Chapter 22
"Group's getting big, huh?" Kazuki mumbled, looking around as he arrived at the training facilities after he was done with Hound Dog. Sure enough, the group he'd been usually meeting and training with was growing by the day, it seemed. Off to one side, Jiro, Kirishima and Ashido were doing some weight training. On another part, Yaoyorozu and Mineta were working together with Yanagi. As for Hagakure, she… Kazuki didn't know where she was, but he'd bet she was somewhere around.
Then there was Kamakiri, who Kazuki started walking towards. For one, he didn't feel comfortable enough to go to Kirishima and Ashido just yet. On top of that, he was still recovering, so he wouldn't be hitting the machines for at least a week. For another, the group that seemed to be working with Yanagi required some specific requirements that he didn't meet, mainly a Quirk that allowed the creation of objects for her to manipulate, if he was getting things right from a distance.
Either way, Kamakiri worked well for the training he wanted to do.
"Creepy!" the mantis-like guy called when he noticed his approach. The exclamation got the attention of the nearby group with Mineta, Yaoyorozu and Yanagi, who waved a greeting at him. "I've been waiting, man. Where were you?"
"With the student counselor," he admitted easily. What was the point of denying that? Besides, it wasn't like he was ashamed of going there, really. If anything, he thought other people should join in too. As far as he was concerned, most people needed at least some sort of therapy. He'd know.
"Huh, how was it?" Kamakiri mumbled, very clearly caught off guard by the answer he got. The reaction was amusing, if nothing else, Kazuki thought.
"It was fine. It's nice to be able to talk about some things with someone that's not really… You know, close," Kazuki replied with a shrug. "So, how about some training? I can't do physical stuff, but my Quirk is good to go."
"Now, that's something I can get behind."
For a moment, Kazuki considered going for his plan to push his Quirk more than usual but… But the entire thing at the USJ was too raw. His descent into the Rampage was still too present in his mind. He'd tackle that soon, he was sure, but for the moment… For the moment he wanted to get back to the normalcy of sorts he'd managed to build for himself. He could start training with more Grimm and creating them faster later.
Besides, Aizawa had informed them all of the Sports Festival's date, which was approaching already. 'As if it was necessary to inform us of that,' Kazuki thought wryly as he summoned the first beowolf that would face Kamakiri. 'Everyone and their mothers know about the thing.'
Still, Yaoyorozu had also reminded them of a fact that might be overlooked by some people but was very important for them. The Pro Heroes would be watching the festival, scouting them for their agencies, maybe even as sidekicks. Joining a known hero group was a great way to get started, after all, which meant that everyone wanted to do their best in the festival to get attention from the best heroes they could manage to impress.
Kazuki was no exception for that, really. If anything, he had a lot more to show in the Festival than the rest of the school, he mused as he started the spar against Kamakiri with a different Grimm set up than usual. Instead of two beowolves and a boarbatusk, he decided to go with one beowolf and two nevermore, to spice things up a bit. Back to the topic at hand though, there was no way people wouldn't start connecting dots once he appeared on national TV. As it was, Kazuki was lucky the press hadn't noticed him when they were right outside the school and looking him in the face.
His luck would run out eventually though, which meant that he needed to start making a good impression on people. The Festival was where he needed to try and impress, not only Pro Heroes but the public. He'd need to be careful to give a favorable look to himself in the eyes of the people… Otherwise things might take a rather bad turn for him.
'I wonder though…' he mused, somewhat distractedly as his Grimm continued fighting Kamakiri. His thoughts drifted towards one Pro Hero in particular. There was no way Kazuki could make a good enough impression to draw that person to him, unfortunately. He guessed he could shout a message during the event but… That might be a tad drastic, all things considered.
He did wonder if he'd ever get a chance to talk to them, however. There were many things he wanted to say. There were many things he wanted to get off his chest after what had happened. However, he'd have to see how things played out and that was it.
"Man, those birds are annoying," Kamakiri grumbled, as he got pinned down by a nevermore that caught him off guard from behind. Before he could take that one off, the other two Grimm had already joined. "Again?" the boy asked.
"Sure, give me a sec. I want to try another set up," Kazuki replied, dismissing the nevermores to try with three beowolves this time. He grinned slightly when he heard the other teenager sigh in relief. "Ready."
"Say… You are fine, right? I heard about the attack on your class," Kamakiri asked then, surprisingly. What was even more unexpected than the question, however, was the uncomfortable feeling Kazuki got from the boy. The mantis-like teenager was anything but a feelings guy, after all. He was rather straightforward like that, really, a very battle focused individual. In a way, he reminded Kazuki of Bakugo, but less angry.
Thus, being asked if he was fine like that was a little strange, honestly.
"I'm recovering from some injuries, but so long as I don't physically strain myself then I'm fine," he explained, unconsciously patting his chest with his hand. "This training is fine."
"That's good to hear," Kamakiri replied, still shuffling awkwardly on his feet. "I guess that's… That's why you went to the counselor?"
"Amongst other things," Kazuki confirmed with a nod.
"Uh… Good, I guess. So… Um… Can we continue?"
"Sure," he agreed with a grin. He'd have pushed on the awkwardness a bit but… Well, it wasn't like it felt good for him either and he just wanted to get on with the training. It allowed him to focus on something other than the emotions in his sense.
[}-o-{]
"You sure we can come here, man?" Mineta asked, making Kazuki roll his eyes. The boy had been a little nervous when he invited them over, especially when he said that there was at least one teacher that lived nearby.
"It's fine as long as we keep things calm," he reassured, waving his friend's concerns away. "Besides, it's just the four of us, it'll be fine," he added, gesturing towards the two of them, Hagakure and Yaoyorozu. Jiro had other things to do, it seemed. As for Kamakiri and Yanagi, they were more training buddies than actual friends, at least for the moment.
Then there were Kirishima and Ashido, who had made some awkward attempts to rejoin the group through their training time and the day as a whole. They'd been met with mixed results so far, however. Not because they made things particularly difficult themselves but because… Well, things were just a bit weird when they'd been the ones that had avoided them before.
"So, no parties, huh?" Mineta mumbled, getting a snort from both Kazuki and Hagakure, while Yaoyorozu looked somewhere between amused and affronted. Quite the contrasting emotions to mix there, but somehow she pulled it off.
