Chereads / Burn Me (Bakugo x Reader) / Chapter 89 - Chapter Eighty Eight

Chapter 89 - Chapter Eighty Eight

Mr. Principle hastily traveled down the empty hall, his small round eyes darting side to side before rounding each new corner. Suddenly from a distance laughter rang, the bright cheerful sound crawled up Mr. Principles' spine causing static like shivers as Class 1-A began to pass without noticing their school principal hugging the nearby wall trying to slip away undetected.

Aizawa lazily turned spotting his boss in-between the twenty something student bodies, the dry-eyed hero was just about to call out to Mr. Principle but was abruptly cut off by a familiar voice, earning a throbbing sensation on the side of Aizawa's head watching All Might's skeleton figure come running full force towards the group.

"Didn't know you could still move like that-" Aizawa commented but tilted his head seeing the retired hero panting, sweat visible on his forehead. "-or not." He muttered.

"M-Mr. Principle-!" All Might breathed, leaning against the wall sucking in deep breaths.

"All Might-!" Midoriya worriedly stepped forward, "-are you-?"

"Where is she!?" All Might ignored the greenette, locking his sights onto the stout mouse like man.

"Huh?" Students from class 1-A blinked instantly confused.

"Where is (y/n)!?" All Might clarified searching the crowd with a longing gaze.

"What-?" Mina shook her head following All Might's eyes looking at each of her classmates as if you would magically manifest standing beside Katsuki like you used to do not so long ago.

"Why are you asking about-?" Katsuki stepped closer; his chest instantly felt tightened. These past weeks have been an utter nightmare, Katsuki could barely sleep or eat. He could barely focus on his schoolwork or training knowing you were some place out in the world being used as a human battery.

The anxiety and pain of missing you was eating him from the inside out like a hungry parasite on a mission.

"I was told-" All Might excitedly ignored the students and all their burning questions. "-she was released into you care-"

"WHAT!?" Class 1-A exploded into a ray of emotions quickly spinning around to Mr. Principle who nervously chuckled while adjusting his neck tie.

"I-I was actually searching for you-" Mr. Principle waved his paw.

"It looked like he was trying to sneak away to me." Kaminari muttered causing Sero to nod.

"(y/n) was found!" All Might breathed through his lips, his smile unwavered. "I was told she was checked out by a nearby hospital and then sent here! Where-Where is she!?" All Might repeated, once again scanning the crowd of students. "Wh-Why wasn't I called!?"

"You-You were in class." Mr. Principle appeared antsy.

"That means nothing!" All Might's voice splintered under his emotion.

"(y/n) has been found!?" Mina, with tears forming in her eyes, stepped closer to Mr. Principle who placed a cracked smile feeling himself beginning to heat.

"Why the hell isn't she with you!?" Katsuki pushed through, stepping beside Mina.

"Where is (y/n)?" Midoriya added to the mixture of questions.

"(l/n) is not here." Mr. Principle kept calm composure.

"Wha-?" Ochaco blinked, her eyebrows furrowed glancing over to Midoriya showing her confusion.

"Yes-" Mr. Principle cleared his throat, "-(y/n) was placed into my care after being dropped off. I walked her to your home room expecting a grand reunion but when we got there...we-she heard such gruesome things-"

"What are you talking about?" Aizawa walked from the back of the group. "We haven't been in our classroom; we have been at the gym like we were scheduled."

"I-I well someone was in there and what she heard was detrimental, it seemed to crush whatever she had left-"

"What was said?" Kirishima butted in.

"Yeah-!" Mina agreed, "-and who was in our classroom!?"

"I told (y/n) she could go home for the day, rest up since she appeared to be exhausted-" Mr. Principle plowed over the cloud of questions, "-whether she decided to return to her dorm room or All Might's house I am unsure of."

"But-"

"Now if you'll excuse me-" Mr. Principle ducked All Might's unrefined gaze, "-I have a meeting to attend."

"Was that weird?" Kaminari wondered to himself watching the little mouse man's feet pat down the hallway.

"Who cares." Mina shook her head. "(y/n) is home!" Mina jumped; her excitement couldn't be contained inside her chest.

"Mr. Aizawa-!" Kirishima clapped his hands together as he stood before his teacher, "-can we please skip the rest of class and head to the dorms early!?"

"Yeah!" The rest of the class agreed, coping Kirishima. "Please!?"

Aizawa smirked, closing his eyes for a moment as he felt the tight bubble inside his rib cage anxiety brings slowly deflate.

"I was never going to try and stop you." Aizawa answered, watching the bright faces spread over each of his students' features.

