Archive of Our Own

Work Text

“This is… the right house?”

Todoroki shifts his weight from foot to foot in uneasiness. He’s been dealing in this kind of supernatural stuff since he was a kid. But it’s his first official day on the job (shuffling paperwork and running to the store to get more milk and sugar doesn’t count as

actual

working) and he doesn’t know what to expect from working with a crew of people that isn’t his father.

But Todoroki does know one thing: this house can’t be the right one. It looks too bright, too clean for a crew of supernatural investigators to be summoned to it. There’s nothing off about it. It looks like a nice, suburban family of four could be piling out of its door and into a minivan at any second.

Midoriya looks up from his notebook, squinting his eyes as he takes in the house in front of them. He looks at it for a second before ducking his head and scanning his own cramped handwriting. “I think so?” he says tentatively, hurriedly flipping through the pages. He lands on a seemingly random page, points his finger at a diagram and exclaims, “

No

!”

“No?”

Midoriya nods. “No.” He tilts his head, frizzy green hair bouncing with his action. “It’s that one.”

Oh,

Todoroki thinks as he follows Midoriya’s gaze to the neighboring house.

That makes more sense.

It’s a cloudless and sunny, albeit cold day in October. Yet the house has managed to find itself in the one pocket of shade. The windows have all been bordered up and it looks as if the paint is peeling off the walls.

It’s cliche, but Todoroki, through his years of working in this field, has found that the supernatural is often stereotypical.

And that’s a haunted house if Todoroki has ever seen one.

-

Midoriya talks a mile a minute and although Todoroki has a full head of height on Midoriya, all of his words manage to go over Todoroki’s head. It’s hard to follow and Todoroki often finds himself nodding even though he doesn’t know what’s going on.

They walk through the door of the right house and set their stuff down in the hallway. For his part, Todoroki does catch some meaning in Midoriya’s rambles. He catches

We usually knock, just in case the ghost is super formal

but lost it as Midoriya devolved into

One time Uraraka didn’t know and the ghost was an old lady from the Kamakura era and it was terrible because-

They walk through the first floor of the house, Todoroki making note of exactly where each exit is. It’s a helpful observation to make, especially when they have no information going in. Even though their world became overrun with supernatural occurrences a handful of decades back, the average person doesn’t know a lot about the supernatural.

The pass by the kitchen, or what at least used to be the kitchen. There's a sink that's rusted over and a wobbly dining table with only three legs. The oven has been completely ripped out of the wall, leaving lonely-looking gas-pipes in its wake. The house has been abandoned for the better part of a year, the owners refusing to step near it after their 'near-death experiences.'

Sure, Todoroki has grown up with a father that's as volatile as a nasty poltergeist, but a few exploding light bulbs and a cold spot here and there isn't

near-death

. But Todoroki isn't running the business, Midoriya is. And although Todoroki has only known Midoriya for a few months, he already knows Midoriya has too big of a heart to let small cases like these pass through.

(Todoroki supposes that Midoriya doesn’t have the money to say no to a case either. Todoroki wouldn’t call Plus Ultra Supernatural Investigations broke, but it’s a close thing.)

"So what are you thinking?" Midoriya asks, walking into the kitchen and putting his finger in a pile of dust on the windowsill. He brings his dusty finger close to his face and licks it. "It doesn't taste like anything nasty is here."

Todoroki debates sticking his finger in the dust as well. But he doesn't even know what Midoriya is referencing to when he says that he can't

taste

the nastiness. Sure, Todoroki could Feel for something wrong, but he can’t taste it. "Probably nothing more than a funnel ghost. The owners did mention a lot of cold spots. We probably can't even get rid of it. We'll need to bring in a seer or someone to help them communicate with whatever loved one is haunting this place." Todoroki will never understand why people immediately jump to supernatural investigators the second they are spooked. Supernatural investigators aren’t the only options out there. Todoroki, a psychic, and Midoriya, a non-magical human, don’t specialize in helping spirits cross over. Really, their best bet would be Uraraka and her magic.

But, Todoroki reasons, at least they're getting paid for this.

Midoriya sighs. He does that a lot. He has a lot of habits that Todoroki has taken notice of, for better or for worse. He constantly mutters information under his breath, clenches his hands together when trying to find the right words, always nods his head with so much enthusiasm that his green curls bounce every which way. Midoriya is ... distracting to say the least. Todoroki still hasn't figured out exactly which part of Midoriya distracts him the most.

"That's what I was thinking, too. I kind of wanted this case to be something more, you know? I thought maybe that this could be the case to break us out into society. Announce that we are here!"

Todoroki holds back a snort. "Sounds like All Might's agency. Sure you won't get sued by using that?"

Midoriya frowns. "All Might wouldn't sue me. I mean, I think he wouldn't sue me. But even if he doesn't have the urge to sue, he's not his entire agency. Maybe his agency will sue? But then again, All Might's agency has been out of commission for the past five years. Is there anyone left to even sue us? Maybe the phrase is trademarked and we can't even us-"

Midoriya cuts off his ramble as a loud noise, something akin to a 200-something pound person crashing through a floorboard or two, reverberates through the house. The ceiling above them wheezes, parts of the stucco painting falling off onto the ground or falling onto them like instant-snow snowflakes. Before they can do anything about it, the ceiling gives a painful groan and then a 200-something pound man crashes onto the floor.

"Oh my god," Midoriya says, his eyes wide in surprise. It's probably a very, very bad time to notice this, but Midoriya is pretty. He's pretty in the fairytale type of pretty, with the long lashes and the sun-tanned freckled face and the unruly curls. Todoroki thinks that he could stare at Midoriya for a long, long time and never get tired of it.

But now is not a good time to stare. Now is actually a terrible time to stare. Because there's a gigantic, jagged hole in the ceiling above them and a yelling man on the floor in front of them.

--

Yelling Man is Bakugou Katsuki. Todoroki doesn't realize this until Bakugou gets up from the ground, glares at the two of them, and storms away to the hallway. He swears the entire way, prompting Todoroki to realize that the man in front of him is indeed the rude, arrogant, foul-mouthed supernatural investigator Bakugou Katsuki. Todoroki never thought their first meeting would be this explosive.

Todoroki had never thought they would actually

meet.

"Kacchan?" Midoriya asks, trailing after him like a toddler chases after their older brother. "What are you doing here?"

Bakugou stops at the bottom of the stairs and huffs. Todoroki swears that he sees fire in his eyes. "What the fuck do you think I'm doing here? Use your head, Deku. I thought you weren’t a little bitch anymore."

Midoriya turns to Todoroki and frowns. "Were we both hired to this case?" Midoriya rolls his eyes. “That’s so…

ugh

.”

It's as if Midoriya and Bakugou are speaking an entirely different language. Sure, all the words make sense individually (Except Kacchan. Where does Kacchan come from? Why would Midoriya be calling the head of his rival agency Kacchan? Also, why is Bakugou calling Midoriya Deku?) but together the words are nothing but a pile of gibberish.

"We were both hired? Why?" Todoroki asks.

Bakugou laughs. "Got yourself another idiot, Deku. Not surprised." He turns his attention to Todoroki. "The dumbasses double-hired us. Probably to get rid of the problem twice as fast while only paying for one of us. It happens more often than you'd think for us smaller agencies. But of course the problem child of Endeavor isn't going to know jack shit about smaller agencies, is he?" He starts climbing the stairs and right before he gets to the top he turns back around and says, "It's a fucking banshee, Deku. Nasty shit. Got the rest of my crew upstairs so you do whatever the fuck you want to do."

"A banshee," Midoriya repeats. He opens his notebook and furiously scribbles notes onto a blank page. "I hate when clients try to underhand us. As if we won't find out exactly what happened. We are investigators after all." He snaps his book shut and takes to the stairs.

"Didn't Bakugou say he and his crew have this covered?" Todoroki asks, confused.

"Don't you want to get paid?" Midoriya asks, mirth making the corners of his mouth turn up. "Think of it this way: you want something to get done, super fast. So instead of hiring one big team to do it, you hire two teams and hope they get competitive and try to oust the other. And then you get you stuff done quickly and you pay the winning team. Sounds easy.”

Todoroki turns his nose up. “Sounds messy.”

Midoriya laughs and Todoroki feels his heart stutter. “Working in this business, I’ve found that humans are the messiest part of it all.” He tilts his head towards the upstairs area. “C’mon, we have a banshee to kill.”

--

Todoroki finds out that Bakugou's crew consists of him, a red-headed man that ends up with half of his shirt cut off, and a woman whose entire aesthetic screams pink. It's an interesting team, to say the least. With the five of them together, they make quick work of the banshee. It screams its lungs out for the entire fight and by the end of it, Todoroki's ears are ringing.

It's like that for everyone. Even when they're outside the house, the banshee's body in a sack that Bakugou is carrying across his back, they're all speaking a little too loud, trying to hear each other through the ringing noise.

"I forgot how much banshees scream," the red-headed man comments. "I feel like my head is going to explode."

"Give it a second, Kirishima," Midoriya replies. "The ringing will stop soon."

Kirishima grumbles. "Hopefully."

Bakugou loads the sack into the back of his van. "Where the fuck are you parked?"

The pink lady hums under her breath, looking around. "Midoriya, where

did

you park? I don't see your van anywhere!"

Midoriya rubs a hand against the back of his neck, sheepish. "We got the address wrong and ended up parking at the corner. That's probably why we didn't notice that you guys were already here. Mina, can I see the notes you have on this customer? I just want to go through and make sure that they're the same person."

Mina opens the passenger side door. "Sure thing, Midoriya. Hop in. The paperwork is somewhere in here."

"Damn, I thought we were past this whole two-timing shit," Bakugou says, closing the trunk with more force than necessary. The van rocks with the action. "I'm fucking sick of it. The last one was six months ago with the purple freak's agency. Thought that was the last of it. Why do humans always think all the agencies are ready to jump at each other’s throats? It’s fucking stupid."

"On the bright side," Kirishima says, smiling. His smile looks oddly like a shark's smile. If a shark smile was friendly. "We got to see Midoriya again! It’s been too long, dude.”