"Yeah, I think that'd get me into a bit of trouble. Just a lil' bit," Kazuki replied, getting a fake-disappointed sigh from his vertically challenged friend. All in all, he was actually surprised to be allowed to bring friends and all. He was a bit baffled by how much… freedom he was being allowed ever since Nezu got him out of juvie.
Especially then and there, after the USJ mess and what… almost happened.
"Anyway, what can I get you guys to drink and eat?" he asked then, moving towards the kitchen as he listed off the options and listened to everyone's response. Yaoyorozu's choice of tea, in particular, got him more than a little nervous. How does one cater to the delicate palate of a ridiculously rich person with the piss poor selection of things he had available? He could only hope that she wouldn't end up spitting the drink out or something.
Which she didn't, fortunately.
Instead, even if he worried a little about the snacks or drinks being found wanting, things went… Well. It still surprised Kazuki that things could just go like that for him. All his life, he'd prepared for everything to suck whenever he got out of juvie and into the real world once more. He'd been prepared to be scorned and for everything to have, at best, bittersweet taste to it.
Finding himself in moments such as that one, where there was only good, and no bad emotions close by was… Shocking. Sure, there was negativity further away in his range, but it always hit that little bit harder when they were close by. Furthermore, knowing that there were people in the room with him, interacting with him and that they weren't feeling anything negative towards him or in general was…
It was nice.
"You weren't joking when you said this place is bare, huh?" Mineta asked, looking around his apartment. Immediately, before he could even reply to that, Kazuki felt a spark of annoyance from both, Hagakure and Yaoyorozu. Just as fast, both girls punched each of the boy's arms. "Ouch, why'd you do that?"
"Because you were insensitive, Mineta," the rich girl answered, giving the boy a flat expression that might as well have been a fierce glare. Their short friend withered a little under the look.
"We'll help you decorate this place, Creepy!" Hagakure exclaimed then, bouncing on her seat and Kazuki imagined she was looking around the place. At least, that's what he thought she was doing judging by the shifting of the floating clothes. "I'm sure we can come up with things to hang from the walls, maybe get some ornaments here and there. Anything you can think of?"
"I mean, I'll be a little short on money for a while, but I'm sure we can make a list for after I get some more," Kazuki answered, resolutely ignoring the pang of negativity coming from Yaoyorozu. He really hoped she wouldn't try and pay for his stuff, because that'd make him feel bad. He also didn't want to get into an argument about that either. "Always wanted one of those little fountains, you know, with the tiny vases that drop water down from one to another and such? They always looked very… calming," he commented idly, pulling from a memory from before his life went more to shit than it already had been.
"Really? That's, uh," Mineta started, before stuttering to a stop as both girls turned towards him again. "That's neat."
"Weird, is what you were going to say," Kazuki corrected with a slight smile. "It might be, but I liked them. Maybe I can get one… Or maybe I can get a fish tank? I always wanted one of those too… That might be too much money though, I guess. Something for further into the future, maybe."
"That sounds grand," Yaoyorozu told him, smiling warmly. "Speaking of the future, there's that bit of homework that Midnight gave us."
"She did?" Mineta asked, eyes wide with shock.
"I think you were a little busy staring at… her," Kazuki pointed out with a wry grin. "Again."
"Ah, you might be right," the short boy replied sheepishly.
"Might?"
"Shut up."
[}-o-{]
'I'm sorry for disappearing on you,' Kazuki wrote that night to Distressed, once he was by himself. Whoever the person on the other side was, had left a handful of messages through the long weekend he'd had without being able to look at his phone much. 'Things were hectic on my side for a bit.'
The answer came surprisingly quick then.
'You ok?' He blinked at the simple message then, before a slight grin appeared on his face. He reached for the sadness in the building, finding that it wasn't quite as strong as he remembered. Then again, maybe he was fooling himself into thinking so. Regardless…
'Wow, is that concern I'm detecting?' he wrote then, feeling in a good enough mood and confident enough to joke. 'Are we in that stage of our friendship? I'm moved.'
'Shut the fuck up,' they replied and he could almost hear the grumble in their voice. There was certainly some annoyance there for him to pick up. 'See if I ask that again, asshole.'
'I'm fine, for the most part,' Kazuki answered then. 'I got injured, so I'll have to be careful the rest of the week, but I'll be fine after that,' he explained, leaning back against his chair. Extending one hand, he waited for a response while taking sips from his mug.
'Take care of yourself,' Distressed told him eventually. 'It'd suck if I bothered to reply to these messages only for you to die or something like that.'
'Gee, thanks for worrying,' Kazuki replied with a chuckle. 'Good to know someone appreciates my existence so much.'
'More than I can say for myself, at least,' Distressed wrote then, making him blink. Then he frowned, considering that for a long moment. 'I don't need your pity, before you even try to throw that at me,' they added then, before he could even begin to type his response.
'It's not pity that I feel but sympathy,' Kazuki told them, sighing. 'I know what it's like to feel like you don't matter. I know what it's like to feel like nobody cares… at best,' he explained after a moment. 'Now, I have people that care, and so do you. I care.'
Then he waited, but nothing came his way through the chat. A minute became two and so it went until it'd been almost ten minutes. Giving up for the moment, Kazuki decided to leave it at that and see if Distressed answered something. If not, he'd send a message later that day or the day after.
With that out of the way, most of the homework done and thus nothing to do… Kazuki let himself relax a bit. It was night outside, which meant that it'd be a bit too dark to really appreciate his plants. He could, but they were much more beautiful during the day. Instead, he let his mind go quiet as he started playing a song.
With the melody reaching his ears, the first instrumental part already making his foot bounce on the floor, he extended a hand and created a nevermore. Then, the creature got his attention. 'It's… softer, smoother, again,' he noticed, looking at his creation. 'Why do some of them look less monstrous all of a sudden?' he wondered idly, looking at the bird-like construct flying around, following the beat of the song. 'What's different now other than…?'
