Chapter 129: Investigation (2)
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Izuku Midoriya has been living a hard life since he was attacked by Neji two weeks ago.
That attack damaged Izuku on a spiritual level, and while his master was able to heal a bit of that wound, he would need another two to three weeks to get back to his peak.
This was why he wasn't pushing his body too much because even moving around was painful. That was also the reason behind why he came last in the Battle Training that All Might took.
Fortunately, exams were close by so there weren't any noteworthy physical activities. This allowed Izuku a ton of free time on his hand, which Izuku spent reading books just enough to pass while doing small training that his body could still bear.
Everything was good until then, but today… Izuku was feeling weird. As if someone was following him.
Until he stepped inside the train, he could feel one… no, two pairs of eyes on the back of his neck. He had tried to locate the persons following him a few times, but he saw nobody. Literally, nobody.
Luckily, the stare was gone when he stepped onto the train.
However, there was a high chance that someone was indeed following him. But he didn't know anyone who needed to follow the "Midoriya from UA High". If his guess was right, the persons following were after "Midoriya, the suspect".
Izuku was 100% certain nobody knew his connection with the League, but he also knew anything was possible in this world. So he planned not to visit the League for a while, which wasn't exactly a problem as he didn't frequent that place either way. He usually contacted his master via the specially encrypted computer.
As Izuku had expected, when he stepped out of the train, he immediately felt eyes on him again.
He smartly tried to locate the culprit, by looking at mirrors, taking a selfie, and doing more things. He didn't directly turn around in case the suspects were alerted.
But no matter how much he tried, he just couldn't locate them.
In the end, he continued his way to his apartment where he and his mother lived happily and peacefully….
—★—
Neji was absolutely certain Izuku noticed him. He was acting too weird not to.
Though how did he do that exactly?
Izuku couldn't find him in the crowd, even though sometimes he was out in the open. Meaning, he felt his presence in some other way.
Was he just trained at this thing like that? Or was that one of his quirk's perks?
Neji didn't know, but he realised this mission won't go anywhere today.
Still, he kept following Izuku all the way to his house, which was a 30-story apartment building. Izuku lived on the 24th floor.
After that, Neji returned to his home.
—★—
That night,
"So, what did Ryukyu say?" Neji asked his older sister, who was sticking a pencil between the space of her nose and upper lip.
"Mhm? Oh, yeah that. I don't know man." Nejire shrugged, causing the pencil to almost fall, but she moved her body in a way to keep it up there. "Didn't you say Rumi told her everything? Of course, she's disappointed in you and doesn't want to meet you."
Neji released a soft breath. She had a point right there. Ryukyu wasn't willing to meet him. She might do it if he keeps pestering her, but that type of meeting won't end well.
So… he needed to strike on an unexpected day.
Neji softly wrapped his arms around Nejire, causing the pencil to fall from her nose.
"Oi! You ruined it all!"
She yelled, but she didn't move to grab the pencil. She instead sat still, embraced by his arms.
"What do you want?"
Neji slowly smiled behind her ears and started whispering, as each word left his mouth, Nejire's eyes narrowed in doubt before they widened in shock.
"Okay…" Nejire nodded after he was done. "Today is Thursday, right? I think I can manage it on Sunday. That's fine with you, little bro?"
Neji just bit her ears while laughing.
—★—
Just like always, nothing special happened at school on Friday. After school, Neji went to follow Izuku again. But this time, he flew to Izuku's city instead of taking the train.
As expected, Izuku wasn't as cautious as before today. But as time passed and he kept following Izuku to his house, the green head's cautiousness returned and he kept trying to look around.
That day, as expected, had gone to waste as well.
Izuku casually went to his apartment and spread the curtains of his window to cover the view inside.
Then came Saturday. He didn't want to do this today, because of his plans on Sunday, but he had limited time on his hand. Kimi was still trying, but she hadn't reached anywhere yet.
Today, he immediately flew to Izuku's house and floated beside the window of his room. He had a pigeon in his hand, that he grabbed from the sky. It was squeaking before Kurai kept glaring at it from Neji's shoulder.
While she did so, Neji took out a pill of Lactulose and threw it inside the pigeon's mouth.
Lactulose is prescribed to patients with Constipation, meaning if it were to be given to a normal person, let alone a bird, it would start to poop immediately.
Almost comically, it did so as Neji held it by the window curtains. Kurai moved her head away because of the awful smell, as the pigeon started to squeak hard, sounding loud enough for the people inside to hear.
When it was done shitting, Neji immediately flew away and put the poor bird on the rooftop before giving it some better medicine.
The bird didn't deserve this, and she will always remember this humiliation.
—★—
Izuku returned home that day a bit satisfied and proud.
After all, he had just made his pursuers leave. Today he didn't feel any eyes on his back. Unless his training had suddenly fallen lacking, and his quirk wasn't working, nobody was following him today.