Midoriya nods, eyes going over the abundance of paperwork Mina had pulled out for him. "It has been too long." He turns over a page and sighs. "But yeah, the same people hired us both. How annoying.”

Mina smiles and sing-songs, “But now we’re both going to charge them the full amount! They did sign a contract that says upon the completion of the job, they have to pay the full amount.” She holds her hand up for Todoroki to high-five. “And we both completed the job, didn’t we?” She leans closer to Todoroki and whispers, “They always think only the

winners

are going to charge them. They never think that we’re going to team up and charge them both.”

Todoroki tentatively puts his hand up to high-five her back. “Yes?”

"Just shows that we were dealing with a bunch of dumbasses," Bakugou snorts. “Humans are all a bunch of dumbasses. Makes ghosts and shit seem easy.”

Midoriya gives the paperwork back to Mina in a neater pile than he received it in. He climbs out of the car, stretching once his feet are on the ground. "Sorry your first job had to be a weird one, Todoroki. I swear we usually don't get double-crossed by clients. Most of them are genuinely honest people who need help with the supernatural."

Bakugou interjects, "But some of them are just dumbasses."

"That too."

Todoroki shrugs. He never had to deal with any nasty clients while he worked for his father, but then again the normal human being doesn't do anything to cross Endeavor unless they really,

really

want to be cursed for the rest of eternity. "It's not like it's your fault. We got the job done. That's what really matters."

"That's the type of attitude that I like to hear!" Satisfied, Mina grins. "I knew Midoriya doesn't just hire anybody. He only gets the good people."

Kirishima adds, “I'm glad that you're on board. We'll probably be seeing a lot of each other, but hopefully not in these types of situations."

"What's the proper saying?" Mina pokes her elbow into Kirishima's exposed stomach. He still hasn’t put on a shirt. Todoroki doesn’t even think Kirishima minds walking around shirtless, from the way he’s been constantly grinning ear-to-ear. "Welcome to town? Welcome to the crew? Welcome to our rival agency? I still think rival is too strong of a word, no matter what all the press say."

Kirishima shrugs. "I don't know, but welcome sounds nice. Welcome!"

"Welcome!" Mina agrees.

"Fuck off," Bakugou says.

"Welcome, Todoroki! I knew this when I hired you, but you'll be a good addition to my team. Let's work hard together, okay?" Midoriya smiles.

Todoroki, overwhelmed with all the sudden positive - Bakugou excluded. He, at the very most, is lukewarm - attention does nothing more but bow his head and mutter a small

Please take care of me

.

--

It was in the headlines for weeks, in the news for even longer, and it's still in the godawful tabloid magazines. Todoroki likes to think of his split with his father's agency as a mutually beneficial agreement, but he knows that in reality it involved a lot of yelling, a minor explosion, and a lot of bad press. He still doesn't understand why his father has such a big media presence (Doesn't understand why the general public flocks towards supernatural investigators as if they're

heroes

or something of the like. They’re just doing their jobs.), but he does know that even though he pushed his job application through every channel possible, only a handful of agencies reached back to him in fear of his father’s spite.

Todoroki's split with his father's agency was a spur-of-the-moment decision, or as spur-of-the-moment as it can be when he's been planning to do it since he was 18. But all the times he's planned leaving, he never actually did it. And never planned on what was to happen in the aftermath. He hadn't even

thought

of the aftermath. So when Todoroki threw himself into the ocean of life post Endeavor, he drowned. Just a little.

Midoriya's offer had been a blessing. Todoroki vaguely knew of his agency, mostly due to the talk of Midoriya's reputation as an All Might mentee. Being the successor of the greatest supernatural investigator this past decade has seen doesn’t come without its fair share of news through the grapevine. Part of Todoroki accepted Midoriya's offer because he knew how much it would upset his dad to find out that Todoroki was indirectly working with his long-time rival. And the other part of Todoroki accepted the offer because he was dangerously close to not being able to pay his rent on time.

Midoriya's office is nice, if not small. Aside from him and Midoriya, there are only two other workers. Despite how small it is, it’s jarring to be around so many different people; Todoroki has only ever worked with psychics before and now he’s the only psychic among the four of them. But a witch, a werewolf, and a human don’t make for that bad of company.

Todoroki had expected the three of them to be be apprehensive around him. Being Endeavor's son, a notoriously explosive investigator, everyone he’d known previously walked on eggshells around him, afraid that one bad move would automatically be reported back to his father. As if Todoroki was nothing more than an extension of his father, and by that an extension of his father's cruelty.

Sometime after the explosive split and before joining Midoriya's agency, Todoroki stopped caring how people acted around him. But that didn't mean he didn't notice how they acted. Now, they weren't afraid that Endeavor was going to blow up in their faces. They were afraid that Todoroki was.

So when he came in the first morning to Uraraka's and Midoriya's matching smiles, Todoroki almost thought that they had mistaken him to be a different person. But his interview with Midoriya and Uraraka's exclamation of

Todoroki! I'm glad you found the place okay

proved otherwise.

(Iida was a bit more wary, as he should be. But Todoroki soon found out the wariness wasn't necessarily directed at him. Iida simply took everything seriously when involving his friends.)

The change in personality was refreshing, and for the first time Todoroki felt like he could breathe easy.

--

Iida is not happy about the two-timing customer. He paces the small entryway of their office, hands clenched behind his back as he tries to gain some semblance of calm. "They should have at least had the foresight to

not

go to Bakugou's agency. Everyone knows how close we work with them."

Uraraka sits at the receptionist desk, twirling a pencil between her fingers. Technically, they don't have a receptionist so the four of them take turns manning the front desk. For the first few weeks of paper-pushing duty, the chair solely belonged to Todoroki. (Midoriya called Todoroki’s month of purely secretarial duties

testing the waters

. Todoroki called it

time for Iida to make sure that Todoroki isn’t a bad fit

.) "Technically we're rivals."

Iida stops pacing. "Rivals does not mean not friends! The best rivalries are based in a solid friendship."

"I don't think the general public likes to think of Kacchan having friends," Midoriya says, peeking from the kitchenette in the back. He dropped the information of their case on Iida like it was a bomb, fleeing to safety immediately after. Midoriya comes back in the front room with two cups of tea. He sets them on the counter and then rushes back to grab more.

"Bakugou has plenty of friends!" Iida contests. "I mean, all of his agency is friends with him. And we are too. That's at least a solid two handfuls. Statistically, people don't have more than five solid friendships at any given time. He beats the statistics."

Todoroki watches their ping-pong conversation with mild amusement. Oftentimes, Todoroki feels like a spectator in their friendship. He tends to stay quiet and watch what happens.

But then Iida turns to him. "Todoroki-kun, how many friends do you have?"

Todoroki shrugs in lieu of a reply. But Iida keeps his eyes on him, wanting a verbal answer. Todoroki racks his brain. Only two people come to mind. One is his older sister Fuyumi, but nowadays their conversations consist of one line text messages asking about each other’s weeks. The second is a girl (Woman, now, Todoroki supposes.) that he hasn't seen since he graduated high school. He doesn't think either of them count. He decides to answer truthfully. "None."

Midoriya returns just in time to gasp at Todoroki's answer. "Todoroki-kun! We're friends!" He gestures wildly, hands going above his head and shaking. Half of the tea in the mugs slosh out from the sides and splatter across the floor. Midoriya notices the wet spot on the ground, frowns, and continues as if he didn’t just create a mess. "You have at least three friends here!"

Todoroki takes this into consideration. Between work and the dinners after work and the breakfast before work and the lunches during work, they do spend an awful lot of time together. And that's what friends do, right? Spend time together. "I have three friends," he amends.

"That still puts you under the statistical average," Iida muses. "But that's what’s great about averages! They're just that: average!"

Midoriya pushes a mug into Todoroki's hands. The edges are wet and there’s barely enough tea for more than a few sips. "How are your ears holding up? I know this won't help much, but at least it's something warm.” Midoriya looks towards the floor. “I’ll go warm up some more water.”

The ringing in Todoroki's ears had stopped halfway through the car ride back to the office. He's had worse injuries by far. "My ears are fine. Thank you."

Midoriya beams. "No problem. As one of your three friends, I have to look out for you."

Technically

, Todoroki wants to say,

you don't

. But from his unruly hair that refuses to be combed down to his heroic streak that is hindered by no obstacle, Midoriya is stubborn through and through. "Thanks," Todoroki settles on. He takes a sip of the tea and tries to not wince as it burns his tongue.

--

Todoroki finds that there are two ways to work at Midoriya's agency: too much or not enough.

Endeavor had well-established connections with the supernatural and the occult that kept a steady stream of customers flowing through the door. Todoroki never had to deal with the front of the business, but he supposes they had to turn away some people to make sure that they weren't being overworked. But being in a smaller, up-and-coming agency –even one with connections to the legendary All Might– meant that work came in waves. They never threw away an opportunity, no matter how mundane it might be.

(One night, Todoroki was sent on a hunt to find the ghost of a cat who had recently passed away. It was like nothing he had ever done before and he spent the majority of the night peaking around dumpsters and holding out catnip. Eventually, the cat did come out and nuzzled its face on Todoroki's legs. Todoroki had never been an animal person, but cats always seemed to be Todoroki animals. Ghost cats did not seem to be the exception.)

Work was never steady. They were either trying to juggle six cases between the four of them or they were bringing out the Monopoly board from the cleaning closet. Todoroki always played as the wheelbarrow.

Midoriya is on receptionist duty for the week, and he's practically falling asleep at the desk. He had just finished writing up the report for a hoard of will-o-the-wisps that were tormenting kids walking home from school. He'd been up late, determined to finish it as soon as possible.

The phone rings and Midoriya jumps in shock, one hand scrambling for the receiver and his other hand wiping off drool from his face. "Plus Ultra Supernatural Investigators. Midoriya speaking. How can I help you?"