He trailed off at that thought. Could it be? Could it be thatsimple? Surely there was more to it than he thought, right? No way it was that easy for him to create less nightmarish things. He'd tried for so long to make them less threatening and frightening and… 'But you were never as you are now, right? You never felt as you do now, right?' he pointed out to himself. 'You never felt as good as you do now,' he finished, creating a beowolf this time.
It was small, however, and while usually that would be a struggle to make them smaller than a certain size, this time it wasn't. Kazuki focused mostly on something else other than the creation itself, however. He focused on the emotions he felt while creating the creature. He pulled from his pool of negativity, yes, but he focused on what his friends had left him feeling like. He focused on how he felt now that he could continue on his path to heroics, despite what had happened.
He focused on positive emotions, even as he channeled the negative.
Once his creature had spawned from the depths of the shadows, he looked at it. It was tall enough to reach his knee, but barely. Unlike his usual beowolves, this one didn't have spikes protruding from its body and its mask was smoother, more rounded than sharp. The body that was always so werewolf-like was now more canine. Furthermore, it reminded him of…
'Did I just make a beowolf puppy? No way, right?' he thought to himself, eyes wide. Leaning down a bit, he made the creature move to his side while he placed a hand on top of its mask. Then he moved it back, running his fingers against the fur behind the mask. 'This is…'
He didn't even know what words to use to describe it. He almost couldn't call the thing monstrous at all. As it was, the only unnerving thing it had was the bone mask, but even that could almost be dismissed. The colors were still far from friendly, but the thing worked. He'd made something that wasn't a monster.
Sitting there, playing with his new beowolf puppy, Kazuki could almost forget the things he'd lived through recently. He could almost forget the pain in his chest when he breathed in too deeply. He could almost forget the unwanted emotions that came his way. He could almost forget how he'd almost caused a disaster once again.
But even if he still remembered, still felt all that, he could push it to the side, because things hadn't completely gone to shit. His life was still on track, he still had friends and a future career path to follow. Things hadn't completely crumbled to pieces around him.
Things were still good.
[}-o-{]
"I don't know, Bubbly, I still think having high rarity characters is better," Kazuki said, drawing a groan from Hagakure. "Like, I know the low rarity ones aren't bad but… Well, they are low rarity for a reason, they are just worse than the high rarity ones."
"Ugh, but it's such a waste of materials to level those though," the invisible girl grumbled. "Like, I prefer to have a solid team of low rarity characters than just a couple of high rarity ones."
"I mean, true enough, but that just depends on which high rarity characters you have. There's some that really do carry the team, you know?" he pointed out, making the girl huff, which in turn made him grin. "It's not my fault your pulls keep drawing shit characters only."
"Language," Yaoyorozu told him, frowning at him in a way that instantly made Kazuki cave and apologize.
"You know, I feel like something is wrong here," Mineta mumbled, looking between Kazuki and Hagakure. "How is it that I introduced you two to the game and now you two are more into it than I am?"
"Not our fault you are a filthy casual, Tiny," the invisible girl said mercilessly. "When are you gonna join, Beauty?" she asked then, turning her attention towards Yaoyorozu.
"Why the interest anyway?" the rich girl asked, seemingly a bit confused. "The game doesn't even have multiplayer."
"I mean, yeah, but we can still discuss things. Like me rubbing it on Bubbly's face that I get better pulls," Kazuki said, barely keeping a grimace from his face as Hagakure kicked his shin under the table. "That wasn't nice," he hissed, to which the girl made a cutesy confused sound that only irritated him further. "See if I'm nice when we go to the training facilities."
He took some joy in the fact that the threat seemed to work, if only a little bit.
"You guys are very weird," Jiro pointed out flatly while eating. That reminded Kazuki that, yes, they were there for more than just discussing random things. There was lunch to be had and he really didn't want to run out of time before finishing his meal.
"Uh," a new voice mumbled from the side, making all five of them turn towards the side. "Can we, um, join?" the person asked, growing a little more nervous with all the sudden attention they were getting. It didn't really help that Kazuki felt even more awkward than he already did just because of how they felt.
Even less help was the fact that his friends turned towards him to make a decision, as if he were some kind of leader. Then again, he guessed it made sense that they'd leave the choice up to him. It was just very annoying. He didn't wantthat kind of responsibility put on him.
Deflating a little, Kazuki turned towards Kirishima and Ashido, each carrying their trays and shuffling on their feet.
"Sure," he replied. Anything to stop the uncomfortableness from filling his senses. Then again, it didn't look like neither they nor his friends would feel much better even after they took their seats to one side of the group. Kazuki was sure that there'd be negativity involved if he rejected them too, however.
A lose-lose situation, basically, which sucked.
"Talking about that game again?" Ashido asked, plastering a forced smile on her face.
"Yeah, you still haven't started playing?" Hagakure asked and Kazuki had to give her credit for how well she acted. Although, she really only needed to mask her voice, he supposed, which made things easier. Still, there was nothing to pick up from sound alone. If he weren't able to feel her emotions, he wouldn't even have noticed that she was a little annoyed and a little uncomfortable herself. "Creepy and I talk about it a lot. Maybe you can join me and convince this meanie that low rarity characters are worth it, Ashido."
Ouch.
That had hit where it hurt. And there Kazuki was, thinking that things would get a little better considering what he knew had happened at the USJ. Then again, he knew that Hagakure wasn't really holding a grudge or anything like that from what he could pick up. It was more like… a distance had formed between their group of friends and Kirishima and Ashido. One that couldn't be shortened all that easily.
As it was, just the fact that she called her Ashido instead of Pinky made all the difference, it seemed. The pink-skinned girl's emotions almost made him grimace from how they spiked. To her credit, she didn't show much on her face, however. Judging by the way Kirishima shifted where he sat, however, maybe he was offering her support under the table?
"Maybe I can," Ashido mumbled, drawing into herself.
"So, I've seen you guys training a whole lot, anything we can do together?" Kirishima said then, apparently trying to get the conversation moving so his friend could feel better. Kazuki could respect that, which was why he was the one that went to reply to that.
"Sure, we do a bit of everything," he said, turning his eyes down towards his tray and picking at his food idly. He felt like it was even harder to talk to them if he tried looking at them. "Well, everyone else does. I'm still recovering, so I mostly just train with my Quirk."
