A Villain's Journey

Chap. 10

It was two days later when the news was blowing up about everything. Izuku sat down in the bar, a small smirk resting on his face, watching and watching and watching. He listened to the reporters drone on about his little late-night adventure. There was even video surveillance to top it all off. The kid had even gone to the police to tell them he had seen Izuku. Izuku knew that he was going to be in so much trouble once All For One finds out, but for now, he was able to sit back and enjoy his newfound fame for as long as he could.

Izuku tapped his fingers atop the wooden bar table. The jeweler was talking, a grimace on his worn-down face. Izuku had cost the jewelry store quite a bit of money, even though he had only taken three items. Video surveillance was displayed across the screen and Izuku watched curiously as it zoomed in on his masked face. He'd have to give the jewelry store some credit, the video was pretty clear, though it wasn't clear enough. It was hard to tell that it was Izuku himself up there and the only reason Izuku knew it was himself was that, well, that was him.

"Looking back on your mistake?" A voice asked from behind him.

"I wouldn't call it a mistake, Kurogiri, but more of a... slight mishap. You should be thanking me, we are now a few thousand dollars richer, are we not?" Izuku asked.

"How can you just sit there and not care?" Kurogiri asked. Izuku nearly jumped up from his seat and his eyes got wide.

"You've noticed it too?" Izuku exclaimed. "It's been driving me crazy! I can't figure it out, I'll go one second from thinking I just ruined my life to not caring one bit!"

Kurogiri narrowed his yellow eyes in thought. Izuku waited, tapping his fingers once again on the wooden tabletop. It was always like this with Kurogiri and Izuku often found himself losing patience in their conversations. It seemed, with Kurogiri, he always had to come up with the perfect words before he spoke.

"I think... it might be stress," Kurogiri said. Izuku gave a harsh sigh.

"I thought you might say that," Izuku said in a defeated tone.

"Did you wish it to be something else?" Kurogiri asked and Izuku shrugged.

"No, don't get me wrong, I really do hope it to be stress but I feel like that's not it. Something inside of me is telling me that it's something completely different," Izuku said.

Kurogiri paused before answering. "Something more complicated, perhaps?"

"No. No, it feels actually quite simple. It's like the answer is right in front of me like it's on the tip of my tongue, yet my brain doesn't know what it exactly is," Izuku said.

Kurogiri gave a small hum of acknowledgment. "Anyway, I did come in here to talk to you about something." Izuku nearly rolled his eyes at the sudden conversation change.

"Go on," Izuku said, leaning back with a small sigh.

"Shigaraki Tomura said he wanted your help with recruiting for the upcoming U.A. attack," Kurogiri informed him. Izuku shut off the T.V., already annoyed with the reporter's voice.

"And why couldn't Shigaraki come down and tell me himself?" Izuku asked.

"He's very busy right now," Kurogiri said.

"Is it that? Or is he still throwing a temper tantrum at my fun time that I had two nights ago?" Izuku asked. Kurogiri closed his purple eyes which made Izuku give the slightest smirk. One of his favorite things to do was annoy Kurogiri.

"Please, Midoriya, just go up and help him, he looks like he's on the brink of death," Kurogiri said.

Izuku sighed but got up from his seat nonetheless. He attempted to pat Kurogiri on the shoulder as he passed him but his hand went through his smokey shoulder. Izuku wrinkled his nose and made his way up the stairs into the living area. When he opened the door, he saw Shigaraki in the same seat as he had been two nights ago with his eyes close to a laptop screen. It seemed as if Shigaraki hadn't noticed him come in so Izuku went over to the kitchen to fill up a glass of water for the poor guy.