed the button for the intercom. "Aizawa Shouta, please report to my office. Aizawa Shouta, please report to my office." When he released the button, he put his head in his hands. Things just became much more dire than before.

Before, it was a matter of helping a young amnesiac find out who he is.

Now, it was a matter of life or death.

Xxxxxxxxxxx

words: 1,233

song: Mister Glassman - Scotty Sire (lyrics)