"That's great," Kirishima said, forcing a bit of enthusiasm into his voice. Not too much, however. He was just that kind of guy. "I've seen that too. It'd be neat to get some sparring done against something that I don't have to worry about hurting if I mess up."
"Sure thing. I was considering offering "free sparring partners" to people anyway. Should be a nice way to get experience," Kazuki commented, feeling the corner of his mouth pull up a little. The atmosphere around the table was still awkward and uncomfortable, but… It was getting better, so that was good, he supposed.
Things were good, indeed.
Chapter 23
"This is the most adorable thing in the world!" Hagakure exclaimed, seemingly pulling his newly developed beowolf puppy into a hug. "You have to have one of these around at all times, I demand it."
"And so it shall be done," Kazuki commented blandly, even as he wore a smile on his face. It was nice to see one of his creations being met with positive emotions. Sure, his grimm could be helpful at times and such, but they were always that little bit intimidating for people. Not the puppy, however, and he was very happy with that.
"Won't it get in the way of your training?" Yaoyorozu asked, although it looked and felt like it hurt her to even suggest such a thing. Her eyes were glued to his little creation, to the point that he just had to roll his eyes and create another for her to pet. She didn't quite go all the way to a hug, but he thought it was a good guess to call it an eventuality.
"It probably will," he answered, sharing a look and an amused grin with Mineta. "But I wanted to try and train with more grimm outside. Having a puppy out doing nothing should be a good way to get started in that regard. Less things to worry about."
After all, he'd done some testing after he found out about that new approach to using his Quirk. The creatures he could make that way were, for the moment, mainly the beowolf and the nevermore and both monsters were… More tame when done that way. Even when he let them do as they would, it took basically giving them complete freedom for them to go off the rails.
Unfortunately, it wasn't all good. The "nice" grimm seemed to be much weaker than their counterparts. They needed an excessive amount of negativity to get roughly the same results as their "meaner" counterparts. To the point where it just wasn't efficient at all. Furthermore, they were made a lot slower too. With all that in mind, he decided that the nice grimm would stay just an adorable addition to his repertoire in case he needed something friendlier for some reason. Unless he made another breakthrough, at least.
It was a shame that they weren't quite usable. He'd have much preferred them to the normal grimm, but it was what it was. At least now he had an alternative that he could use if he needed something that – maybe – wouldn't cause mass panic if summoned in public. It was something, at least.
He also thought that it might come in handy in situations with a high amount of negativity where he needed more grimm numbers too, like the USJ. He hadn't tried yet, but he thought he might be able to keep a greater number of the nicer grimm under control. Even if his control did slip, those ones were less likely to cause as much harm as their counterparts, at least.
"You are the best, Creepy!" Hagakure announced, to which he grinned.
"You do know that I still need to train, right? I want to try with more grimm, but that still means there'll only be one puppy while we are at it. I want to start slowly," he commented, making both girls pause and turn to look at each other with narrowed eyes. Or at least Yaoyorozu did, but judging by the emotions rolling off of both of them, he was pretty sure Hagakure was in the same boat. Honestly, what was up with those girls? "So…"
"We'll share one," the aforementioned invisible girl declared resolutely, making him blink.
"Er, I was going to have the one with me-" he started, before suddenly realizing that, maybe, just maybe, that was a bad idea. A second later, under the focused, very threatening emotions of both girls, he shrunk a little. "I mean, em-" he stammered, before finally coming up with something to say. "I wanted to train with grimm being in different places so, I guess I can have one with you girls," he said in the end, sighing when both girls relaxed and turned back to their respective beowolf puppies.
"Well, if that was half as scary as it looked," Mineta commented idly, bemused by what had just happened. "This new grimm of yours might just be scarier than the others, ironically."
"Tell me about it," Kazuki mumbled, still a little baffled. He'd imagined people would like his new creature addition, if it could be called that, but still… Wasn't that a bit much? "So, what are you gonna be training for? I think I'll wait for Kamakiri and maybe Kirishima for some battle training. Not like I can do much while I wait to be in top condition."
"I want to improve my strength and… Well, my body in general," Mineta admitted, feelings of shame and annoyance bleeding towards Kazuki. "If I learned anything at the USJ, it's that I'm really out of shape," he added then, sighing.
"You are fine, man," he reassured with a smile. "That was kind of an extreme scenario. You are more of a capture hero and that was a much more… battle oriented situation."
"I know, but that doesn't mean I will always be able to avoid those things. And if something happens, I can't just run away from that kind of stuff and leave it for other heroes," Mineta argued, growing more frustrated by the second. "If only my Quirk didn't suck."
"Your Quirk is fine. You just have to work with it and use it as best you can. If nothing else, you should be able to buy time and such, right?" Kazuki asked, considering his friend's situation. Empty words were useless, after all. He wanted to give some actual advice… even if it might not be the best. "You can always become a sidekick or join a hero team, right?"
"I guess," Mineta replied, feeling a little better. Kazuki took that as a victory.
"What do you say, you want a puppy while we wait? It'll cheer you up."
"Shut up, Creepy."
"Is that a no?"
"... Yeah, I'd like one."
[}-o-{]
His beowolves were currently fighting Kirishima and Kazuki was actually really grateful that they were sparring. After all, if they were busy doing that, then they weren't going to be doing a lot of talking. It simplified things and he didn't feel like dealing with complex things.
He had enough on his plate as it was.
"Relax, will you?" Kazuki muttered under his breath, turning to give Kamakiri a side-glare. "You fight my grimm basically everyday, why are you so impatient?"
"Because I always have to be careful with spars against people," the other boy grumbled, flexing his hand and making a blade come out of his arm before retracting it. "I don't have to be careful with your grimm. I can let loose and it's… nice. I always had to be careful using my Quirk."
Kazuki didn't really need to ask more than that, really. The way the guy kept repeating the bit about being careful spoke quite a bit too. The frustration he felt, the shame… Those were familiar to Kazuki. So was the eager emotion in the guy's eyes when he turned to get a better look at him.
"I'm trying to get better with my Quirk, make more grimm."
"So, why not try now?" Kamakiri asked, looking more than a little hopeful.