Midoriya hums as the person on the other side of the line speaks. They're loud, loud enough for Todoroki to hear it from the back of the office. But then again the office didn't have much space to lounge around. "Sorry, Ma'am, but I think you have the wrong number." Midoriya gingerly takes the phone away from his face, wincing as the lady continues to scream. He hangs up the call and spins around to face Todoroki. "Why do I always get the wrong number calls? Why does it never happen to the rest of you?"

"You have a special talent for bringing in the wrong numbers," Todoroki comments. "You're the lucky one."

Midoriya scoffs. "How is getting yelled at by an old lady for not being her pharmacy lucky?"

Todoroki shrugs. "Somehow, it is."

Uraraka laughs. "Don't question the wise words of Todoroki, Midoriya. Don't you know that he was a sage in his past life? I can feel it."

"You did a reading on Todoroki?" Iida questions, eyebrow quirked. "But you said that you'd never do a reading on Midoriya or me because it would disrupt our work environment."

"I haven't done an official reading on Todoroki!" She scrunches up her nose like she's smelling the pile of dirty laundry piled in Todoroki's closet. He's been procrastinating on doing it for weeks. He actually should do it sooner rather than later; he's running out of clothes to wear and the last thing he wants is to show up to work in dirty underwear. "I can't control the amount of information I get from readings, so it would make it awkward if I found out about something that I'm not supposed to know about one of you guys. But I get this feeling, you know? That in one of his past lives, he was something big." She makes fists with both her hands and releases it on the word big. "Actually, I get that feeling from all of us. Pretty cool, huh? Wonder what we did."

Iida pouts in that thoughtful yet critical way only he can pull off. "I wonder indeed."

The door chime tingles and all four of them immediately turn their head. In Todoroki's time here, no one but the delivery person has ever walked through the door. Every case they've gotten has been through a phone call or an email. People don't come for in-person consultations because unless the person themself is haunted, what's the point? They would need to go out to the location to scope it out anyway.

But the person standing at the receptionist desk isn't a delivery person. For one, none of them even called for delivery. Two, it’s nowhere near lunchtime and Todoroki is still full from the bagels and cream cheese Uraraka had brought them this morning.

And getting a better look at the person makes it obviously clear that they're not a delivery person. Unless something has gone way awry from her plans post-highschool, Todoroki doesn't think that his maybe fourth friend would ever be a delivery girl.

"Is this Plus Ultra?" Yaoyorozu Momo asks, standing tall in her pinstripe suit. Her heels add a little boost of height. But Todoroki knows that she doesn't need them to project herself.

"T-this is!" Midoriya sputters, rapidly turning around and trying his best to put on a face of professionalism. "How can we help you?"

--

There's not enough space for four investigators and a client to sit together in the front room, so they move to the back room, gathering the chairs in somewhat of a circle. Midoriya sits closest to the door, just so he's able to get to the phone if someone happens to call.

Yaoyorozu and Todoroki make eye contact when he's assembling the circle of chairs and her eyes widen in surprise. Todoroki can't blame her: it's surprising to see your friend from high school again after years of no interaction; more surprising to see him working at as an agency that’s not his father’s. But Yaoyorozu has always been good at reading the room, and other than the wide eyes, she keeps her surprise to herself. Todoroki appreciates the gesture. They can talk later, after she explains what she's come in for.

"I'd usually call," Yaoyorozu starts. "But I was in the area and I figured that I might as well come meet you all in person." She bows to them slightly. "I'm Yaoyorozu Momo and I just recently moved into a new house. I'm sure it's haunted. I think it's a kuchisake-onna."

Midoriya tips his chair back. "A kuchisake-onna? Not just any person knows their house is haunted, let alone be able to pin it down to a kuchisake-onna." He's suspicious, rightfully so. A kuchisake-onna is an awfully particular type of violent ghost. And it's rare. Happens only once in a decade type of rare. Todoroki has dealt with a vast array of the supernatural, but never a kuchisake-onna. He doubts the others fair any better.

Yaoyorozu draws her lips into a line. "I have experience with the supernatural. I'm just not certified to get rid of them, which is why I'm asking for your help."

"A kuchisake-onna?" Uraraka asks. Her legs are crossed and she has a blank notebook resting in her lap. "Like a serial killer ghost? How do you know?"

"Do you have evidence of it killing living human beings?" Iida asks.

Todoroki knows what they're all thinking. Surely it must be something else. Surely this woman doesn't know the supernatural as well as she thinks she does. Surely the house cannot be haunted by this rare and this violent of a spirit. Surely.

But Todoroki can see what they can't see: even after all these years, Yaoyorozu hasn't dropped any of her tells. She's sitting at the edge of her seat like she does when she's talking about something that matters to her. She's clenching and releasing her fists in an effort to stay in control of her own emotions. Her face is a flat stone, her attempt to be forthright about something that is bothering her very much. If Todoroki were to guess anything, he'd say that she looks scared.

And rightfully so. After all, living in the same house as a serial killer ghost means that you're living in close proximity to a serial killer. If she's not careful, Yaoyorozu could die.

"You aren't still living in the house, are you?" Uraraka asks. "Whether or not it's a kuchisake-onna is a different problem, but if there is a malevolent spirit you don't want to be anywhere near it. Especially not frequently." There's a story there, somewhere. Todoroki can sense the tension in her voice when she talks;
she's speaking from experience.

Yaoyorozu frowns. "My girlfriend doesn't think that ghosts are real. So, yes, I'm still living in the house."

Nowadays, with the occult and the supernatural at the forefront of media discussion, it's rare to find people who don't believe in ghosts. But ghosts are slippery things, hanging between the edges of two worlds. Things like vampires and sirens are real, tangible beings. You can't deny their existence when they exist right next you. But ghosts aren't quite like that. They have no definite form and for the most part, they keep to the periphery of the world. Most of the time, it's the older generation who still have a hard time coming to terms with the fact that the supernatural world and the mortal world are now one. But every now and then, someone young will pop up with sheer defiance.

Still doesn't mean that it makes any sense.

"But you said you have experience with the supernatural?" Todoroki interjects.

Yaoyorozu nods. “I’m a medium.”

The thought of Yaoyorozu remaining in the house is a sheer oddity that Todoroki can't comprehend. "You make a living out of communicating with the dead that linger. Why stay?”

Yaoyorozu shoots him a pointed look, as if he's a child that repeated something he wasn't supposed to hear. "I know what I do. But apparently thinking about spirits abstractly and then tangibly dealing with them is different."

There's a beat of silence where no one can decide what to do. But he already knows that they're going to take the case. He knew from the second that Yaoyorozu stepped into the building. It's not like they have the freedom to deny anyone, anyway.

"Seems like we have a problem on our hands," Iida says. He glances to his three coworkers and then nods, satisfied with whatever he sees on their faces. "Let's get to it."

--

Yaoyorozu fills out the paperwork the same way that she does everything in her life: efficiently. Before slipping out of the door, she gives Todoroki the name of a bar downtown and tells him that she'll be there tonight.

"You know her, don't you?" Uraraka asks, eyes narrowed. The door had barely closed on Yaoyaorozu before she asks her question. "Old girlfriend or something?"

Todoroki shakes his head, but Uraraka is not exactly wrong. Back in high school, they spent so much time together that it felt natural to fall into a relationship. But it's hard to maintain a relationship when both parties aren't interested in each other. "I guess you could say that she's my fourth friend. Though I haven't talked to her in a while."

"I guess the generalization that all psychics know each other is pretty true, huh. Well, medium. Psychic. Not the same thing, but around the same. Lots of spirits." Uraraka stares at Todoroki and when he doesn't flinch, she nods her head and breaks eye contact. "Is there anything about her that we should know for this case?"

"She's smart and she knows what she's talking about. She wouldn't just be throwing around the word kuchisake-onna if she didn't already have concrete proof."

"So we really do have a kuchisake-onna in our midst." Uraraka smiles. "Is it bad that I'm excited for it? It's kind of bad, right. This is a serial killer we're talking about, ghost or not. I shouldn't be excited."

Todoroki shrugs. He can’t deny the feeling: he's excited too.

--

"Took you long enough."

Yaoyorozu sits on a barstool, her finger circling the edge of a glass of what Todoroki thinks is plain Coke. Last he knew, they both didn't like to drink. But the last time they had talked had also been when Todoroki was stubbornly against ever going into the investigating workforce. Yet here is is. Times change.

"I got lost." Todoroki takes the seat next to her and asks the bartender for a cup of water. The bartender tilts her head when he asks, as if making sure she's heard him right. But when Todoroki doesn't say anything more, she nods and quickly gets him a glass. "I don't go downtown much."

"You literally used to live in this neighborhood, Todoroki. Don't tell me in all those years you didn't go exploring at least once."

"The half-lives of all these places are so short that I never bothered to learn their names." It's sad, really, how fast businesses come and go in the city. There used to be this amazing soba place a few blocks over from his apartment that he'd go to every Friday night. And then one Friday he turned the corner and there was nothing there. The only sign that there ever was a soba shop there had been a piece of paper taped to inside of the front door, notifying customers that it was closed for business.

(Apparently, it was shut down for health issues. Todoroki doesn’t like thinking about that.)

"Fair enough. Fair enough. I heard about the incident with your father. I'm sorry. I meant to check up on you when I first heard about it, but it happened at the same time Jiro and I were moving in, and then the house turned out to be haunted, and now that's a whole mess." Yaoyorozu sighs, slumping slightly. "I can never seem to catch a break, can I?"

All the current people in Todoroki's life are new, people who don't know much about where he came from and what type of person he was before now. It's different talking to someone who's known him almost as long as he's been able to walk. "We both seem to never be able to catch a break."

Yaoyorozu laughs. "I wish there didn't have to be laws against looking into one's own future. I really just want to see how this all pans out. See if it turns out okay."

The line between medium and psychic is a thin one, and they both have the power of foresight. Todoroki doesn’t use his much, finding that he has to use an incredible amount of energy to be able to look only into the direct, immediate future (see: three minutes in advance).

But Todoroki is familiar with the feeling of wanting to know more about yourself. Towards the end of his life with his father, Todoroki wanted nothing more than to see if he made it out unscathed or not. But laws are laws for a reason. Looking into one's own future is never, ever safe. It's simply not worth the risk of losing your sanity. "It'll be fine," Todoroki comforts. "We'll make sure it turns out okay. You hired us, didn't you?"