*Ding Dong!*
He rang the bell of his apartment and his sweet mother opened the door for him.
"Oh, Izuku, you're back. How was school today?"
"It was good, very good." Izuku hummed happily, which made his mother smile too.
Exchanging a few more words, he went to his room and immediately stopped seeing the window curtain not present there.
"Mom?" He called out. "Where did my curtains go?"
His mother quickly came to him. "Oh, that. I don't know, a weird bird dirtied the curtain with poop. So I just washed it. Why? If you feel uncomfortable, I can put the ones in my room here."
Izuku shook his head. "No, that won't be needed. Just prepare dinner mom, I am kinda hungry."
"Oh, sure baby." His mother smiled and walked away.
Izuku frowned, he felt something was wrong… But that might just be his paranoia from the fact that the culprit didn't follow him today.
That bit of paranoia slowly went away, vanishing in thin air as the night grew and Izuku spent time with his lovely mother.
When he was about to sleep though…
~Ring Ring Ring~
…He received a call on his computer.
A call from All for One himself.
—★—
[Luck plays a role!]
That was the message Neji got a few hours ago that made him decide that he won't go home today. He simply told his mother that he was at Momo's house, which Momo supported, and therefore it fixed every problem at home.
Neji was on the rooftop of a nearby building, a few hundred metres away from Izuku's home. But he wasn't watching Izuku with his eyes, already knowing the kid could somehow feel his eyes on his back. Which was why he ordered a camera yesterday, a camera that could take perfect shots upon kilometres upon kilometres. It cost a lot, but Neji could afford it.
Now, he had the camera stand on top of a tripod, focused on Izuku's room via his curtainless window, while he sat on a mattress on the floor and watched everything that was being recorded on a laptop. He had placed a sound recorder outside Izuku's window, via which all the sounds inside were heard crystal clearly.
So, he both saw and heard when Izuku's computer, which was shut-down, rang and a rusty and crispy voice came out of the speakers.
["Midoriya, are you free enough to come to the League for a while?"]
"Huh? But it's so late though. Never mind, tell me what's the emergency."
["Good, as expected you're ready anytime. Well, because of Shigaraki's childishness, a small fight broke out between him and Stain, and a few of our new recruits have run out of the base by forcing Kurogiri to send them to a city of their choice. If you'd please come and calm this situation here.]
There was an annoying groan from Izuku, but he agreed nonetheless.
Neji straightened his back and attentively watched the clear footage he was getting.
…But, he kept watching the stream expressionless as a purple portal suddenly opened in the room and Kurogiri came out to take Izuku inside. The portal closed, leaving Neji staring.
He slammed his laptop close. "Of course, it's late at night so he wouldn't go to the base on foot… Ugh."
Then why did he get the system message anyway? Did something go wrong?
[I have no idea, master. The message 'Luck Plays a Role' doesn't come from me and instead comes from a higher being. Maybe the concept of luck itself? I have no idea, I apologise.]
Neji released a deep sigh, shaking his head and waving his hand to the system. "Don't worry about it."
Some might say, "It's actually lucky, think about it. You now have a clip of Izuku talking to a person, who was most probably All for One, about the League and Stain. Now… you can expose Izuku's anytime."
But Neji won't do that. Exposing Izuku Midoriya will just cause the police to put the guy in jail. But putting the guy titled as the [Main Character] by the world itself in jail is nothing but a stupid move. Those types of situations never end well.
Neji will take care of Izuku by his own hands...and he will do that before Summer Camp. Who knows what Izuku might pull if he gets to participate in Summer Camp? Heck, he might harm Momo in some way. That won't do. That kid was dangerous, it's best to eliminate him asap.
Though it doesn't seem like he would get the chance today...
Kurai looked grumpy too, getting no result after staying at the rooftop until so late in this cold night.
Either way, Neji and Kurai headed back to their home. Neji flying over cities and Kurai sitting on top of his shoulders.
It was night, and despite having a better vision as a High Human, he still kept his Eyes of the Lord active in case anything unexpected happens. With that… while flying over a city, he noted something ugly happening in a dark alleyway.
He couldn't zoom in with these eyes, but he could see the minuscule movements and decipher them in his head. From that, he realised someone was with a knife, standing above a shaking high school girl, about to dig their knife inside.
Neji wouldn't have interrupted the event if Kurai wasn't with him. He wanted to show off a little… It certainly wasn't because the girl about to get killed had nice proportions.
Like a tornado, Neji blasted down and did land between the victim and attacker, dropping on his legs with a loud thump.
However, Neji didn't care about the victim the moment his eyes landed on the attacker. He realised why he got that Luck message the moment his eyes saw the hovering text above the blonde attacker.
[Himiko Toga - Tier 4]
The shock on the vampire wannabe girl's face dissipated as she jumped at Neji with her knife.
Something, she would come to realise, was a bad move indeed.
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Author's Note: A wild night for Neji… and maybe it will get much wilder. We never know.