"Not for the moment. I… My control slips when I have too many," Kazuki admitted, twitching a little. Kamakiri wasn't what he'd call a friend, really. He had a nickname, but those were more of a joke than anything. More like… being friendly, than being friends.
And yet… He wanted to help.
That, and he was tired of hiding, of fearing, of lying.
What difference would it make, at the end of the day, if people would find out eventually? It wasn't like he could keep who he was a secret forever and he'd known that from the beginning. He had friends, he had teachers, he had people that believed in him. So what if people started hating him later. So long as he had someone on his corner… Kazuki thought he could deal with it.
"I get it," Kamakiri told him then, and Kazuki paused for a second, refocusing on the spar going on when Kirishima hardened his arm and punched a hole in one of his beowolves. "I used to really want to cut stuff when I used my Quirk. It was so tempting whenever I made a blade, to just… test it on something, a tree, a sheet of metal, a wall."
"My grimm are as mean as they look, so I have to keep a hold of their leash," Kazuki started then. "But having to control more than one body is…"
"Like trying to play a game with two controllers?"
"I guess that works," he agreed with a nod, even though he'd never played with a console. That didn't mean he hadn't seen some and more or less knew how they worked. "So, yeah, it's a little complicated to add more."
"I get it," Kamakiri grumbled. Then the boy sighed. "I'll hit the machines for a bit while I wait, I guess," he added then, to which Kazuki nodded.
"Have fun."
"Just give me a call when you are done with Kirishima, yeah?"
"Sure."
[}-o-{]
'You said you went through stuff too,' was the message Distressed sent him out of nowhere. 'What was it?'
'My mother left when I was little, my parents hated each other and me, because I reminded them of the other too,'Kazuki replied honestly, careful not to reveal too much. 'My mother left, sure, but that didn't really make things better. If anything, it made things worse. Things… kind of went to hell after that.'
'I have a mutation Quirk,' Distressed told him. After that, there were no more messages for a while, which felt strange. Kazuki was pretty sure there should have been more after that. Maybe they'd decide against adding the rest though, that was understandable.
"Creepy?" Mineta asked him, looking at him curiously while the girls weren't far behind. They'd stopped for some drinks after they were done with the training for the day and he was halfway through his when he got the first message. It was kind of a shame, Kazuki thought, that he wasn't close enough to try and get a read on Distressed's emotions.
"Just… a message from an acquaintance," he said, not quite wanting to call them a friend. "Someone I'm trying to help."
"If you say so," Mineta commented, looking like he wanted to ask more, but holding back. Kazuki appreciated that. "So, you still need help with that assignment, Bubbly?"
"Ugh, can we talk about something other than school?" the invisible girl grumbled then, drawing a grin from all the people at the table. After all, Mineta, Yaoyorozu and Kazuki were doing pretty well for themselves on the school department. Hagakure… not so much.
'People suck,' Distressed sent then, getting Kazuki's attention once more. This time though, he tried to keep an ear on his friend's conversation too. Multitasking was becoming his thing, he supposed.
'I agree with that,' he sent back, holding back a grin.
'How many people are you messaging like this?' they sent then, which kind of caught him off guard. That was a bit of a shift in tone.
'Only you right now, but I'm keeping an eye out in case someone else needs help,' he replied, which was certainly true. He'd kept up updating his notebook with information regarding spikes of emotion around his apartment in case there was a pattern or something concerning.
'You some kind of underground hero?'
'Not a hero at all,' Kazuki replied, taking a gulp of his drink. 'But I'd like to be.'
'I think you'd do a much better job than half the idiots that parade around, if it means anything.'
'It does, thank you,' Kazuki replied.
'Yeah, well. I don't want to seem like a crybaby,' the person on the other side sent him and he could almost hear the grumbling voice. 'Do you play video games?'
To that, Kazuki looked up at his friends.
"I'm just saying that putting some money in the game wouldn't be that bad. Just for the monthly package. It's not like I want to become a whale," Hagakure protested.
"The fact that you know what a whale is already concerns me, honestly," Mineta pointed out, half in disbelief and half in amusement.
"Do we need to stage an intervention?"
"Creepy, come on!"
'Yeah,' Kazuki replied to Distressed then, chuckling as Hagakure continued trying to defend her idea. 'Do you like gacha?'
[}-o-{]
At night, Kazuki found himself in the company of his plants. At that small place, colorful and full of life, he felt the most at peace. More importantly, it was a place that was his… Or, as his as anything was those days.
As such, he thought it was the best place to do his Quirk experimentation in regards to his negativity pool. There, Kazuki could reach out to the nodes of specific negative emotions he'd found and try to do something with them. They all felt terribly awful, but at least he could calm down every now and then by just taking a minute to appreciate the view around him.
Kazuki had trouble doing more than simply "touching" the nodes, however. No matter how much he tried, all he managed was getting a closer sense of them and an indescribably raw wave of the particular emotion the node contained. The only silver lining he got from the whole thing was that he was starting to learn which node represented which emotion, which was already progress, he supposed.
The nodes moved, however, something that made the whole process more difficult than it already was. Kazuki persevered though, because he wanted to be the best he could. His Quirk sucked, but that only motivated him further. If he was stuck with a Godawful power, then he wanted to at least be able to use it to the best of his abilities.
'Come on,' he urged himself, reaching for a node that wouldn't leave him trembling on the ground, like the pain one. Nor would it leave punching a wall, like the anger one. He reached for the exhaustion node. It was just as bad as the rest of them, but at least that one was less… destructive, in a way. It was milder, in a way, or so he supposed.
Like always, as soon as he reached with his metaphorical hand into the emotion, he felt the crippling weariness wash over him. He fought it though, or, more accurately, fought against letting his focus go. The whole process required concentration to be carried out, after all, so the upsetting of his mental state from the intrusive feelings didn't help at all, obviously. He managed to hold on that time though. He held onto the emotion, pulling from it like he usually would from the general pool of negativity when he went to summon a grimm.
He didn't get far, however, but he was sure he'd gotten something before it slipped through his fingers. It was like pulling a loose string from somewhere, dragging something small, that turned out to be more than expected. 'Calm down, gather your thoughts,' he thought, taking a deep breath in and opening his eyes to regard the plants around him under the light of his balcony.