"You know, you were the last person I expected to see when I walked in there. All Might’s protegee’s agency? Really?" Yaoyorozu smirks. "Since when did Todoroki Shouto become a rebel child?"

"Since I looked into my father's future and told him that he'd eventually crash." It was a complete bluff, but his father doesn’t know that. Todoroki takes a sip of his water. "I'm sure that exploding my father's office probably had a part in it to. Though, that wasn't entirely my fault."

It's one thing to hear it on the news, see it in a headline. It's another thing entirely to voice his actions out loud. It's the first time he's admitting his action to someone that isn't related to him. He takes another sip of his water, but misses his mouth. His hand is shaking.

"It takes two to make a fight," Yaoyorozu says. She reaches over take the glass out of his hand. She sets it on the counter and then rests her hand on top of his. "And psychic fights never have a winner."

"Yaomomo," Todoroki says, the nickname rolling off his tongue with the same ease as he changes the subject with. "Please, get out of the house. You can even stay at my place if you want. With Jiro too. Please, you of all people should know it's not safe to be near a malevolent spirit. What if it starts to haunt you? Or Jiro?"

Yaoyorozu drops his hand. She looks at her drink and though her hair is down, Todoroki can see the muscles in her throat work as she swallows.

"It's already started haunting you, hasn't it."

"Moving someplace isn't going to change anything. It'll just follow us and then maybe attack more people. At least it's just us two in the house. I still don't know which one of us it's attached to, but we're safer if we stay together and away from others."

"You'll be fine, Yaomomo. You’re both going to be fine. We’ll help you."

Yaoyorozu sighs. "I hope so."

--

"Bloody Mary, La Llorona," Iida says, holding his hands out in front of his chest while Uraraka pats him down with some type of protection powder. She made it last night, insisting that it was at its most potent when fresh. She's already covered Midoriya and Todoroki in it, and Todoroki's skin itches slightly. He's not used to witchy products. "There are different renditions of the kuchisake-onna in every part of the world."

"It's really just the ghost of woman who died violently," Uraraka continues on the same train of thought. She pats her hands together, forming a cloud of dust in front of her face. "And then proceed to act violent as ghosts. I'm surprised that kuchisake-onnas aren't more common, really."

"You do have a valid point. Women have a higher chance of being on the receiving end of violent crimes."

"I think the real issue is that to be a kuchisake-onna you have to kill," Midoriya interjects. "Not many ghosts kill. And they don't always have to have a violent death to kill. I guess the strict criteria narrows it down considerably. And there’s the whole

bloody smile

thing.” He shivers.

“And the

Am I Beautiful?

thing,” Iida adds. “Whatever she does, don’t answer her question okay? Any answer is a wrong answer.”

It's the early morning of the next day. The sun isn't even out yet, and Todoroki is running on a scant three hours of sleep. After leaving the bar, Todoroki couldn't find the will in him to go home. He ended up wandering around the streets until he was so tired he couldn't keep his eyes from drooping. The second he got home, he passed out. He's sure that the only reason he was on time this morning is because Iida called to make sure that he was up and running.

He hasn't told them their client is being haunted by the kuchisake-onna. He should tell them. Should have told them the second he found out, but he can't find the words. It’s as if last night's conversation with Yaoyorozu made his brain go into overdrive, once again processing all his past actions.

But he’s not in the past anymore, he’s in the present. He just needs his thoughts to realize that.

They arrive at the house just as dawn is breaking over the horizon. The two-story brick house in front of them is a perfect house for Yaoyorozu, Todoroki thinks, as they unload the van of their equipment and strap it to themselves. Uraraka makes them hold hands in a circle as she chants another protection spell under her breath. The warm breeze floats by them as Uraraka mutters the last words and Todoroki feels eerily calm.

"We have everything right?" Midoriya asks, adjusting his utility belt. It probably has more things inside of it than it should be able to carry. Midoriya doesn’t have any magical blood flowing through him, but that doesn’t stop him from mastering a handful of spells through sheer spite alone. "Iida, you have the capture device, right? Uraraka you have the extra potions?" They both give their affirmative answers. Midoriya looks at Todoroki. "And Todoroki. You have yourself, I guess?"

Psychics don't need more than themselves and their hands. Todoroki checks to make sure that his gloves aren't frayed and are fitting properly. He gives a thumbs up.

Midoriya smirks, appreciating Todoroki's dry humor. He turns to the house and sighs. "We probably should have come at the witching hour, huh."

"Probably," Uraraka agrees. "But dawn gives us plenty of energy to work with."

Todoroki disagrees. Coming during the witching hour is

asking

for the kuchisake-onna to have her way with them. Even dawn, the cross between night and day, is a time with a lot of power. Todoroki knows that they'll have their hands full. He's grateful for Uraraka laying the protection on thick. He has a feeling they're going to need it.

--

Jiro greets them at the door. She, strangely enough, is the exact same as Todoroki remembers her. It's as if he's taken a step back in the past, and he's sixteen and hormonal with oily skin that's one step away from breaking out.

"Make yourself comfortable," Jiro says, nonchantalty. Yaomomo must have let her know that Todoroki was coming; she doesn’t even look remotely surprised to see him. She's still in her pajamas, and her face has an indent from her pillow. Even her usual stick-straight hair is fringed and messy. Yaomomo is sitting at the edge of the couch, but she immediately jumps up when they walk in the room.

"Glad to see that you made it here okay," Yaomomo says. Jiro walks over to her, presses a kiss to her cheek and announces that she is going back to sleep.

Todoroki watches her leave. He's pretty sure that everyone in the room watches her leave, but it's only Iida that says anything about it.

"Is that the best idea? For her to be alone right now?"

Yaomomo sighs. "She's going to do whatever it is that she wants to do. I'll keep an eye on her while you guys get to work." She moves to follow Jiro. "And thank you all, truly. May you stay safe." Todoroki and her lock eyes and Todoroki can feel her apprehension through her gaze.

They set up rapidly. Iida and Midoriya take over the two coffee tables and spread the gear across them. There's a machine to monitor just about everything from heat signatures to the electromagnetic field of the house. Uraraka takes out her bags of blessed salts and begins to salt every entry point on the first level of the house. And Todoroki finds the center of the house. Weirdly enough, it's in the guest bathroom.

It's a small bathroom, just barely big enough to have all the amenities. The true center of the house is in between the wall and the bathtub so Todoroki rolls his eyes at Yaomomo's lack of proper interior design prowess (Well, he supposes, she wasn’t the one who

made

the house.) and sits in the tubs.

He sits in the tub, lays his hands flat on the cold porcelain, and Feels.

--

Todoroki's older sister Fuyumi used to ask what

Feeling

felt like. He remembers being seven years old, baby-faced and blissfully ignorant over the fact that not everyone was like himself. He asked back

Why don't you do it yourself?

Instead of getting mad at her younger brother, (Which wouldn't have been an off response; she was only a few years older than him and in her topsy-turvy hormonal stage. But she’d always been the calm sibling, the one with her head always screwed on the right way.) Fuyumi had smiled, scratched at the hairs at the nape of his neck and told Todoroki that it was better when he explained it.

I don't Feel it quite the same as you do,

she explained.

It's because you do a really good job.

So he led them to the center of the house, where the power of the land was as its most concentrated point. Although it was in the middle of the garden, the exact center was cleared of any and all interferences. Endeavor wouldn’t have had it any other way. Todoroki sat on the concrete and his sister sat next to him. He put both his hands flat on the floor and described what he felt.

It's like your fingers become snakes. Really small, really long snakes that stretch out in all possible directions. They dig into the ground and fly into the air and writhe across the ground and you can feel everything that they're feeling, see everything that they're seeing. It's as if you're existing everywhere but nowhere at all. Because your fingers aren't actually snakes. They're just fingers and they end a few inches away from your hand. You're still sitting on the ground, in one still place. But then you're not really there either because your mind is taking you everywhere you can’t physically reach.

Father says you must be very careful when Feeling

, Todoroki said, lifting his hands from the ground and curling himself into a ball. He always felt cold after he Feels, as if the snakes somehow managed to take away a little bit of himself in their search.

Because you have to be super concentrated while you're feeling. And people can see your concentration as a weakness and take advantage of you. So you have to be careful when you do it.

Fuyumi pouted, but thanked him for his explanation.

Sounds complicated.

Very.

Todoroki shivered.

Now, Todoroki wouldn't describe Feeling as snakes coming from your hands. For his child brain that couldn't fully grasp the concept of souls and winding through the thin fabric of reality, it made sense. But Feeling is a bit more complicated than that, a bit more dangerous than what he had originally thought.

Because while his father was right, that Feeling is putting yourself in a meditative state that leaves you open to physical attacks, he hadn't yet told Todoroki the entire truth. Because the attacks don't just come from one way.

And you have to be careful about how far you extend yourself, especially when you don't know what you're looking for. Because get too close and something can grab onto the bits of your soul that you've let wander and

push

. And oftentimes, they push hard.

And if you fall, there’s nothing that can save you.

--

Todoroki falls forward into the tub, his eyes bursting open right before his face smashes into the shiny, white bottom of the porcelain tub. His two-toned hair falls like a curtain around him, somewhat blocking him from the rest of the bathroom, from the rest of the house, from his new team and his old friends. His chest starts to constrict from the lack of air. He starts breathing, deep breaths in, even longer breaths out.

He shakily sits up and briefly contemplates sitting here for the rest of the night. His team is full of capable people who know what they're doing. They'd be fine if he just sat here and turned off his brain for an evening. But he can't do that. He needs to tell them there is a definitely a vengeful, malevolent spirit here, and it's brave enough to even try to attack Todoroki without even a full physical form.

The one thing Todoroki had never asked his father is what happens after you're ever pushed too hard, if you ever fall off the edge. The answer to that is simple:

You die.

Todoroki gets out of the tub, shaking out his stiff limbs. He feels a pull from behind, not nearly as strong as before, but strong enough to serve as a warning. As a

I'm Watching

. Todoroki swallows and very, very slowly he turns around.

