The next morning hit like a truck. I barely slept, which, surprise, didn't help me solve the mystery of why shadows like to haunt me at night. My picture from last night was useless, nothing but blurry shapes and darkness. Great detective work, Midoriya. Sherlock Holmes would be proud.

I dragged myself to class, my eyes burning from lack of sleep. Everyone looked just as drained. Even Iida was quieter than usual, which is honestly more unnerving than when he's yelling about following the rules.

"Morning, problem child," Aizawa muttered as I walked in. He looked about as dead as I felt, but at least he had his trusty sleeping bag as backup.

"Morning, sensei," I mumbled, collapsing into my seat.

The morning lesson was a blur, but my brain snapped to attention during lunch.

"Did you hear?" Uraraka asked, sliding into the seat next to me. Her voice was low, urgent.

"Hear what?" I asked, already bracing for more bad news.

"Another one." She hesitated, glancing around before leaning closer. "Another student from Class 1-B. This morning."

My stomach dropped. "What happened?"

"They haven't said yet," she whispered. "But they found him near the dorms. Same kind of injuries."

This wasn't random. This wasn't coincidence. Someone was targeting us.

By the time classes ended, the air in the dorms was suffocating. Rumors spread faster than Kaminari's failed pickup lines, each one worse than the last. Villains. A curse. Even All Might's name was being dragged into it, which, let's be honest, was just plain stupid.

I needed air.

Slipping outside during curfew probably wasn't my best idea, but at this point, rules felt like a suggestion. If I stayed cooped up in the dorms with everyone's paranoia any longer, I'd lose my mind.

The campus was eerily quiet, the kind of quiet that makes you hyper-aware of every little sound. My footsteps echoed as I walked toward the training grounds, my notebook tucked under my arm.

And then I saw it.

Another bloodstain, smeared across the pavement near the edge of the dorms.

I crouched down, my heart pounding as I stared at the dark red streaks. This one was bigger than the first. Messier. Like someone had tried to drag the body but gave up halfway.

"Taking notes again, Midoriya?"

I jumped, whipping around to find Todoroki standing behind me. Seriously, does this guy have a hobby of sneaking up on people?

"Uh, yeah," I said, holding up my notebook like it explained everything. "Just, you know, investigating."

"You're not very subtle," he said, glancing down at the bloodstain.

"Not trying to be," I muttered. "This doesn't scream 'accident' to you, does it?"

Todoroki's expression didn't change. "No."

"Then why isn't anyone doing anything about it?" I asked, my voice sharper than I intended. "The teachers, the police—they're all acting like this is just another day at UA."

"Maybe they don't know how to handle it," he said, his tone as calm as ever. "Or maybe they're hiding something."

The idea made my stomach twist. If the faculty was hiding something, what could it be? And why?

That night, the dorm was quiet. Too quiet. The kind of quiet that makes every creak and groan of the building sound like a gunshot.

I sat on my bed, staring at my notebook. My notes didn't make sense—no connections, no pattern. Just two dead students, bloodstains, and a whole lot of unanswered questions.

And then my phone buzzed.

I grabbed it, half expecting another news update, but it wasn't a headline. It was a text.

From an unknown number.

"You're looking in the wrong place."

My blood ran cold. I stared at the screen, my heart racing as I tried to process the message.

Before I could reply, another message came through.

"Be careful, Midoriya. You're next."

I dropped the phone like it had burned me, my hands shaking. My mind raced with possibilities. Who sent it? How did they get my number?

And most importantly...

How did they know what I was doing?