"You coming Aizawa?" All Might asked, following the jogging crowd of students.

"I wouldn't miss this."

----

Class 1-A followed by the two popular teachers at UA high school stormed through the dorm's entrance almost taking the doors off the hinges.

"(y/n) is probably hungry!" Ochaco commented, heading to the kitchen followed by a few others to make a quick snack while All Might, Katsuki, Mina and Midoriya fly to the elevator.

"You're going to break it!" Mina lectured Katsuki who rapidly kept pressing the button waiting for the doors to open.

"Then it shouldn't be so damn slow!" Katsuki snapped back. As soon as the doors broke open the group stepped inside, eager to get to the fourth floor.

Mina was the one to knock on your door.

"(y/n)?" Mina's voice hovered over a mere whisper, worried she may wake you up knowing you would need all the rest you could get.

"Excuse me Mina." All Might smiled, Mina blinked looking up at the retired hero but moved aside without question. All Might didn't miss a beat, he stepped into your room without another knock. He didn't care if you were asleep, or tired. He just needed to see you, he wouldn't wake you, he just...wanted to see your face, hear your light breathing while you slept inside a cocoon of warmth and safety he and this proud school provided.

All Might and the others were greeted to a dark room, after a moment to allow their eyes to adjust Katsuki frowned, seeing the empty untouched bed. Mina licked her lips as disarranged thoughts filled her head, turning to the teachers for guidance. Katsuki didn't say a word, he simply walked out of the room and stepped into his, thinking you could be there instead. Mina followed, feeling hollow hope fill her chest.

Once more, the group was greeted by a vacant room leaving each person feeling muddled. Katsuki's eyes fell to the ground as he tried to logically figure out why you weren't here.

"She must have gone to your house." Aizawa turned to All Might, who quickly nodded, it was the only other thing that made any sense.

"Yeah." All Might licked his lips.

"How would she have gotten there?" Mina wondered under her breath following the group who swiftly backtracked their way downstairs.

"Hey!" Midoriya brightly smiled seeing the group. "How is she?"

"Yeah!" Ochaco added, "Is (y/n) asleep? We made snacks-"

"(y/n) isn't here." Aizawa stated, watching each of the light expressions on his students face drop. This caused him affliction, for weeks all his class did was mope around filled with consternation due to your unknown whereabouts.

This was the first time in forever he saw their smiles...he almost forgot how they looked.

"What-?"

"We are going to my house." All Might stated, "She must have gone there."

"But-"

"We will stay here." Aizawa cut Kirishima off, "In case we are wrong and (y/n) is off scavenging for food or something."

"Right." All Might nodded, before leaving he glanced over his shoulder. "Thank you, Aizawa."

During the car ride Mina, Katsuki and Midoriya held on for dear life as All Might sped through the streets, taking sharp turns as if he was on a racetrack fighting for first place.

Once home, the blond jumped out of his car without even caring to turn off the engine. The students of UA hopped out quickly chasing the shadow of what used to be the countries number one hero.

"(y/n)!" All Might called opening the front door, leaving it wide open for the students. All Might's eyes darted to the empty couch, quickly turning to run up the stairs taking two at a time. "(y/n)-!" All Might breathed, a goofy smile took over his face, "-how did you get home-?" All Might cut himself off, looking around your bedroom for a moment his brain flatlines.

Flashing back to the countless nights he walked in here, praying you would somehow be sitting on your bed nose stuffed inside a textbook.

"I closed the front door because it started to rain-" Mina cut herself off standing beside Midoriya and Katsuki who all remained beside All Might.

"She's not here?" Midoriya breathed, seeing the empty bed still untouched from when All Might made it weeks ago.

"How is that possible?" Katsuki curled his lip; anger filled his bones feeling like he was a rat trapped inside a maze being yanked around. "Where the hell is she!?"

"Call Aizawa." All Might managed to say, still unable to pull his eyes off the bed feeling disbelief filling him with a warm haze.

"R-Right!" Midoriya nodded, perhaps you had been at UA this entire time and wandered off to find food. It made the most sense, after all, how on earth would you get to All Might's house from the school since it was too far on foot.

"Hello?" Aizawa's lazy voice answered, Midoriya quickly placed the phone on speaker.

"M-Mr. Aizawa-!" Midoriya's voice was shaky, he didn't mean to leak so many of his jumbled emotions inside his voice. "-is (y/n) there?"

"I assume she isn't at All Mights?"

"No..." Midoriya breathed.