'Ok… I have to continue practicing this. Maybe then I can try making a grimm solely with that negativity instead of the mishmash that's the general pool,' Kazuki mused, leaning back against the sliding door that led back to his apartment. 'I wonder if a grimm made like that will be different in some way.'
As usual, he had a lot to work on.
His Quirk was far from reaching its peak, he knew. He himself needed to improve a lot, physically, intellectually, emotionally. He had to train, he had to study and he had to… He didn't even know how to improve the third, but surely there was a way. Maybe Hound Dog could help him. The man was a counselor though. Kazuki wasn't sure he was a proper psychologist or something of the sort.
He wasn't sure if that was what he needed either but…
'Point is that there's a lot to work on indeed,' he decided, sighing. Rubbing his face tiredly, he decided to take a break, clear his head, as it were. Standing up, he went to prepare himself a cup of tea before going back to sitting by his plants. 'Maybe I can read through the school books and do other stuff for a bit? Or should I continue tackling the nodes while I have a better idea of how to go about it?' he wondered idly as he waited for the water to be ready.
Ultimately, he would do neither, since someone knocked on the door.
A little confused, he reached out for the tired feeling that seeped through the door towards him from outside. 'Weariness, annoyance, nothing else?' he noted to himself as he approached the entrance as quietly as possible. Peeking through the peephole, Kazuki blinked before stepping back and opening the door.
"Aizawa," he greeted more confused than anything. The mummy of a man simply gave him a nod before speaking, his voice muffled by the bandages still covering most of his body. It was honestly a little humorous… At least it would have been if not for Kazuki's vivid memories of the man's injuries and the pain he could still feel from the man.
"Endo," was the short response he got before his teacher continued. "Can I come in?"
"Sure," Kazuki agreed easily, stepping aside and holding the door open. "Can I get you something to drink? I was getting a cup of tea for myself just now."
"Tea would be alright," the teacher answered, to which he nodded and moved towards the kitchen. "You seem to be having some problems after what happened."
"Isn't everyone?" Kazuki replied flatly, keeping himself firmly facing towards the drinks he was preparing instead of his teacher. "I'm pretty sure there were issues thrown at everyone."
"That's true enough," Aizawa conceded without a fight. "Your situation was a bit worse than everyone else's, however. There's nothing wrong with wanting help."
"I'm getting help. I went to talk with Inui already and I've spent time with my friends, just… unwinding. I'm not fine, but then again, I don't think I've ever been fine," Kazuki said, with a shrug and a bitter smile on his face as he picked the two cups and walked to the table. "I'll get there eventually. No need for special treatment."
"Is that what you think it is?"
"Might be, might not be. Regardless, I'm fine," Kazuki answered, bringing his cup to his lips.
"Doesn't mean you can't get help anyway. Just because you can do it on your own, doesn't mean you have to," Aizawa told him then, following suit and taking a sip from his drink. How he managed with all the bandages was anyone's guess, but Kazuki wasn't too focused on that. "You are not on your own anymore, Endo."
"... I appreciate that," he said, because he truly did. Sometimes, it was difficult to remember that he wasn't alone in his cell or with his parents anymore. He was at school, with friends and teachers that cared. He was still coming to terms with all that, really, that and the fact that he had a life to live, a future to look forward to.
Looking at Aizawa, Kazuki wondered if he should ask for something. One very particular thing came to mind, it clung to his thoughts for a long moment as he considered it. Ultimately, he dismissed it for the moment. Maybe later, when he didn't feel like he was imposing. The man was barely holding himself together with all the injuries he'd incurred.
"I'll keep that in mind," he decided to say in the end when it looked like his previous answer wasn't enough for his teacher.
"... See that you do," Aizawa told him, very obviously aware that Kazuki had thought of something. "Inui brought up the fact that you noticed something in Aoyama. That he was feeling guilty?"
"A whole lot," he confirmed with a nod, happy to move to a different topic. It was on purpose, he imagined, but he didn't much care for that, since it worked in his favor. He was a little confused by the disappointment and anger that creeped up in his sense of the teacher's emotions though. "I didn't know what happened to him, so I wanted to make sure you were aware of that."
"It was the right call," Aizawa told him firmly, to which Kazuki felt himself relax a little. He'd been a little worried he might have overstepped. His Quirk could be a really good tool for invading someone's privacy, after all, so… Yeah, sometimes he didn't know if stepping in was the right call or not. Maybe he could discuss that with Inui during one of the sessions. "Anyone else that stood out to you?" the teacher asked then, to which he blinked.
"Todoroki was feeling pretty shitty too, but Hagakure told me what happened there so… I thought that was more understandable. Everyone's at least a little shaken. You know, little fear spikes and such," he explained, frowning a little as he tried to remember if there was anything worth mentioning. "Is this just about our class?" he asked then, apparently catching Aizawa off guard because the man stayed silent for a moment, tilting his head.
"You picked something from another class?" the hero asked then, audibly confused.
"If what Kamakiri told us regarding where their classroom is true, then it came from 1-B, there was quite the spike of anger, frustration, envy and… Well, it certainly stood out to me. Well, more like several spikes but it went up and never quite went down the whole way again, if that makes sense," Kazuki said, shrugging and taking another sip from his drink. "Nothing else that I know of."
"Hm, if you remember or notice something else at the school, do tell a member of the staff, alright?" Aizawa told him, making him nod.
"Sure," he agreed easily. It's not like it was a difficult task to accomplish, really. He was already bombarded with the other students' emotions all the time. If something stood out, he wouldn't even have to be looking for it. "Did something happen with Aoyama? Anything I can do to help?" he asked his teacher.
From what he'd heard, the other boy should have been fine, after all. Nobody he'd talked to had mentioned anything special happening with the beam-shooter. Nor had any of his friends heard from anyone else about anything of the sort. So, either someone else was keeping a secret too, or something had happened when Aoyama was, presumably, alone at some point.
"Nothing for you to worry about," Aizawa waved off. That was a lie if Kazuki had ever heard one. The emotions the topic brought in the hero weren't nothing, after all. Then again, he'd said nothing for Kazuki to worry about, so it was probably something for someone else to worry about.