There’s a mirror there. And the only thing it reflects is his own ashen face.

--

Midoriya is at the end of the hallway when Todoroki opens the bathroom door. He has one of his gadgets out in his hand, and he’s following the beeping noises it’s emitting.

"What do the beeps mean?"

Midoriya jumps and the gadget goes airborne before Midoriya frantically reaches out and catches it. He cradles it against his chest as if it's a newborn child.
"

Jesus Christ

."

Todoroki frowns. "Didn't mean scare you."

"No, no. It's okay." Midoriya shakes his head frantically. "We're just here for a murderous ghost and you're quiet. How did the Feeling go?"

"There's definitely a ghost here. And a murderous one at that. She tried to kill me."

"She

what

?"

"Tried to kill me when I was Feeling. I snapped out of it right before my head hit the tub. She probably would have smashed my face against it if I let her." Todoroki doesn't think traumatic brain injury via the bottom of a porcelain tub is a good way to go.

Midoriya sputters. "Are you okay? Oh my god. That doesn't normally happen, does it?"

"I'm okay and no, it doesn't normally happens. It means that the ghost here isn't afraid of us."

"This is going to be pretty big, isn't it." Midoriya glances down at the gadget. This entire time, it's been beeping in a steady rhythm. It's been so steady that the noise had slipped into the back of Todoroki’s consciousness. "But don't you think that's weird? This is an EMF reader and it hasn't shown any abnormalities. If the ghost was brash enough to attack you, why didn't it spark something in the reader?"

Todoroki doesn't have an answer for that. Feeling happens when you allow your soul to step into the Between, between life and death. But that means part of it is still here, in the living world. And for a force strong enough to shake even Todoroki, the ghost must have put a lot of power behind it.

Midoriya stops his train of thought. "We can think about the abnormalities later. Let's go find the rest of the team and tell them what happened. Uraraka just finished salting the borders and I'm sure Iida has found the room where he wants the exorcism to happen."

The EMF reader continues beeping, steady and consistent.

Something isn’t right.

--

Uraraka pats the small bags that hang from her belt with fondness. "Nothing is getting past these bad boys.

Nothing

. Everything has been double-salted and then blessed because why the hell not. A kuchisake-onna is not something that I want to take any chances with."

They're gathered in the backyard, a small place that barely hosts enough space for a small vegetable garden and a few chairs. With the open atmosphere, it's an unusual place for an exorcism to take place. But Iida had insisted that the air would be fruitful.

Midoriya tilts his head up to look at the sky. Todoroki does the same. It's almost dawn, but you could barely tell if you didn't know what time the sun was supposed to rise. The clouds are so thick and grey that someone could tell Todoroki that it was any time of the day and he would believe them. They're in a timeless space.

It’s a ghostly space.

"She should be here any moment," Midoriya says, stepping closer to Todoroki. He brushes his hand against the back of Todoroki's. "You okay?"

"I'm good."

"Good."

"Todoroki, did something happen?" Iida asks, picking up on Midoriya's concern. Soon enough, he's under Uraraka's concerned glance too. "While you were Feeling?"

Todoroki nods. They don’t need to know the gritty details. "Just know that the kuchisake-onna is going to put up a fight. A dirty one."

Midoriya opens his notebook to a page that's littered in Latin. He has to have over ten different types of exorcisms written down, ready for anything. There's a foul-smelling breeze that floats by them. Todoroki's face sours. It smells like blood, and a lot of it.

"Get ready, everyone," Midoriya says, eyes narrowing and grip on the book hardening. "She's coming."

----- CHAPTER BREAK -----

Todoroki's head hurts. It's a headache from lack of sleep, he knows that, but sleep doesn't come easy to him. It's even harder to find when he knows that there is something more worthwhile that he could be doing with his time.
"You look tired." Midoriya says, as if there aren't dark half-moons under his eyes as well. The only one out of their office that looks remotely well rested is Uraraka but an hour ago Todoroki saw her slip something into her coffee that was too chunky to be sugar.
"We're all tired," Todoroki says. "But we need to find out why the kuchisake-onna never showed up."
"If there is even a kuchisake-onna," Iida comments, putting down a pile of printed newspaper articles on Midoriya's and Todoroki's joint desk. "I've been going through every piece of information that I can find from the past thirty years and there are only two cases that could lead up to be a kuchisake-onna and neither of them look promising. I've sticky-marked them."
"There aren't a lot of wives who are killed by their husbands," Uraraka comments. "And not many that fit our criteria. The area that we're looking in is too new to have a bad history. Or any history of that matter. The development is only ten years old."
Todoroki flips to the first sticky-noted page. It's about an an older women who burned with her house. The husband was the prime suspect, but the legal team hadn't been able to get anything to stick. There's no proof that he was the one to set the fire and the house was old and had a history of electric problems.
The second sticky-note goes about the same way. This time, it's about a woman who goes missing for two weeks before being found spread-eagle in the bottom of the river. It's doesn't fit. Neither of them do. Kuchisake-onnas are always women who are violently killed by their own husbands, usually in their own houses. It's a domestic case through and through, however twisted it becomes.
"We must be looking in too narrow of a scope," Midoriya mutters as Todoroki pushes the papers towards his half of the desk. "It doesn't make sense for this type of ghost to be in their area, especially if no one else has reported it. But what does that mean? What if people are just too scared to call in supernatural investigators? Every one in twenty people won't, that's a statistic from the last census..."
Midoriya trails off, as he often does. It becomes background noise to Todoroki as he thinks about how things should make sense although they don't. It's like looking at a puzzle when you only have the last tenth of it to do. It makes sense: the general picture is there and if you're doing it right, you have all your borders covered. But what if you don't do it right? What if your borders are all messed up and you're not even looking for the right missing pieces?
Back at the bar, Yaomomo was worried. Worried because of the ghost and her girlfriend and her own safety. Worried. Worried. Worried.

"It's already started haunting you, hasn't it."

