Izuku drove home silently while thinking about what the Detective said:
"You don't have to answer back right now, I want to give you time to think about it. It's a dangerous request after all, but we would like you to be the bait for the rapist. He seems to have taken a liking to you…"
Izuku didn't like the idea of that so he turned down the request immediately, but the detective just gave him his card and told him to call him if his mind was changed. Izuku pulled into the driveway of his house, parked his car and laid back in the seat. He was stressed, too stressed. He had to go back to work after tomorrow, he had to deal with the police, he had to try to keep the rapist from raping him again. It was too much for Izuku; Sure he was an adult but that didn't mean he could handle everything without having a break. He thought about work. He was going to have to make up a week's worth of work and His boss was going to be a bitch about it. He was getting sick and tired of hearing monoma's mouth every time he took a break.
"Weak, little Izuku! Can't deal with a little cold!" "Vacation? Why? Do you plan on dumping your work on someone else?"
He had to deal with this slander from his supervisor every single day. It was still bright outside despite it being four in the afternoon. Izuku went inside of his house and changed his clothes, he looked around his room until he finally found what he was looking for. Kirishima's camera. It was left on the menu. Izuku didn't want to but he had to scroll down, he needed to see if he needed to use a different storage card. As he expected it was full, the last eleven pictures were, like before, pictures of him while he was getting raped. Izuku felt sick to his stomach, he hated himself and he hated that man more. Izuku turned off the camera, took out the storage card and placed it on his bed stand table. He went into his top dresser and dug around inside until he found a small chip that read 'Ultra plus' on the top and in a slightly larger font it said '32 GB' on the front, he installed it inside of the camera and turned it on again, the battery was half way full. He grabbed the camera, the car keys, and his house keys and walked out the house. As Izuku walked to his car he was approached by his neighbor Yu Takeyama. He never really liked her because she was so nosy, but she had her decent moments from time to time.
"Mido!~ how are you?" "I'm doing ok Ms. Takeyama." "I thought I already told you to call me Take! We're friends aren't we?"
Izuku simply nodded and continued to let her ramble on and on about how she thinks Japan is going to shit or what not, then she flipped the conversation onto Izuku.
"Enough about me, how have things been with you?"
Izuku stood still for a moment, remembering everything up until this point. Him getting raped, his cat getting killed, encountering his rapist, the police asking to make himself bait for the rapist, getting raped again and threatened with death, finding disturbing photos on the camera and in the bathroom, mina getting shot by the rapist. It was almost too much, but Izuku remembered all the good times he had. He hung out with Shoto for the first time in years, he hung out with all of his known co-workers, Mina was thankfully stable in the hospital, he was about to go take pictures in the park. He tried to focus on the good things as he answered her question.
"Yea, i'm doing ok. Kenzo just died recently so I'm just going to let off some steam by doing something I haven't done in a while…" "No way! Kenzo died!? I'm so sorry for your loss… You said you were going to do something you haven't done in a while, does that mean you're going to…"
Izuku nodded in response and Ms. Takeyama started cheering loudly.
"You're finally going to start doing photography again! What made you go back?" "...I guess I just needed a push in the right direction."
Izuku waved bye to Ms. Takeyama as he got in the car and drove off, he couldn't believe that it was nearly four thirty. At this rate he would be in the park until it was dark outside.
///
Izuku got out of the car, the sun was already starting to set. Izuku liked the view he was getting. Everything was perfect. It made him feel at ease. He brought the finder up to his left eye and moved the lens so that the picture came out clear and beautiful. In the picture there was a small flock of birds flying by. The silhouette of a couple stood in front of the setting sun and the center of it all was of course the sun on the horizon. Izuku sat on the top of his car and stared at the scene before him as he breathed in the subtly sweet smelling air of Chiba. The next thing he did was turn towards the sun-kissed trees and took a picture. They were gently swaying in the wind as the sakura leaves showered the floor and whoever was under them. Next he took a walk through the park looking for birds in their natural habitat, he looked up in the tree and found two birds rubbing their beaks together, he found their romance adorable and took the picture. He saw a few kids playing on the playground. One was dancing, another was acting, and the third was taking pictures on his mini camera. Izuku walked up to the kids and asked if he could take their picture and they all agreed immediately. They hugged each other laughing as they did so. Izuku walked away from the kids and hoped that they would grow up in a better world than what it was right now.
\
Izuku sat on the park bench looking at all the pictures he took. He had a few pictures of couples, a squirrel holding an acorn, a woodpecker just doing its own thing, the three kids, the 2 swallows, the gently swaying trees, and the beautiful sunset. These photos calmed him. It made him feel better about everything going wrong in his life. He looked up, It was dark outside now and it was about time for him to head home. Izuku looked up at the moon, it was crescent shaped. Izuku tilted himself to look at the moon through the finder and snapped a picture of the moon in the sky. Mesmerizing anyone who dared look for too long.