"Ok, I guess I can leave that to you," he conceded, leaning back on his seat and taking a sip from his drink.
"Thank you, for not pushing it," Aizawa told him, and if he hadn't known better, Kazuki would have thought the man's voice turned soft. Must have been a trick of the bandages though. "I see you used your allowance for something other than outings and study material," the man said then, a little randomly as he looked out the balcony glass door at the plants.
"Yeah, I got tired of the bare feeling of the place, so I brought a little color and life," Kazuki explained, smiling a little now that they were moving to a topic he liked much more. He was still curious about Aoyama and all that, but… Well, it had already been brought up to the staff and he decided to trust them. At least for the moment. "I'm thinking of a few other purchases, but those are for later, I ran out of money."
"What other things?"
"Well, I was thinking of setting up an aquarium or maybe a terrarium in here. Not quite sure yet, but I've been watching videos and..."
Chapter 24
"Fucking hell," Mineta cursed with a groan, looking to the world like he had met his homework nemesis as he stared at the sheets of paper in front of him. The poor boy held his head, his eyes desperately darting around as if that would somehow help him find an answer to his questions. "Why don't I find this shit anywhere?"
"Language, and what is it you are missing, Mineta?" Yaoyorozu asked, not even looking up from her own things on one side of the table. Kazuki, for his part, simply tilted his head. Hagakure was too preoccupied dealing with her own problems to really try and help the little guy.
"What is a capture hero supposed to even do in case of a fire?" Mineta asked, looking at them like the world was ending and only they held the answers for the solution. "I can't find it anywhere. There's stuff for offense heroes, defense heroes, rescue heroes, even fucking social heroes but nothing regarding-"
"You sure there's not a part saying "all other hero types" or something like that?" Kazuki interrupted, making the boy look at him blankly for a long moment. Then, Mineta started looking through his text a bit before pausing at some point in the text.
"I'm a fucking idiot."
"Language."
"You know you are not gonna stop him, right?" Kazuki asked, turning back to his own homework.
"He still should," Yaoyorozu replied sternly. "It won't be good for public relations to curse all the time. Especially if, as I believe one of you said, you want to appeal to the younger population."
"She's got you there, Tiny," Kazuki commented with a grin. "Gotta keep yourself in check or those mothers aren't gonna want anything to do with you, buddy."
To that, the other boy groaned.
"Say, Creepy, can you help me with my English?" Hagakure asked, sounding tired, although he could tell that it was mostly dramatics. She didn't seem to be feeling weary, from what he could pick up. "I really need to get better at this. Not much chance to mimic stuff when I'm in costume."
"Makes sense," Kazuki replied with a nod. "Give me a minute, I'm almost done here and then I can help you with that."
"That's all you have to do?" Mineta asked then, wide eyed and almost annoyed.
"Yeah. Imagine not leaving your homework for the last minute," Kazuki told him, giving him a slight smirk and a raised eyebrow. "Couldn't be you, right?"
"Oh, fu- Shut up," Mineta grumbled. "I have other things to do, you know?"
"Much more productive things than studying and preparing to be a hero, huh?" Hagakure asked, almost managing to sound innocent. Almost but not quite.
"You guys… Why do I hang out with you again?"
"Because we're just that awesome," the invisible girl told him. "Aren't we?"
"Yes."
"Yep."
Mineta just sighed and deflated.
[}-o-{]
"Are you gonna take too long, Endo?" Kamakiri, the impatient guy that he was, asked. "Could-"
"Kamakiri, I need a moment. I'm going to try and create another Grimm for you to test your blades on," Kazuki told him, interrupting the other boy. Fortunately, that seemed to placate the 1-B student at least a little, his frustration fading. Although, he'd already told him that before, so he doubted how well that would work the second time. "The Boarbatusk is all well and good but…" he mumbled, trailing off as he focused on his new idea.
There was still the crowd control grimm project, but that wasn't going anywhere for the time being. He had some ideas on how to progress further with that, but he needed to prepare some more. For the moment, he had decided to progress further in other directions.
One such was going further down the line he'd started with the aforementioned boar-like grimm. Something more defensive, something more resistant. His first attempt at that had gone relatively well, but the boarbatusk lacked control. It was strong and resistant but it was easy to dodge.
So…
Time for another grimm to come to life, hopefully a little better.
So, Kazuki's shadow extended and a creature started appearing slowly. A humanoid head, since he was using the imp as the template for the next design. This time he pushed a lot more energy into it though. He needed this one to be stronger, more durable. The thing's muscles grew bigger, bone plates appeared over some of them too. He pulled some of the design from the beowolves, altering it just a little.
The process went as usual. Failure. Failure. A little less of a failure.
On and on it went.
The end result was a gorilla-like creature, protected with some armored plates, but a little more human-like. The mask was small, covering only half the face. Kazuki wasn't sure what was up with that, but the design clicked into place, so he wouldn't question it too much.
"What's the name of this one?" Kamakiri asked, clearly excited, just from his voice.
"Beringel," he replied, grinning slightly. His eyes remained fixed on the creature as he took it in. He got the impression that it wasn't very bright, from what he was picking up. More of a beast than even the more animal grimm he could make. A brute through and through, but at least it didn't have claws or something that would do more damage. Not to say it couldn't do as much damage through pure blunt force though. It'd be good to battle against opponents that needed more protection to be dealt with or ones that were more tough than normal. Or so Kazuki hoped.
"Can I have a go?" Kamakiri asked impatiently. He didn't seem to be frustrated though, so Kazuki guessed he was just excited to give the new opponent a go.
"And me?" Kirishima joined from the other side.
"Sure thing. Let me make three more and you can have two each."
"Going to try for four battlers now?" Yaoyorozu asked, having been watching the process attentively. She seemed rather curious about his process of new grim creation. He wasn't sure what was up with that, but he guessed it might be an interesting thing to watch, especially for her since she was now part of his design planning.
"Yeah, can you stay close and smack me if things get out of control?"
"Sure thing," she replied easily. A little too easily, actually. Kazuki didn't like that small smile on her face, if he was honest. "Well, not really smack, but this should work," she added then, creating a bottle with some kind of liquid from her palm and then a napkin. "You said your grimm go away when you are knocked out, right?"