"She hasn't shown up since you left." Aizawa answered, "A few of your classmates went looking around the school to see if they can find her." Aizawa's words caused a click inside All Might's mind.

"That's it!" All Might breathed, "(y/n) must have gone out some place!"

"Maybe..." Mina muttered.

"What was (y/n) wearing?" All Might sternly questioned, "We need to know that, it will help find her!"

"I guess the only one to know that would be...Mr. Principle." Midoriya replied.

"Come on." All Might turned on his heel leaving the room.

"Where are we going?"

"Back to the school to find Mr. Principle." All Might answered, "We can't find (y/n) if we don't know what to look out for."

"That's....so smart!" Mina praised hopping into the running car, bracing for the ride back to school where they met up with Aizawa and the ones who stayed behind.

"Where do you think Mr. Principle is?" Sero wondered scratching his neck.

"I messaged Thirteen who said she believes he is on the second floor." Aizawa replied walking up the flight of stairs.

"Man, I'm tired." Kaminari breathed through his nose, he ran all over the school searching for you and now they were running all over the school again searching for somebody else!

"Yeah." Ojiro agreed with a tight nod as they followed the large group around a corner into the second-floor hallway.

"Mr. Principle!" All Might waved, seeing the small mouse man and a few other teachers who were all exiting a room attention.

"All Might? Aizawa-?" Mr. Principle questioned watching the group move towards him, "-why aren't your students in class?"

"I need to know-" All Might ignored the question taking in a deep breath, "-what was (y/n) wearing?"

"Excuse me?" Mr. Principle frowned.

"(y/n)-" Aizawa rephrased. "-what was she wearing?"

"(y/n) is back?" Mr. Principle studied the teachers' face. "When did she-?"

"Yeah..." Midoriya stepped forward, "...you were the only one to have seen her, so we need to know what she was-"

"I haven't seen (y/n)." Mr. Principle stated, readjusting the piles of folders in his grasp.

"But you were the one who walked-" Asui went to comment.

"What are you all talking about?" Midnight crossed her arms over her chest. "Mr. Principle has been with us inside a meeting all day."

"Wh-What!?" Mina and Midoriya gasped.

"Th-That's impossible!" Kaminari shook his head, "We-We just saw you!"

"You must be mistaking me for another-"

"How many other mouse men do we have running around this school!?" All Might lashed out. "We all spoke with you in the hallway, you told us you escorted (y/n) to class, where she heard who knows what and then you let her just leave! I need to know what she was wearing so I can find her!"

"Mr. Principle isn't lying." Snipe waved his hand, "We have all been in a meeting with the school board that the two of you missed, none of us have left this room." He pointed to the door they had previously exited from.

"If it, wasn't you that we talked too..." Momo frowned.

"Who did we speak to in the hallway?" Midoriya finished glancing at his classmates then finally to his homeroom teacher.

"I have a question!" Mineta raised his hand.

"Not now Mineta." Mina sighed rubbing the side of her head.

"But why can't we just look at the cameras to see if they are telling the truth or not?"

"Cameras?" Mina blinked chewing over the thought.

"Yeah?" Mineta shrugged, "Don't we have surveillance cameras' all over school?"

"How would you know that?" Jiro questioned.

"I-I didn't find out where the cameras are to sneak into any locker rooms!" Mineta nervously laughed as he itched his nose.

"You creep-!" Jiro snapped about to slap Mineta into next week.

"That's it!" All Might gasped, kicking himself he didn't think of this solution sooner. "We can look at the footage and see what she was wearing or even where she went!"

"And who she was with." Midnight added.

"Right." All Might nodded, the evidence Mr. Principle had been in a meeting all day hadn't sunken into All Might's brain, he's too focused on the search for you.

----

Inside the security office, most of Class 1-A had to remain outside. All Might, Mr. Principle, Aizawa Midnight, Mina, Midoriya and Katsuki all squeezed around the four screens pressed together as the officer scanned through the day.

"See-" Midnight pointed to the conference room which conveniently held a camera inside its room. "-we never left."

"Alright." All Might muttered, watching the officer toss the video of Mr. Principle inside the conference room on a spare monitor while he searched the footage of the day. Mina smiled seeing how Midnight's head was leaned back in the video as if she had fallen asleep.

Midoriya was nervously biting at his fingers watching the school's security officer scan through hours of video recordings on dozens of cameras placed around the school.

"There!" All Might quickly pointed, seeing you walking beside Mr. Principle on your way to Class 1-A's homeroom. Katsuki's heart skipped a beat upon seeing you, he leaned closer trying to get a better look. His breath caught in his throat when he noticed you still had on his hoodie he gave you at the park, that felt like...a lifetime ago.

