Izuku POV:

We were all completely silent until we got back to town. Like before, the walk through the tunnel tools hours, meaning we got home around 11:30 pm. I brought them to my house and into my room, greeting my mother on the way.

Ochako sat down on my bean bag chair while I sat on my bed. Tsu sat crisscross on the floor and Tenya stayed standing.

"I can't believe this." I say. "I didn't.. The King is abusive? The king?"

Ochako shifted in the beanbag. "I mean, what was even happening, really?" She says. "And the way the Prince thought it was normal.." She shivered.

"This is illegal. We must report this to the castle authorities immediately." Tenya says, stiff as always.

Tsu turns to him. "And what would we say?" She reasons. "We can't just say 'oh right, yeah, we snuck into the castle gardens and watched the Prince get beaten up by his father'?" She shakes her head. "No, we could get arrested for stalking and, if they don't believe us, lying to the authorities about the Imperial Majesty."

Tenya crossed his arms.

"Well we can't just leave him like that." I say. "He's literally being abused. We can't not do something!"

"Until we have a valid reason for knowing about it other than sneaking into the castle grounds, we can't do anything." Tsu reasons again.

It was my turn to cross my arms.

We all decided it was best to wait until morning.

...

I heard a thwap sound downstairs, indicating that the newspaper was here. "Honey, can you get that please?" My mother yelled.

"Yeah!" I yell. I get off of the bed and run down the stairs. I grab the paper and run back into my room.

"What's the lastest news, oh news man." Ochako says, rolling her eyes playfully. Everyone was awake.

I unfold the paper and read the headline. The color drains from my face.

My friends notice my face. "What's wrong?" Tsu asks.

Instead of answering, I turn the paper so they can read it.

HIS IMPERIAL HIGHNESS, PRINCE SHOTO HAS BEEN KIDNAPPED //ANYONE WITH INFORMATION PLEASE GO TO THE CASTLE GUARDS IMMEDIATELY//

My friends faces pale as well. Below the headline, was a picture of Prince Shoto at the latest press conference. His head tilted slightly to the side and his heteroachromia eyes perfectly contrasting his face. The famous scar covering his left eye was barely visible through his hair.

"But.. we just saw him yesterday." Ochako said.

I frown. "Kidnapping could happen anytime. It could've happened the moment we left or something." I say. "Oh Qirius, what if someone saw us go into the cave? Then they would have access to the palace!" I cover my mouth with my hands in shock. "Then it would be our fault."

Tenya shakes his head. "It's not our fault at all." He says. "We cannot blame ourselves."

I abruptly stand up. "Let's go to town." I say.

...

We all sit down in the cafe. A girl comes up to us with a notepad.

"What will you order?" She says in a cheerful tone.

I scan the menu. "I'll have the Lavender Chocolate Milk, please." I say. A quick glance at my friends. "Four, actually."

The girl nods and writes it down before she leaves.

"Alright." I say. "The how, why, when, and where." I say, glancing around. "How was most likely the tunnel, or maybe they somehow infiltrated the actually palace." Ochako fiddles with her hand. "Why is easy, he's a Prince. It's probably for ransom or to.. kill him." I shudder at the thought. "When was last night, obviously." Tenya sighs. "Where is what we need to find out. Anyone got any ideas?"

"Well if he just went missing last night, the kidnapper couldn't have gotten far." Tsu says. "He probably is waiting for a cooldown before he moves again."

"Right, so he's probably in one of the villages." Tenya says. "But that's the problem. There's four main villages and each of them are pretty large. East is the closest to the main road, which is this village." He taps his fingers on the table. "But would they be so careless as to just go home? Obviously not."

Ochako looked out the window. "So we go around asking people what they did yesterday night? That's suspicious and we're not investigators." She says.

"It's the best we can do now." Tsu says. "Let's go around to the owners of late night bars and shops. They could've seen something."

Then the TV in the corner of the cafe turned on, revealing King Enji and his other children. Aside from Prince Touya of course, he's almost always at his boarding school.

"Citizens of Deora, I've come to address a horrible incident that has happened late last night." He says. "My youngest son, heir to the throne, Prince Shoto was kidnapped." I heard gasps coming from the cafe, presumably the people who hadn't read the paper. "If anyone of you have any information about this tragic event, please contact the castle to report it."

The waitress came to our table and placed the four drinks on the table. We all took our drinks, medium sized glasses with a light purple drink. Whipped cream was on top, the bottom layer dipped under and the top sprinkled with rainbow sprinkles and a singular lavender leaf.

I took a sip of my drink before I set it down.

"Well, should we start after this drink?" Ochako says.

"Yes, the faster the better." I say.

She nodded and started sipping more of her drink. After a while, all of our drinks were finished and I placed a few dollars down on the table before we left.

"So should we start at the bar that's the closest to the castle entrance?" Tsu says. "It's called the Hawks Nest, right? It's new."

I nod slightly. The a thought came to my mind. "Wait, how new?" I ask.

Tsu thinks for a moment. "Its pretty new, I think the owner bought the building and opened it only a few weeks ago." She says. Then the same thought seemed to pass through her mind as well. "Buying a tavern a few weeks before kidnapping a royal is smart." She muses. "That's suspect number one, let's go."

She walked down the road and we all followed.

As we approached the front of it, I saw that there was a large art piece of a Hawks next to the words The Hawks Nest.

I pushed the door open, and it revealed a large red lit area. It had basic restaurant booths lining the wall on the left and right side, with three tables in the middle of the room. At the end of the large room, was a long bar made out of a dark mahogany wood that was shining under the red lights.

There was only one person in the tavern, a young blonde who was wiping down the bar.

He looked up at us and I saw black eyeliner and piercings. "It's a little earlier for anyone to be in here. Let only teenagers." He says.

Ochako walked over to the bar and sat down, urging me to do the same. Tsu and Tenya also sat down.

The man wiped his hands with the towel he was using. "Well what can I get you?" He says, an easygoing smile on his face. "Apple juice?"

I glare at him. "We want to talk to the manager about Prince Shoto's disappearance." I say blandly.

The man's smile vanished immediately. "Prince Shoto disappeared?" He asked. "Well, I'm the manager, kid. Keigo Takami at your service."

I rose my eyebrows. "Your like, 20." Ochako said.

Keigo gave her a smirk. "And your 16." He said. "Plus I'm 22." His smile went away again. "And if you think I have any information useful to you, it's not. The authorities couldn't do anything with it." He rolled his eyes. "But what can the authorities do, really?"

"What information do you have?" Tenya asks. "Anything is better than nothing."

Keigo sighed. "Look, kid, I would love to help, kinda, but as much as I hate them, I think the authorities should handle it." He said. Turning away from us for a moment, he grabbed a small piece of paper from his pocket and a pen. "So would you like anything?" He said when he turned back.

I glanced at Ochako before looking at the menu. It was a bunch of alcoholic drinks and stuff like that, except from water, apple cider(and there was hard cider as well), and coffee.

"I'll have a apple cider." I say. Keigo nods and turns around again to make it.

It was barely a minute before he turned back and placed the glass of golden drink in front of me. I grab it and feel the piece of paper from before under.

"And that will be on the house." Keigo says, staring at me with a knowing look.

I blink before nodding and standing up. I turn and walking away, hearing my friends follow me and thanking Keigo.

After getting a few feet away from the front of the tavern, I look at the paper.

Sorry, my tavern's bugged. I heard that there's a hidden room in the back of the building three away from me. I'd check it out.

My eyebrows shoot up. I turn to my friends.

"We got a clue." I say, smiling.

<^> To Be Continued

(1.5k words)

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