After the failure of the first stakeout, Todoroki had never told them Yaomomo believes that one of them is haunted. He was too caught-up in the motions of everything, too caught up in his own head. If the ghost is truly haunting them, then they’ve been barking up the wrong tree. No wonder there isn’t anything turning up.
"What if the ghost isn't from the house?" Todoroki asks, looking up and meeting eyes with Iida. "Iida, we've only been looking at cases from the surrounding neighborhood, right?"
Iida nods. "Yes. Ghosts aren't very mobile and they tend to haunt the same place that they died in. Especially violent ones. They don't really like to move."
"Unless they've latched onto something."
Uraraka gasps. "Unless they've latched onto something. Like a person . It's haunting one of them, isn't it? Oh my god. we need to get their information on all their past places of residency, or any place that they frequent. No wonder we couldn't find anything in this area: there is nothing in the area. It's them."
"A true haunting," Iida hums under his breath. "That makes sense, at least. If it weren't for your encounter in the Between, I would have thought they there wasn't a spirit at all."
"Todoroki," Midoriya says, loading up his laptop. "Can you get in contact with Yaoyorozu and ask her for a list of previous residency for both her and Jiro? We can at least start there."
Todoroki doesn't know why he didn't do this sooner. Yaomomo herself had told him that the ghost had stared haunting one of them. He's already whipping out his phone and dialing Yaomomo's number. Calling is the fastest, most efficient method and they need every second that they can get.
--
Nothing turns out.
There's no sign of any type of violent ghost forming anywhere that Momo and Jiro frequent. The only ghosts that they've been able to find are lost, wandering ghosts that just need a helping hand to guide them back to the afterlife. On the rare change of pace, Uraraka stumbled upon the elderly ghost of a man that wanted to make sure his grandkids were okay before passing on.
There are a lot of ghosts in Tokyo, but no kuchisake-onnas.
They go back to the house, wait it out for another dawn. For a dusk. For a witching hour and for a high noon. Every time they come prepared. Todoroki does a short Feeling, just to make sure that the spirit is still there and every time it feels as if something is watching him, just on the edge of pushing him over.
And every time, nothing happens.
"I don't get it at all," Midoriya says, resting his head on the sticky menu of a ramen place that's somewhere between their office and the train station Todoroki and Midoriya use to get home. Todoroki wants to tell him to get up and to stop putting his face on things that are obviously dirty. He also wants to tell him to go home and get some sleep. The case is wearing all of them thin, and when Midoriya had cheerfully asked if any of them wanted to go to out to eat before heading home, only Todoroki had stayed behind.
And it wasn't as if he really wanted to stay behind, either. Todoroki's pillows and sheets are calling his name, clearly not satisfied with the quick cat naps he's been feigning as sleep for the past few days. But Todoroki knows that if all three of them turned him down, Midoriya would go off with that bittersweet half-smile on his face. The half-smile he has when he's down and he's trying to act as if he isn't. As the case has been progressing and as they continue to have no leads whatever, Midoriya's been wearing it a lot more often than he did when Todoroki was new in the office.
Midoriya's half-smile makes Todoroki's stomach flip in an uncomfortable, irritating sort of way. He doesn't like the way it makes him feel, so if saying yes to dinner with Midoriya was a way to keep the half-smile off of Midoriya's face, then dinner it was.
"Nothing is adding up. Nothing is making sense. There's nothing in the damn house and I want to know why." Midoriya turns his head so he's face first into the table. Then he opens his mouth, lets out a guttural noise and lifts his head up. He exhales and sinks into the back of his seat. "I feel better now."
"I wasn't aware that screaming had immediate effects."
Midoriya grimaces. "You should try it then, because it does. Very therapeutic, especially when your case isn't making any sort of sense."
"Maybe we're thinking too much about it. Maybe there's something simple that we're missing." That has to be it, Todoroki knows it. Would swear on it, in fact. There has to be some small issue that they're overlooking that puts everything in place. Todoroki knows that Iida has already written off Yaomomo's insistence of the spirit's presence as just that: insistence with no proof. And although Todoroki's incident in the Between is a little harder to look past, there's been nothing like that again. Nothing as violent, or as severe as the first time around. It's almost as if once upon and time there was a ghost and now there isn't.
It’s almost as if the kuchisake-onna is playing games with them. They’re all the mouse searching and searching while she’s the cat, getting ready for her final strike.
It’s infuriating. Todoroki feels helpless.
"Maybe we are thinking too much. Maybe then we shouldn't think about it anymore."
Todoroki quirks an eyebrow.
"At least for tonight. Let's just get our ramen and take a night off. I feel if I think any more my head is going to fall from my shoulders."
"I'm sure your head wouldn't actually do that."
"But it feels like it." Midoriya leans forward, props his elbow on the table and puts his chin in the palm of his hand. "If I fall asleep before they come around to get our order, get me the Naruto Ramen. With an extra egg, please."
"You should go to bed if you're that tired, Midoriya. Eating this late isn't good for you."
"But I'm hungry. So I'm going to eat." Midoriya yawns and shakes his head, as if to shake away the sleepiness. It doesn’t do anything, just makes him yawn again. Todoroki has to look away, otherwise he’s going to start yawning too. "Please. I'll pay for your meal too."
This is the third time that they have gone out to eat, just the two of them. It's becoming somewhat of a habit to eat together, Todoroki realizes as he watches Midoriya's eyelids droop and droop until he finally falls asleep at the table. Todoroki never ate with any of his old coworkers, and he certainly never ate with one as cute as Midoriya.
Todoroki wonders when, in the scope of everything that's happened in the past few weeks from the newness of being out of his father's grasp to this confusing case, Midoriya became cute. Or rather, when Todoroki noticed that he was cute. Midoriya, for all his muscles and vast knowledge, has a baby-face and an unruly mop of hair that makes him cute. Handsome, yes. Pretty, he acknowledged a few weeks back. But now cute as well.
Maybe the line was crossed between the early mornings where Midoriya insisted that he was a morning person, though the three cups of coffee in his hand would prove otherwise. Maybe the line was crossed while watching one of Midoriya's plans be perfectly executed, the demon landing precariously in Todoroki's devil's trap. Maybe the line was crossed in one of these nights, with the hustle and bustle of the late night crowd drowning out any important parts of others conversations. Through all the noise, there's silence for the two of them to sit in and think. And around Midoriya, Todoroki finally has the space to think.
Todoroki ends up ordering takeout, handing the waitress his own credit card while Midoriya snoozes on, unaware of the fond looks the workers are passing their way. Even when woken up, Midoriya doesn't make much of a protest other than a sleepy shake of his head when Todoroki tells him that he needs to get up.
"Five more minutes," Midoriya says, putting his head down on the table.
Todoroki chuckles. It's kind of hard not to be amused by Midoriya's antics. This is the guy that's supposed to be running their up-and-coming supernatural investigator agency, and here is he asking to sleep for five more minutes. "You need to sleep in your bed. Not a restaurant."
After some more pleading from Todoroki and whining from Midoriya, Midoriya is finally persuaded to get up. By the time they’re hit with the fresh, cold air of the night time, Midoriya is fully awake. "Todoroki," he complains. He drags his feet, as if his feet are weighed down by some heavy, invisible force. "I told you I wanted to sit down and eat."
"You were snoring. I figured you can just sleep and eat this in the morning."
"What about you? Aren't you hungry?"
"Not really."
"Oh."
"When was the last time that you slept the entire night?" They're nearing the station. Technically, they don't live in the same direction from here but Todoroki leads them to Midoriya's side of the tracks.
Midoriya scoffs. "That's not a fair question. When was the last time that you slept the entire night?"
Todoroki hums. "You make a valid point."
"Thank you. I know I do."
The train arrives, coming with it a cold blast of air. It's late, the trains would only be running for the next thirty minutes, and because of that it seems like everyone is trying their hardest to get home. They find an open seat, but they let a little girl and her mother take it in favor of standing by the doors.
"Todoroki, this isn't the right way home for you, is it?" Midoriya asks, eyes glancing over the different people on the train with them. Tokyo, with all its different types of people living their different types of lifestyles, never fails to impress Todoroki. When he was younger, Todoroki used to wonder what people thought of him and his two-toned hair and multi-colored eyes and scarred face. He wondered if they automatically knew who he was, if the mark of being Endeavour son was so vivid that people would be able to pin it down at first glance. They couldn't, of course. No matter how big his father's face was plastered everywhere, marketing him as the It man against the violent supernatural, Todoroki has largely remained on the back burner until recently.
And now, it's not like it matters if people associate the two of them together. Todoroki is not his father, nor his agency, nor anything that his father wants him to be.
"No," Todoroki replies. "But it's okay. I can just get off in two stops and transfer." It's a roundabout way to get home and part of Todoroki is telling him that he's cutting it close to making the last train, but he doesn't want to leave Midoriya's side. Not yet. Not while he's still holding their meals, at least.
But two stops come and go and the doors open on the other side of the cart. Before Todoroki can squeeze his way out, another wave of people come in, making Todoroki's attempts at wiggling his way through the crowd useless. Then again, he wasn't trying very hard, his excuse mes barely audible underneath the rush of the people moving around.
They end up getting out at Midoriya's stop, having slowly edged their way to the exit as they got closer and closer. It's a relief to step out of the train and be able to spread his limbs out. And it's not even rush hour. There's a reason that Todoroki prefers to walk the thirty minutes to and from work.
Yet now, Todoroki is far more than a thirty minutes walk away.
"I can call you a taxi," Midoriya offers as they exit the station. Midoriya lives in a quiet, sleepy part of town that somehow matches his personality. In the daytime, Todoroki can imagine this neighborhood as a vibrant place full of kids laughing and riding their bicycles. But now, it's silent and homey. "Or maybe you can-"
The last part of Midoriya's sentence gets lost in his rambles. He pushes out his words so fast that they're nothing but a breath of air to Todoroki.
"I can what?"
"You can spend the night? I know you don't have any clothes or anything, but the trains have probably stopped running and my apartment is close." There's isn't much of a height difference between the two of them, but Midoriya looks up at Todoroki and blinks. He reaches out to grab Todoroki’s hand, the one not holding their food and gently holds it. He blinks again and Todoroki can’t help but look down at Midoriya’s mouth. He wonders if Midoriya’s mouth would feel as soft as it looks. "If you want?"
Sure, Todoroki wants to say, but his words gets caught in his throat as his phone suddenly blares, annoyingly loud. He has to drop Midoriya’s hand to fish his phone out of his pockets. He blanches when he sees who it's from.
"Yaomomo?"
" She's here. Please, hurry. She's here and it's awful. " Yaomomo is whispering into the phone, a rough edge to her voice like she's trying her best not to break into sobs.
"We'll be right there." Todoroki takes the phone away from his phone and grimaces at Midoriya.
Midoriya puts on a blank face. Todoroki doesn’t like the look on him. It’s not Midoriya. “Guess I have to call a taxi anyway.”
--
The front door is unlocked. It's a bad omen.
"They're not answering their phones," Midoriya says, frustrated as he jams his fingers into the keys of his phone as if he's going to make Uraraka and Iida jolt awake from the force of his fingers alone. They're probably both deep in sleep, not expecting to be called back so soon. Especially with the way that they investigation has been going– the thought that there might not even be a ghost here to get rid of– it's no wonder that they're not answering.
"They're asleep," Todoroki says, easing the front door completely open. He has his hands out in front of him, ready for anything that comes his way. He's hoping that the residual protection powder that Uraraka has sprinkled on him earlier in the evening is still on him. Even though he tries his best to dust himself off before returning home, he's had to vacuum more in this past weeks than he has had to in his entire life. Hopefully, there’s enough protection powder left to at least give him an edge of protection.
"I just lost phone signal." Midoriya shoves his phone back in his pocket and cracks his fingers. While not being supernatural by any means of the word, Midoriya is a powerful, self-taught magic-wielding human. One mentored by All Might as well. He stands on his own well. "The kuchisake-onna is probably blocking out the phone signal, dammit. I just want to know where the fuck she came from."
Above them, the house creaks and groans. It's a new house. New houses don't settle like that.
"We need to find Yaomomo and Jiro. As fast as possible."
Todoroki hears the sound of glass shattering and then nothing else. It’s cold in the house, cold enough to send shivers up his body and make the hair on his arms stand on edge. He breathes out and isn't surprised when a cloud forms in front of his face. "She’s really just been playing games with us all along, huh. She's here."
Midoriya mutters a spell under his breath and a bulb of warm light settles in the air between them. "Where?"
Todoroki focuses, not wanting to close his eyes but also wanting to Feel as much as possible. He lets himself extend down the hallway, across the kitchen, into the living room. And then he reels himself back before she can catch him. "Almost in the living room. Probably hiding out somewhere in there and waiting for us. I can't find Momo, though. Nor Jiro."
"Think the devil's trap is still outside?"
"Let's hope."
Midoriya puts out the light, knowing that it'll just draw the kuchisake-onna to them. They don't want that. They want to come to the kuchisake-onna, use every advantage that they have. It's not a lot, considering they're down to only half of their team and not nearly as much supplies as they need, but hopefully it'll be enough.
Hopefully.
--
They find Yaomomo curled up underneath the kitchen table, holding her knees close to her chest and silently crying. She's bloody, has a shallow cut on her cheek and three bigger, longer cuts on her right arm. When she sees them, she unfurls and stands up, wiping away the tears. But her hands are bloody too and although the tears are gone, her face is smeared with red.
"Where is she?" Midoriya asks, getting gauze and alcohol wipes out of his utility belt and offering them to her.
Momo takes the items soundlessly. "In the living room. Jiro and I were doing pretty well at holding her off, but then–" She stops talking. Her head droops on her shoulders.
Todoroki shallows. Hauntings, Todoroki knows, either leads to two ways: total possession or death. Usually, it's both. "The kuchisake-onna got her."
Momo swallows. "I think the kuchisake-onna had already had her since the beginning. Please. I can take care of myself." She looks up to the two of them and her face goes stony. "Save her, save Jiro. Please. I'd help but I don't think I can even look at the kuchisake-onna right now."
Midoriya nods. "Of course, Yaoyorozu. Of course."
Todoroki starts edging his way towards the living room. Momo looks at him and Todoroki tries to tell her things will be alright without actually saying the words. He can't say them out loud. Can't promise things that he doesn't know will be true.
"We have to get it outside." Midoriya says, launching into a plan to get the kuchisake-onna out of the house and into the devil's circle that's outside and been unused for weeks. When he’s done, he’s panting from having talked so quickly.
"This plan relies heavily on the notion that the devil’s trap is still even there."
"Sometimes," Midoriya says, gritting his teeth, "hope is the only thing that we have to rely on."
Todoroki walks into the living room and isn't surprised when he's enveloped in total darkness. From being almost pushed into the abyss of the Between to the hide-and-seek they've been at these past weeks, this is just another confirmation that the kuchisake-onna likes to play games.
"Come out, come out," Todoroki hums. The ghost isn’t the only one that can play games. "Wherever you are."
Midoriya ignites another light only it have it immediately go out. He lights another and another and another and they all go out just as fast as he lights them up. Midoriya lights up ten at once and before they go out, there's just enough light to see the kuchisake-onna sitting on the couch. She's smiling, (she's always smiling, that's one of the hallmarks of this type of ghost). Her mouth is cut open in a forever, bloody smile and she's dangling two sharp knives by her side.
Todoroki knows, realistically, that’s it’s just the ghost’s face that’s cut open. It’s the ghost placing a mirage over the host’s face, making them seem as one being. But knowing and having the information process are two separate things.
This entire time, the kuchisake-onna has been playing with them. Have them think that nothing is here, only then to strike when she has the upper-hand. If Todoroki weren’t infuriated, he’d be impressed by the ghost’s power.
