Chameleon - Shoto ASD fic -

39

CHAPTER 39

Suddenly, Mic runs into the room, staring at us all gathered around a very melty bin.

'You know what? I'm not even going to ask'. He says. He looks directly at me. 'They've found Natsuo'.

I run over to him excitedly. 'Where? When?'

His eyes meet mine, and there's something which looks...off.

'Dad? What's going on?' He sighs. 'Is he, d-'

'-no, he's not, well, he's sort of...' The whole class is staring at Mic expectantly. 'He's sort of what? Spit it out Air Horn'.

Mic snaps to Backugo. 'Katsuki, I am your English teacher. And you shall refer to me as Sir, Mr Yamada, or Present Mic.' Backugo rolls his eyes. 'Fine. Mic. What's going on?' He swallows, and pauses. I've never seen him this quiet. Ever.

'We can't get to him'.

My stomach sinks.

'He's currently being held hostage in some sort of...' Mics words begin to blur together, as I fall into the ground below, into the quiet place. A place that's free from conciousness.

-later-

I wake to the comforting smell of rosemary. I look round, and see Deku at my desk, scribbling away.

'Hi' I say. He yelps, jumps, then begins catching his breath.

'Sorry!' I say. He comes rushing over to me. 'No no! It's fine. How you feeling?' He sits on the edge of my bed.

'Better. Sorry if I made you worry'. He smiles. 'Don't worry about it. All that matters is that you're feeling okay.'

There's a pause.

'Where's my brother?' I ask. Deku sighs.

'He's being held in some sort of barrier, in the lake you nearly, sort of...well...-'

'Killed myself' I say nochenantly. Deku awkwardly itches the back of his neck.

Thanks for telling me'. He nods. 'It's under surveillance 24/7. They're trying to figure out how's best to open it without hurting Natsuo'.

'What's it made out of?'

'That's the weird thing. We don't know.' Deku itches the back of his neck, then looks over towards his notebook.

'You have a theory don't you?' Deku nods. 'I do, but I'm not sure how it'll help'.

'Doesn't matter. Any information is better than no information.'

'Well, to be sure I'd need to see it in person, up close'.

'Ah, I see the issue' I say. I prop myself up, leaning back on the headrest. 'Have you tried asking Mic or Aizawa to go and see it?' Deku nods. 'Flat no'.

'Hmmm' I think. I look over at the wall, and see a mural of two cranes flying over a sunset.

'I think I have an idea'.

-later-

I knock on the door. Silence. I sigh. 'Maybe he's not in?' Deku asks. I shake my head. 'He mainly signs, remember? He probably doesn't want to talk right now.

Deku groans, resting his head on the door. But just as he does so, the door opens inwardly, and he falls face first onto the floor.

'Ow' He says. I giggle. My giggle is matched by a very confused Koda.

'Hi Koda, is is okay if we come in for a bit? We need your help' He nods, gesturing for me to walk inside. Deku gets up off the floor, but then immeidatly spots Koda's rabbits.

'Bunnies!' He says, making a beeline for them. I roll my eyes. We all sit cross legged on the floor.

'So basically, Deku has a theory about how my brother is being held hostage, but we need your help.'

Koda grabs a tablet from his desk, and begins to type into a speaker.

'How can I help?'

'Well, we need to get close to the scene, and well, we sort of need something that can go underwater, and has a good sense of smell. Any ideas?'

Koda thinks, then types on his machine. 'Yes. A watersnake would be a good choice. They have excellent sense of smell'.

'Could you ask one to go check out where Natsuo is, and then relay back to us?' He shakes his head.

'I'd firstly need to find one, and there aren't many this far away from water, then secondly, I'd need to ask whether they'd like to help me. Animals have free will too'. We both nod, understanding. 'So you're saying, not only would we somehow need to find a watersnake on campus, but one that would be willing to cooperate?' He nods.

'Luckily, snakes tend to be very careing and understanding creatures'. Deku and I look at eachother in shock.

Deku cocks his head. 'Out of curiosity Koda, which animal, in your experience, tends to be the most difficult to cooperate with?' He laughs.

'It's not hard to guess'. Deku and I immediately look at eachother, and say, 'cats' at the same time. Koda nods.

'Well, I may have an idea where we can find a watersnake' Deku says.

-later-

'This place is amazing!' I say. Deku smiles. 'Yeah, I sometimes come here to do homework'.

It's a small pond, with a little fountain in the middle. 'I know it's unlikely, but there could be something in the pond. Koda nods, then sits by the edge.

'Hello guys, I was wondeirng if there were any keelback's around?' The sound is so quiet I hardly hear it. A newt pops up, and Koda begins nodding his head. 'Oh, okay, thanks' The newt vanishes. He turns towards us.

'There was one a few months ago, but they haven't seen him for a while.' I sit next to Koda at the edge of the pond. 'Right. So do we just go around asking if anyones seen him?' Koda shakes his head. 'He's probably somewhere else by now'.

Suddenly, Deku is screaming and using blackwhip to launch himself into a tree. Koda and I look at the ground, and see a very tiny snake slithering towards us.

'Oh hi!' Koda says warmly, as the snake winds it's way up his leg. 'Nice to meet you!' He begins whispering to the snake, who flickers his tongue in response.

Deku climbs down from the tree, bright red. 'So you don't like snakes huh?' I ask.

'N-n-no, it's just, it jumped out of nowhere'. I snicker. 'You don't have to be embarrassed. They used to terrifying me when I was younger.'

'Guys?' Koda whispers to us. We come over. 'What's up?'

'He says he's just come from the lake with the glowy circle thing. That's actually why he left' Dekus eyes widen in surprise.

'Can I ask him a question?' Koda nods. 'What did it smell like?' Koda seems taken aback, but whispers something to the snake anyway.

'He says it smells like death'. Deku goes as white as a sheet.

'Deku. What's going on?' I ask.

'Natsuo is inside one of Mr Compresses orbs'.

'He...WHAT?' I ask. 'How is that possible? Compress's orbs are small, not lifesize?'

'We have no idea of the range of his abilities Sho. Can I ask the snake one more question?' Koda nods.

'What colour was the orb?' There's a pause as Koda asks the question.

I look over at Deku. 'Compress's orbs have always been...' I think back to earlier when we were melting all of the objects in the bin. Mine was hidden in my pencil - too small to know. What colour was the orb in Deku's doll again? It was hard to make out. My eyes widen, as I finally connect the dots.

Koda looks at us.

'Neon blue'.