"(y/n) is with Mr. Principle." Mina gestured with her hand.

"But he is right there." Midoriya pointed to the screen marked at the same time you were walking down the hallway.

"So, it wasn't you we were talking to." Aizawa grunted.

"Then who the hell were you talking to?" Midnight asked the million-dollar question.

"That's what we need to find out." Aizawa sighed, leaning over the officer's shoulder staring at you who appeared frozen standing before his classroom's door. "Did the video freeze?"

"No sir." The officer turned, "It's still playing, your student just isn't moving."

"Why?"

"Well..." Midoriya thought back to this morning. "...whoever that person was imitating Mr. Principle, he said that (y/n) and him were on their way to our classroom when they overheard something?"

"Yeah." Mina realized, "This must be when they heard whatever was said."

"Yeah-" Katsuki agreed, "-but what the hell was said?"

"We are going to have to wait and ask (y/n) when we find her." All Might replied, watching you say a few words to Mr. Principle before walking off.

"Where did (y/n) go?" Midnight wondered watching you walk off screen, "Can't you follow her outside and find out if she went to the dorms or left the grounds?"

"Hm..." The officer clicked a few buttons, "...some cameras are unavailable."

"What does that mean!?" Katsuki snapped.

"There should be a camera facing the front of the building." The officer gestured to the offline black screen. "For some reason it isn't up, I know maintenance was going to check it out."

"When was this discovered?" Mr. Principle wondered.

"When I got here this morning." The officer replied.

"I am going to see this for myself." Mr. Principle turned, walking out of the room without another word.

"Hey!" Kaminari perked up, kicking himself off the wall. "What did we find out—huh?" Kaminari blinked, watching Mr. Principle stride from the room going directly down the hall with All Might and others following.

"Wait for us!" Kirishima called.

"Where are we going?" Sero whispered to Midoriya who could only shrug, having no clue, the students could only follow the teachers outside the school.

Mr. Principle looked around ignoring the cool drizzle of the rain turning to his right, where beside a podium were two people with a large latter.

"What is the meaning of this?" He demanded, the one worker on the latter peeked down.

"Hey Mr. P!" He waved, the second worker holding the latter nodded. Aizawa frowned, gazing up at the missing camera, that appeared to be almost...melted.

"What happened?"

"Oh, just a wiring mishap." Maintenance waved off, "Shouldn't take much longer, we had to almost replace the whole thing!"

"When you are finished-" Mr. Principle held a grim expression. "-I would like you to place the malfunctioned surveillance camera on my desk."

"Uh...ok?" The two maintenance workers looked to one another, not understanding the off request but wasn't about to question the guy who signed their paychecks.

"So..." Kirishima pulled his lips together, "...what does this mean?"

"It means..." Mr. Principle sighed, tightening his fists together letting them rest out of sight of the children. "...you all will return to your class-"

"But-!?" The students went to argue.

"-I will place All Might and Midnight in charge of tracking (y/n) down." Mr. Principle cut off, "I cannot allow you all off school grounds going who knows where. You are all to return to class, and when those are over you are to return to your dorms. None of you have permission to step a foot off our grounds, do you understand?"

"Yes..."

"Good." Mr. Principle nodded. "Now, all of you still have an hour left of class, so you better get to it."

"But..."

"You heard the man." Aizawa waved to the students. "Everyone back inside."

"Aw!" The class whined, fighting the urge to run off and try to search for you. All Might, Mr. Principle and Midnight watched the students recede inside the building following Aizawa.

"What's going on?" Midnight wondered as the three stepped away from ear shot. "We don't have anyone inside this school with a quirk which can alter their appearance."

"Who played principal today?" All Might bit down on his jaw staring out into the rain, recalling how you did this whenever it rained. He remembered you telling him how you enjoyed the sound, it relaxed you.

"What did (y/n) hear that would make her want to leave school?" Midnight added to the pile of unwanted questions. "If she returned to the dorms, we would have seen her on camera."

"You are right Midnight." Mr. Principle glanced over and up to where the malfunctioning camera rested.

"You don't think it was a wiring issue." All Might dare to suggest. Mr. Principle let out a deep sigh.

"I don't know what to think." He replied, "But as of right now you two are relieved of your teaching duties, I'll find someone to teach your classes."

"Mr. Principle?" Midnight frowned, the small mouse like man gazed around the school grounds before looking to the teachers.

"Find and bring (y/n) home."