The kuchisake-onna leaves one light on and it floats next to her face. The shadows elongate her face, make the hallows of her cheeks and her eyes more prominent. But aside from the ghoulish apparence, Todoroki knows the face. His stomach churns. "Hello, boys," she says, using Jiro's voice and Jiro's face and Jiro's smile and Jiro's body. “Am I beautiful yet?”
It's Jiro, but it's not her at all.
--
Midoriya is wheezing, holding onto his right arm as blood soaks through the fabric of his shirt and seeps down his arm. The kuchisake-onna is fast, faster than any ghost has the right to be. Midoriya had charged her and while Midoriya is plenty strong, knives are sharp.
"Get out of her body," Midoriya says. "You bastard ."
The kuchisake-onna laughs, and it's not Jiro's laugh that she's using. It's an odd one that sounds like nails dragging against a chalkboard. It's disjointing to see Jiro's body move with movements that aren't her own. Todoroki hopes that Jiro isn't conscious for any of this. It's a small mercy, but possession is nasty. It's the least he can wish for.
(The most he can hope for is that Jiro is still there at all. He pushes the thought out of his mind the second it enters. It doesn’t do Todoroki any good to think bad thoughts like that.)
Midoriya has the kuchisake-onna's attention as he continues to curse at her and she continues to laugh back. Todoroki focuses on all the metal in the room: there's a lot of it, the TV and the game consoles being the biggest objects. He Feels them and then pulls them towards the kuchisake-onna. The objects crash into the side of the ghost and she's thrown into the wall. The good thing about possession is that the ghost is always in a corporeal body. A body that takes damage.
The bad part of possession is just about everything else, including that the body takes damage.
The kuchisake-onna slumps against the wall, her arm in a position that's not natural. She cracks open one of her eyes and for a second, it's Jiro, not the ghost. It's Jiro's fear-stricken eyes and terrified expression. She looks down at her arm and then her head is thrown back against the wall with a loud boom . When her eyes open again, Jiro is nowhere to be found.
"Damn girl can't keep her head down," the kuchisake-onna says, pushing against her shoulder until there's a pop sound and it's back in its socket. "But that's just what makes it more fun, no?"
Todoroki throws another round of metal at her, this time reaching all the way from the kitchen. He’s not out to do lethal damage, but he’s desperate. They need Midoriya’s plan to work.
Knives and forks go spiraling towards her but the kuchisake-onna is fast and she dodges with ease. Todoroki continues to throw things at her, anything that's not tied or fastened down is useable. He throws books, the coffee table, the two decorative lamps that probably cost a fortune.
It's Midoriya who finally is able to land another hit. He chants under his breath, a stream of light forming in front of him. He gathers them into a ball, yells at Todoroki to close his eyes, and then explodes them. It's a makeshift flashbomb and the kuchisake-onna screams at the sudden influx of light. Todoroki opens his eyes to see Midoriya, hands outstretched, grab onto the kuchisake-onna and run towards the window.
The plan they have is fairly simple: get the kuchisake-onna outside and then exorcise the hell out of her.
Midoriya lands on top of the kuchisake-onna, face and arm littered with cuts from the broken glass. They struggle, but Midoriya has the upper hand. Todoroki doesn't have time to see how the fight pans out. He can only hope that Midoriya keeps her down long enough to get everything ready for the exorcism.
Please, please be there Todoroki pleads, jumping over the broken window pane and rushing towards the other edge of the yard. The backyard looks different in the absolute nighttime and for a second Todoroki panics. The devil's trap isn't there.
But when Todoroki steps closer, he finds that it is there. They would have checked before charging the kuchisake-onna, but fat chance she would let them out of the house of their own volition. Not when she’s obviously ready to play.
The devil’s trap is there, but it's broken and mangled from the weeks against the elements. He hurriedly gets down on his knees and frees the trap from debris. Nothing can be in the way of the circle if they want this go well. And seeing how the kuchisake-onna is this violent, they're only going to get one chance at this.
Todoroki digs his finger into the soil to complete the parts of the devil's trap that become unconnected. Once everything is lined up, it glows faintly blue and Todoroki feels a rush of power coming from it. If he can feel it, then he's sure the kuchisake-onna can feel it too.
"Please tell me you're done," Midoriya yells, still grappling with the ghost. The ghost lands a solid punch on Midoriya's stomach and he wheezes with the impact.
"You have some guts if you think you're going to get rid of me this easily," the kuchisake-onna says, her words more a rustle of air than actual words. She’s bleeding from a gash on her forehead, blood coating half of her face. She takes a step forward and Todoroki sees that her ankle is twisted. Jiro’s body is close to breaking but the kuchisake-onna doesn’t seem to care. “You haven’t even told me if I’m Beautiful yet.” She smiles, the cuts on her face oozing more blood.
Midoriya tackles her to the ground and Todoroki turns back to the devil's trap.
Todoroki needs blood. The devil trap needs a sacrifice to work properly.
They don't have any purified blood. Iida keeps all the blood packets on him since he's always the one in charge of finding the spot for and laying down the devil's trap. Todoroki had hoped that there would be some blood left, even if just a little bit. But the devil's trap had been weathered down and torn apart. They could perform an exorcism without a blood sacrifice, but it wouldn’t be strong enough. It wouldn’t hold the kuchisake-onna down. If anything, it'll just give a few extra minutes to twiddle their thumbs and try to come up with a secondary plan.
They don't have the time for that. Jiro's body can’t take much more.
Todoroki makes a fist as he Feels around for one of the bigger kitchen knives he had thrown at the kuchisake-onna. "Midoriya!" he yells as the knife flies into his hand. It's bigger, bigger than he thought it was going to be and he braces for the pain as he slices his hand open. He drips blood on the devil's trap. The devil's trap pulses with dark blue light and Todoroki smears the rest of the blood onto the ground, trying to get as much blood as possible onto the circle. More blood, more power. It's a simple correlation but if they can't get the ghost to get into the trap, it means nothing. "Now, Midoriya! Now!"
Todoroki dodges to the side as Midoriya kicks at the kuchisake-onna, the power of his legs amplified by some spell. Too amplified. The kuchisake-onna goes flying over the devil's trap, smashes into the tree behind it and sinks to the ground. If they don't do something now, Jiro isn't going to have a fighting chance at getting her life back. She’ll have no working body to return to.
So Todoroki rushes the ghost, still gripping the knife in his hand. He grabs onto the sheath and aims the butt of the knife into the ghost's neck. She manages to get up, dodge and sweep her legs, catching Todoroki's knees. Todoroki doesn't fall, but the knife tumbles out of his hand and clatters to the floor. Both of his palms are slick with blood and the cut continues to pulse. He cut too deep,
but there's nothing he can use to wrap it up. Hell, he doesn't have time to wrap it up. The kuchisake-onna continues to lodge punches his way and Todoroki grapples around, trying to dodge while simultaneously trying to feel for the humidity in the air.
It's a cold night, though, and there's little water in the air. He does manage to grab some of it and hurl it in dagger-shaped icicles, but it's not effective. The ghost dodges and the one that does scrape her cheek makes the mirage-smile almost become real.
Todoroki falls, hits the ground with a hard thud. The kuchisake-onna is over him in a flash, the knife that he dropped now in her hands. "I'm going to kill you," she says, turning the knife over in her fingers. "And it's going to hurt." She giggles, if vengeful ghosts can giggle. “Tell me I’m beautiful .”
"Fuck you," Todoroki spits. It's close to dawn, but the night has been cold enough to make the ground wet with condensation. Todoroki Feels for the water on the grass, grabs ahold of it, and shoots it towards the ghost. The wall of ice hits her in the chest and she flies backward with the impact. Todoroki continues to feel the water, turn it into ice, and hurl the sharp pieces towards her. She has no choice but to back up and it gives Todoroki enough time to breathe, to think. Enough time to meet Midoriya's eyes and give a slight nod.
Midoriya wastes no time. He jumps and crashes into the kuchisake-onna. This time, he doesn't overestimate the landing spot and the two of them tumble into the devil's trap. It burns bright with the contact and Todoroki sends even more icicles towards the ghost, trying to pin her into place without hitting Midoriya.
Be careful of Jiro’s body, Todoroki chides himself. He needs to keep Jiro safe, alive.
When she's finally pinned down, none of the icicles on any lethal point, Midoriya jumps away from the devil's trap, panting. He rubs away the sweat on his forehead and Todoroki moves to send another round of icicles only to find that he can't feel any more water around him. He swallows hard and meets the kuchisake-onna's wild eyes.
She spits at them.
"The body," Midoriya says under his breath. This is one part of their rushed plan that they hadn't talked about yet. They have the kuchisake-onna pinned down in the devil's trap, ready to be exorcised. But they can't exorcise her in Jiro's body. With all the trauma that Jiro's body has taken, an exorcism would be a death sentence.
"I know." There's only one way to get the ghost out of her body and the thought of it makes Todoroki feel uneasy. But that also might be because his hand is still bleeding profusely. "I'll do it."
"There has to be another way," Midoriya says, grabbing onto Todoroki's bloody hand as he takes a step forward. "There has to be."
"Probably. But we don't have time. The ice is going to melt and we're going to have to trap her again. And you and I both know that we don't have enough stamina to do that. Not by ourselves."
"I don't like this." Midoriya squeezes his hand and then lets it go. He gets down to his knees, lays his hands out flat and starts chanting. The devil's trap ignites in a ring of fire and the kuchisake-onna screams.
(Jiro too. Todoroki has never heard Jiro scream before, but he knows that's her screaming. It’s too human, too raw to be the kuchisake-onna alone.)
Todoroki Feels for a knife, brings it to his hand, and steps into the fire. It’s already covered in blood. The kuchisake-onna thrashes around. The fire quickly melts the ice, but the devil's trap is even more powerful bond than the ice could ever be. "I'm so so sorry," Todoroki says, looking at Jiro's face as her body convulses in pain. He hopes that Momo is somewhere safe, somewhere where she can't see what he's about to do.
Be careful of Jiro’s body , he reminds himself again. He can feel the sick acid taste of bile rise in his throat.
He stabs her in the stomach, pushing the knife all the way until the hilt touches her stomach. The kuchisake-onna, Jiro , slumps against him and Todoroki twists the knife, trying his best to not notice the hot blood pouring over his already bloody hands.
One way– the fastest way– to make a ghost leave a possessed body is to make the body unusable.
The kuchisake-onna spazzes, shaking and shaking until she shakes herself out of Todoroki's grasp and falls onto the floor. Her eyes roll to the back of her head and foam fizzes out of her mouth. The kuchisake-onna abandons Jiro's body with a deafening screech and Todoroki grabs onto Jiro's hand and pulls her out of the devil's trap with him.
She's unconscious, but still breathing. Barely. Todoroki tried to not hit anything important. But a stab wound is still a stab wound and she’s bleeding from so many different places.
He needs to stop the bleeding, but there's only so much he can do with his own hands. He can only take things that already exist and shape them into a new form. He feels for her life force and chokes on his breath when he doesn't find anything. There's nothing. Todoroki freezes.
He's killed her.
"Todoroki!" Midoriya yells, running their way. He kneels down next to Todoroki and lays his hands on Jiro's stomach. "Do the exorcism. I have this. Hurry, or else the kuchisake-onna will get out again. I have this," he repeats when Todoroki doesn't do anything but stare. "Go, go, go."
"She's dead."
"She's not dead."
"I can't feel her life force."
"She's not dead, Todoroki. Now go ."
It's like the world has slowed down for every second to become ten. Todoroki knows that he moves, knows that he takes over the exorcism and watches as the kuchisake-onna writhes and writhes until she's no more. He knows that Uraraka and Iida show up just as he finishes up. He knows that Uraraka rushes to Midoriya's and Jiro's side. He knows that Iida finds Momo and tells her that everything is over. But he doesn't recognizes it as happening until it's over and he's staring as the water in the sink runs red with blood.
"It's okay," Midoriya says, leaning against the doorframe of the bathroom, watching as Todoroki washes his hands and then washes them again and again and again. Midoriya walks closer to him, takes his hands out from under the sink and sits him down on the toilet. "It's okay."
Todoroki doesn't realize that he's crying until an ugly sob makes its way out his mouth. And then everything hits at once. He's bruised and sore and he never got the cut on his hand healed and his hands are still wet and they hurt. And he just stabbed another person, a person he knew, and killed her.
Midoriya wraps a hand around Todoroki's chest, pulling him towards his chest. "She never died, her life force was just briefly tied to the kuchisake-onna's. Uraraka freaked out when she couldn't find anything either, but she's okay."
The words pass over Todoroki, doing absolutely nothing.
"Feel for her life force, Todoroki. You'll find it."
Not wanting to finding nothing, he doesn't.
"Todoroki, please. It's okay. Everything is okay."
He Feels, only for a few seconds. He Feels Iida and Uraraka, cleaning up the mess the fight left behind. He Feels Momo upstairs. He Feels Jiro. She's upstairs too. Breathing, alive, her life force small but stable.
He stops Feeling, but it doesn't stop Todoroki from feeling the press of Midoriya's chest against his face. Todoroki can't seem to stop himself from crying, but Midoriya isn't pushing him away either. He's doing anything but, pulling Todoroki even closer to himself.
"It's okay, Todoroki. It's okay. You're okay and we're okay. The kuchisake-onna is gone and everyone is safe.”
Todoroki wraps his arms around Midoriya's waist and continues to cry.
He hasn't cried in a long, long time.
--
They visit Jiro in the hospital and Todoroki feels so bad about everything that he hides his face behind the huge vase of flowers he bought for her. It's a dumb idea, because at some point he's going to have to put it down and show his face, but he'll cross that bridge when he gets to it.
"How are you holding up?" Midoriya asks once he walks into the room. Todoroki trails after him, trying to see through the flowers so he doesn't knock anything over. Momo sits on the side of Jiro's hospital bed, holding her hand
"Well, getting stabbed sucked," Jiro says and Todoroki tenses. "But it's loads better than having the vengeful ghost of a woman killed by her husband possess you. So, thanks for that. Ghosts fucking suck, I guess."
Midoriya elbows Todoroki in the gut, hard. Todoroki puts the flowers down on the small bedside table and sheepishly apologizes for the way the night went down.
"Todoroki," Momo says, "Please. Don't berate yourself. We're both more than thankful that we're safe."
"Don't apologize, nerd," Jiro says, waving her hand in front of her face. "You saved my life. You're good."
Todoroki opens his mouth to say that No, he isn't good and that he should have been better prepared to so he didn't have to resort to stabbing and almost killing her, but before he's able to get a word out Midoriya elbows him in the stomach again.
They make small talk for a few minutes, they being everyone but Todoroki. He tries to pay attention to the conversation, but guilt doesn't go away just like that. Todoroki knows he could have done better, knows the situation could have been better and seeing Jiro laying in a hospital bed eats away at him.
Finally, Momo decides that Jiro has had enough visitors for the day and shoos them out of the room. "Thank you both, really," she says when they're in the hallway. "It could have been much, much worse but thanks to you two we're still standing. Thank you. And Todoroki-"
Todoroki tilts his head up in response.
"Stop being so hard on yourself. We all made it out alive and that's what matters. It would have been a different story if you hadn't been there. So thank you, we both owe you a lot." She looks at him with a stony expression, telling him to be careful with his words. “You did the best you could do, you know that.”
"You're welcome," Todoroki manages to say and Momo's face softens into a smile. She kisses his cheek, then Midoriya's, bids them a safe journey home and walks back into Jiro's room.
They walk out of the hospital together. It's a bright day, but it's not too hot. Once outside, Todoroki closes his eyes and takes a deep breath of air. His stomach might still be crawling with regrets, but it's going to be okay.
"You good there, Todoroki?"
Todoroki opens to his eyes to see Midoriya looking at him curiously, head tilted to the side like a small puppy. "I'm okay. I could use a long, long nap though. But, we never did find where that kuchisake-onna came from. There’s something there that we still haven’t put together.”
Midoriya purses his mouth into a thin line. Todoroki knows that he’s been thinking about that too. Sure, the case is over but that doesn’t mean the puzzle is finished. There’s still pieces missing, and Todoroki feels like the missing pieces are going to show their faces sooner rather than later.
“Let’s not think about that right now, okay?” Midoriya asks. “Let’s just be glad that everyone’s safe.”
Todoroki nods his head. He can do that. His stomach growls at him and Todoroki has been so wrapped in his own emotions that he didn't even realize he's hungry. "Ah, I guess I'm hungry."
Midoriya shakes his head and laughs, a sweet sound like wind chimes in the midst of a breeze. The change in conversation is nice, needed. "You know, we never did eat that ramen." Midoriya holds out his hand. "What about if we go now?”

