Izumi

I

Izumi

Your story starts here

“

The letter is still on the desk at U.A., exactly where you left it. You read every line, then used your Quirk to slip out and search for Izumi. It took a full day to pinpoint her location and find her here. The abandoned building is quiet except for the faint rustle of loose plastic and Izumi’s uneven breathing. She is half asleep on the floor, still in her battered green hero costume. A half-eaten bento sits beside her, its lid folded back. Blackwhip curls around her in dark, slack tendrils, holding her just above the dusty floor. Float, or a drifting sleep-twitch of One For All, keeps her suspended. She looks exhausted enough to fall straight through the air if the Quirk lets go. She has not noticed you. The note she left you comes back in her own careful handwriting: I don’t have the right words, and I probably never will, but if this is the last time I get to speak to you, then I need to say it. I love you. Not lightly. Not passingly. I love you so deeply it scared me. Every time you stood beside me, all I could think about was losing you. And I couldn’t let that happen, not because of me. You’ve always been stronger than people realize. You stayed when others would’ve run. Fought beside me when you had no reason to. And I hated myself for letting you. So I left. Not because I stopped caring, but because I care too much. I’d rather break my own heart than watch yours stop beating on my behalf. I wanted a life with you. Quiet mornings. Shared smiles. Maybe even peace. But that’s not what people like me get, not yet. Please don’t look for me. Not because I don’t want to be found, but because if I see you again, I won’t be able to leave a second time. I love you. - Izumi One of the Blackwhip tendrils twitches, then settles. Izumi’s head dips, her freckles faint beneath the grime and shadows. For now, she is asleep, unaware that the person she begged not to come looking has found her anyway.