///
Izuku parked his car in the driveway and got out of the car. He looked up at his door, someone was leaning against it. He reached into the car and pulled out a bottle of mace as the figure walked up to him slowly.
"D-Don't come any closer, I have mace and I will spray it in your eyes." "No need to do that Mr. Midoriya, It's just your friendly neighborhood detective." "Oh, Detective Keigo. What brings you here?"
Izuku put the mace back into his car and stood in front of the Detective.
"Izuku, I need to tell you something…" "Go ahead and tell me Detective Keigo." "It's about your mother, her house was set on fire."
Izuku stopped listening to what the detective was saying and he immediately called his mom. The phone rang for a few seconds and then was picked up.
"Mom! Mom, are you ok!?" "Izuku? Izuku honey is that you?" "Yes mom it's me…" "Oh my, Izuku my house has been set on fire and the lawn was vandalized!" "What does it say mom? On your lawn what does it say?"
It was silent for a few moments. Izuku felt his heart beat faster, and the suspense was killing him. Who would attempt to kill his mom?
"It says: I'm coming for you freckled bunny. In all caps. It's a little bit scary, do you know what it means Izuku?"
Izuku took the phone away from his ear slowly and looked at the Detective concerned and afraid. The detective looked back at him with sadness and pity, to think that he and his family were going through all of this because of the absurd obsession of a rapist. Izuku put the phone back to his ear.
"Izuku, do you know what the message means honey?" "... A little too well mom… I'll come pick you up tomorrow. For now, just go to Aunt Mitsuki's house, okay?" "Ok Izuku, but tomorrow you're going to tell me everything that's been going on with you recently!" "Ok mom. I'll see you tomorrow."
Izuku hung up the phone and turned to the detective scared but relieved.
"Izuku, please. I know you don't want to be bait, but lives will be in danger as long as he runs rampant." "I already told you detective I don't want to be near that man and I definitely don't want to be bait for him. I don't mean to put lives at risk." "But Izuku we have a plan ready. We just need to wait for you so we can set it into motion." "And what if your plan goes horribly wrong? What if he successfully rapes me again or kidnaps me? What will you do then?" "I assure you that our plan will go smoothly and you will be safe."
Izuku thought about it for a moment. He didn't want to be in front of that man, nor did he want to be bait to lead him into the laps of the police officers. He felt like he was the piece of hay used to lead the lamb to slaughter, But lives were at stake now because he was afraid.
"I'll consider it, but that doesn't mean I'll do it just yet…" "Thank you for considering it Izuku midoriya. Please, if you make up your mind contact me or Aizawa. Stay safe and have a good night."
The detective got into his car and drove off. Izuku stared at the car drive off until it was out of his sight, then he walked inside. He needed to get some sleep. He was in for a 3 and a half hour drive to Nagano tomorrow and he needed to wake up early if he wanted to get there before 12 o'clock.
\\
Izuku woke up again, it was 7:48 again he was in bed again but this time he was completely naked and bound in a tortoise shell knot. Izuku didn't have his mouth tied and he could speak.
"Hello? Is anyone there? Please help me!"
Izuku tried to, but he couldn't make the ropes loose. Suddenly his room door opened and a concealed figure started walking towards him. As the person got closer Izuku could tell that it was him.
"You look so cute tied up like that freckled bunny~" "N-no… No, not again!"
Izuku squirmed more desperately in a sad attempt to get free of the bonds. But to no avail. The man had already started to grope him. Izuku closed his eyes and kept them closed for at least a minute. He didn't want to watch this, he didn't want to feel anything, but suddenly the hands stopped, and Izuku opened his eyes. He couldn't move anything. Not his head, not his arms, not even his eyes. Izuku didn't understand what was going on. Why couldn't he move? Just then, two figures appeared in the door, then three, then four. The fourth figure was shorter than the rest. When the fourth figure ran up to him he realized that it was his mom.
"Izuku! Izuku, please answer me baby! Please respond!"
Izuku's mom shook him violently causing his neck to turn to the side. He managed to look at the time before his vision started to blur. It was 4:21 in the morning. His eyes started to sting from not blinking. Faintly he could hear someone in the back say:
"Time of death, 4:21 am." "No! No! No, my child is not dead! He can still be saved!" "Ma'am he has several wounds in fatal places, a gunshot wound in his stomach and one in his neck! He has no pulse and he's already gone cold! Your son is dead!"
Izuku was scared, this had to be wrong. He wasn't dead. He couldn't have been dead. His vision would've gone dark a long time ago if he was. Suddenly the bright flash of a camera clouded his vision and he could hear his mom scream one last time before he woke up with a start. He looked beside him, it was 7:09 in the morning. Izuku's dream scared him, what if that actually happened? What if he got raped to the point where the rapist decided it was time to kill him? Izuku couldn't think about that right now, he needed to focus on how he was going to tell his mom why he'd been acting so weird lately. And something told him that his mom wasn't going to be happy about it.