Ramen with Midoriya sounds nice. Actually, anything with Midoriya sounds nice. (Sans being attacked by a killer, vengeful ghost. But Todoroki has a feeling that it’s going to be happening more often than he would like it to.) Todoroki takes Midoriya's outstretched hand and intertwines their fingers. "Let's go."
--
Later, when they're just have placed their dine-in orders for ramen, both Todoroki's and Midoriya's phones go off at the same time.
It's a text message from Iida, but that's as much as Todoroki is able to read before his phone starts ringing with a call."Hello?"
"Todoroki, and I assume Midoriya is with you too? You guys need to come in as soon as possible. There's another case. Looks like another possession. It's not-" Iida trails off and Todoroki can hear Uraraka on the other side yelling something unintelligible. "It's not pretty."
Midoriya flags down a waiter to tell them to change their order to take-out.
"We'll be there soon." Todoroki hangs up the phone and sighs.
Midoriya groans in disappointment. “Next time,” he says as they’re walking out of the restaurant. He’s carrying the ramen. “Next time. I swear, or else I’m going to turn into a poltergeist myself.”
Todoroki laughs. “Please don’t do that. I don’t want to have to exorcise you.”
Midoriya huffs, but it’s in jest. They call a cab and eat their ramen as they’re driven directly to the site. It’s easier to meet the rest of their team there.
“Ready for this?” Midoriya asks as they cab turns onto the street. It’s immediately obvious which house they’re after. It’s the only house that’s painted black; the wood shillings on the walls have been scratched at by a creature with massive claws.
Todoroki nods. With Midoriya by his side, Todoroki feels confident. “Let’s go.”
They go.