Crimson Murders

Chapter Forty-Two

The crashing of thunder is the only sound other than their constant speaking. Shouto fidgets relentlessly as he sits in the room with his classmates—Midoriya's other friends plus Bakugou. The air thick with tension as they debate once again about the same thing. "We need to go help, Midoriya," says Kirishima, wringing his hands as he bites on his bottom lip in worry. His red eyes lands on each and everyone who is in the room. "I'm sorry, but I can't wait any longer for the heroes to act. I don't care that he has a plan or not—this, this is getting ridiculous. He's our friend. We can't wait forever! For all we know—he . . ." He trails off as his hands move towards his hair, grasping locks of red.

  Midoriya Izuku—Shouto's first friend who helped him out during the Sports Festival—has been missing for three days now. Their training camp had been attacked by villains all with a goal to capture Bakugou and him so that they'll join them. The man, Beetle, had retrieved Bakugou but not Midoriya. That man left Midoriya alone with the villains who are doing who knows what to him. When they found out they couldn't help but bristle with anger, trying to get answers from the man and police. Aizawa-sensei had stopped them and threatened expulsion if they didn't get back to their rooms. "We have this handled," said the underground hero. "Don't worry. Midoriya knows what he's doing, we're following his plan."

That made no sense. Why follow his plan? What were they trying to achieve that it dealt with Midoriya possibly dying? Shouto has always believed himself to be a reasonable and calm man, always keeping his motions in check. When Eraserhead had told them, he lost his composure. "So you want to wait and let him possible die or worse?" he had yelled, his left and right side clashing in temperature. "Midoriya is our friend! He is your student! How can you be okay leaving him—?"

"We're not." The stern tone in his teacher's voice caused him to stop in his small warpath. "We don't want to do this. If we had our way, we would be storming their hideout and bringing him back. Hell, he can get himself out but won't. There's something he needs to do and I don't know what." For the first time, he could see worry, sadness, and guilt in his teacher's face, breaking through his usual expression of nothingness.

In all fairness, Shouto agrees with the redhead. He knows that the guy, Beetle, has already told them not to go and intervene, going as far as to even warn and threaten to expose them, but they just couldn't sit around and bite at their nails until they received word from the teachers. "We shouldn't though!" Iida is the voice of reason of their group. He does not want them to make the same mistake as he did in Hosu—having Midoriya come a rescue him and call Shouto for backup. "Midoriya has a plan and I have faith in him! We shouldn't risk it!"

"What if he dies?"

Everyone turns to Uraraka who has tears glistening in her eyes, her fists clenched tightly at her sides, twitching to punch the something or, if they're unfortunate enough, them. The two boys ,who know the secret of what happened in Hosu, glance at each other. What if he dies? Will he stay dead or will he live? And at what cost?

It's a scary thought. Would he go insane? Or—or what exactly? They don't want to know.

Bakugou—the one who had returned—sits in the corner of the room, listening in to the conversation. Upon hearing Uraraka's question, he flinched and curls up into himself with a scowl. He hasn't yelled at them or glared yet, so Shouto isn't sure what his thoughts are in all of this. He glances around as if looking for someone but rests his eyes on his hands. He hasn't said anything nor has left the hospital albeit already treated. They had gone to check on him and get answers to no avail. The blond wouldn't answer their questions and just tell them to leave.

"That guy—Beetle—has made it clear. We shouldn't go." Yaoyorozu walks over to the small brunette, placing a hand on the smaller girl's shoulder. "We can't risk Midoriya getting hurt anymore than before."