Traitorous Spark

I...

Curfew came around shortly after Kirishima left and Sero had to go to his room. The phone wasn't charged yet and Jiro promised herself that she wouldn't look at it without Sero.

The promise didn't last past 9:30 pm.

The phone vibrated, receiving a message it hadn't been able to receive due to the death of its battery life. Jiro looked at its lit screen on the floor and forced herself to look away.

But then she saw Denki in the chair...

She flew out of her bed and picked up the phone. The keypad stumped her for a while. She spent two hours figuring out the combination - and getting locked out too many times. Then she gave up and fell asleep after she was locked out for two hours.

Three hours later - she woke up and gave it a few more go's.

She worked on it for another hour and then went to sleep.

Three hours later; she figured it out.

89766

At first, she couldn't believe it, she quickly wrote it down so that she wouldn't forget and then she studied the phone.

It was barren - no background except the standard one. No photos, barely any apps. The only thing on the dashboard was messages - Jiro slammed her thumb on the message logo and immediately scrolled all the way to the top of the conversation, which was rather short.

Three minutes later; Sero heard a soft knock on his door.

He slumped out of bed and dragged himself over to the door expecting Mr. Aizawa... except he opened the door to Jiro who looked at him sternly, "You need to read this."

"Huh?" Sero asked running a hand through his messy hair.

Jiro shoved past him, into his room (which shocked him) and closed the door behind her. She shoved the phone into his hands and pointed to the conversation up. 

"Read. It." she ordered.

Sero looked down slowly and read.

The messages started a few weeks after the provisional license exam had ended.

Unknown (at 10:00 pm): I hope your trip went well

Kaminari: no response

Unknown (1:00 am): answer me kid

Kaminari (1:01 am): I'm here

Unknown (1:03 am): How did your trip go?

Kaminari: no response

Unknown (1:05 am):  I hope you learned something

Kaminari (1:06 am): Alright, what do you need.

Unknown (1:07 am): I have a new mission for you

Kaminari (1:08 am): I've told you, I'm not interested

Unknown (1:10 am): So I take it you didn't learn anything? What, you need something more?

Kaminari (1:10 am): No.

Kaminari (1:12 am): What do you need?

Unknown (1:13 am): I need you and me to speak. Face to face if you get me.

Kaminari (1:15 am): Just tell me

Unknown (1:16 am): Nah, I think we can clear up a few things by meeting face to face. I'll send for you two days from now, meet us at the normal spot.

Kaminari (1:16 am): What's this mission about?

Unknown (1:16 am): Does it matter? You're showing up.

Kaminari (1:26 am): I'll be there.

Unknown (today): Good

"The last message didn't reach us till today because the phone died," Jiro explained.

Sero looked up at her his face a picture of questions. "Blackmail," he stated finally.

"That's exactly what I thought when he said 'learn'," Jiro nodded.

"This is..." Sero began.

"It's what we needed, it proves that he - " Jiro began.

"It doesn't prove it yet," Sero sighed.

"What are you talking about," Jiro argued.

"It doesn't prove anything yet. The lawyers will tear the argument apart if this is all we have."

Jiro groaned knowing he was right. She leaned on the wall and covered her face. She was almost certain; Kaminari hadn't willingly betrayed them.

"But..." Sero began.

Jiro looked at him and saw the gears turning in his head.

"If we could find out who bought the phone... or if we could trace the phone receiving the messages maybe we could... god I have no idea how to do that," Sero sighed.

Jiro sighed for a moment, and then another thought occurred to her.

"Kaminari left... he went on that long weekend vacation on 'family business'... that first message was sent the Monday night he came back," Jiro recalled.

"You're right," Sero nodded remembering it.

"Did he actually go home?" Jiro wondered aloud, "And if not... what did the League do to him?"

"Well..." Sero began slowly, "I could probably find out."

"What?" Jiro asked.

"I know Kaminari's address," Sero admitted.

"Really!" Jiro asked excitedly.

"Yeah... we could go tomorrow... oh wait, no today," he corrected looking at the clock that said 5:00 am. "It's not that far away if we take the train. We could visit his family, maybe get some more information and find out where he really went that weekend."

Jiro sighed and looked down at her feet, "I can't... I can't believe we didn't see this happening. I mean, how could have missed our friend getting blackmailed!? "

Sero let out a long sigh and looked up at Jiro his smile gone, "You can't find something easily if you never knew to look."

They both stood in solemn silence.

"So later today?" Jiro asked.

"Yeah, we'll be back before curfew... besides its a Sunday, a free day for us."

"Aizawa will wonder where we're going," Jiro sighed.

"We'll lie," Sero admitted.

"We're going to get into so much trouble if he finds out," Jiro sighed.

"Jiro, you're in my room at five o'clock in the morning... I don't think consequences are scaring you at this point." Sero chuckled.

"I can't let them scare me at this point," Jiro chuckled darkly twirling her earpiece.