"Might take them a second or two more than usual to vanish, but yeah, that should do it," Kazuki replied, looking at the items curiously.
"I thought that'd be better. If you really lose control, a hit might not bring you back," Yaoyorozu told him, speaking slowly, hesitantly. From that and her emotions, Kazuki guessed she was being careful not to insult him or something of the sort, which was silly. "Shouldn't take you long to wake up from this, but if you don't want to-"
"That works. I just don't want to put anyone at risk," Kazuki told her with as soft and reassuring a tone as he could manage. He couldn't care less what the measures were that they took. He just wanted to be sure that everyone would be safe from him. Which was why he was even more reassured when he noticed that a teacher had entered the training facilities.
If the glance Ectoplasm sent his way was any indication, they'd decided to err on the side of caution. After all, Kazuki had sent them a text telling them that he might try to push his Quirk a little more that day. He wondered if they were always going to send someone from then on though. Kazuki was bound to continue pushing his Quirk, after all, and there was little there to predict how things would go.
He must have been staring a little too obviously, because Ectoplasm waved him off from where he stood before starting to work out himself. A handful of students approached the teacher to talk then and Kazuki decided to get on with things. The school seemed to trust him, so he'd trust the school.
It was the least he could do, after the opportunity they were giving him.
[}-o-{]
'Another rare?! What kind of bullshit luck do you have?'Distressed sent him, making Kazuki chuckle to himself. 'And I still only have the one they give for free at the beginning.'
'Sounds like a skill issue,' he replied with a grin on his face.
The best part was that, for once, his text friend wasn't feeling as bad as he usually did. The emotions were there, but on a much more manageable level. Besides…
Distressed wasn't so bad, he found.
He was just generally unlucky, it seemed.
Kazuki chuckled as he got a barrage of very aggressive and very varied insults for his joke. Well, annoyance and frustration was better than sadness, right? At least, it was that way in his books and as far as Distressed was concerned. It was a win, Kazuki supposed, or so he wanted to believe.
The person on the other side of the conversation went silent after a while and Kazuki busied himself watering his plants. He idly wondered what it would be like to have a house, like the one in which he used to live with his parents. They'd had a big garden, but it had barely had anything. With all that space, Kazuki imagined he could have a bunch of plants, maybe even get a small plot with vegetables or something like that.
Maybe he could have something like that in the future. Far in the future. It was a nice thought, uplifting. 'Yeah, I think I'm going to try and make that happen,' he mused as he finished pouring some water in the last pot.
'You said you'd like to be a hero,' Distressed sent, while Kazuki walked back inside his apartment. 'You a student or a hero hopeful?'
'Don't think I can tell you that, buddy,' he replied hesitantly. That sounded like the kind of personal information that he should keep hidden. So far, he'd mostly been able to avoid such topics or at least answer vaguely. This time though, he'd been much more direct with his answer… Which made him think that might have been a mistake, but it was too late to take it back.
'I guess it doesn't matter,' Distressed replied then. 'If you do become a hero though, be a good one.'
'That's the plan,' Kazuki told them. 'I want to be the hero I always needed and never got. I want to be a hero for people like me.'
'People like me,' Distressed said, giving him pause. He hadn't expected that, somehow, even though he knew the statement applied. Distressed just didn't seem to be the kind of person to admit such a thing.
'People like us.'
'Whoever you are, I wish you luck, Knight. The world needs more heroes like you.'
'Not a hero yet.'
'That's what you think, Knight.'
At that, Kazuki paused, looking at the screen, at the message, for a long moment. It was like he couldn't really process it, understand it. He'd been told he could be a hero by several people, Aizawa had even told him that he had been a hero. Somehow, though, being called a hero by someone that he'd been trying to help… It was different.
'Thank you.'
'No, thank you.'
[}-o-{]
"You are fine," Recovery Girl told him, giving him a pat on the leg as she finished checking on the tests they'd performed on Kazuki to check on his chest and overall health. "Just as I told you," the woman added, almost making it seem like she was annoyed that he'd visited her unnecessarily.
"You know that doesn't work, right?" Kazuki asked her with a slight grin. "I can tell you aren't feeling anything bad."
"Except old," the woman corrected and he nodded, acknowledging the point. He hadn't wanted to point that out, but if she did, then he guessed it was fine. "But yes, it's nice to see someone that takes their health seriously. Heroes are the worst in that regard."
"I mean, isn't being a hero all about risking one's life for those of others? Seems like a reasonable… side effect, as it were," he commented as he got off the table he'd been sitting on. "Maybe reasonable isn't the word though."
"Expected, you mean?" Recovery Girl told him dryly. "And yes, but that doesn't mean I have to like it."
"That's fair," he replied, giving her a half-smile. "Thanks for all the help, Recovery Girl."
"Call me Chiyo," she told him warmly, walking up to him and giving him a pat on the arm. "Do be careful, you hear?"
"I'll try not to come too often… Unless you don't mind some visits that aren't work related."
"Oh, I'd really appreciate some of those."
"Then I might drop by," he told her with a full smile. "Thanks," he added as the woman passed him a lollipop.
"Don't mention it. Take care."
"I will. See you later," he told the woman as he started leaving the infirmary. While he was at it, Kazuki pondered if he should jump right into it and ask someone for a spar. He guessed that might be pushing things a little for the moment though. 'Maybe I can ease myself into it with a light work out and truly get back to things next week?' he mused before pausing as the door closed behind him.
Then he just stood there in the hallway.
"Hi," the person that he'd met there greeted him awkwardly, giving him a shy wave.
"Ashido," he greeted, making the nerves and generally bad feelings in the girl get worse. That sucked, but he wasn't sure what he could do for her. How was he supposed to act? Like nothing had happened? Call her Pinky like they'd done before?
It wasn't that he was angry with her, not at all. He understood why she'd acted like she did and all and he was fine with her and Kirishima sort of joining back with the group. He couldn't very well tell them to stay away. His friends could make their own choices, after all, and he wasn't too bothered, even if he could do without Ashido's emotions bleeding onto him.
However, the girl was clearly not fine with him and that meant he couldn't be fine with her. It was difficult to be friendly with someone that seemed nervous, afraid and angry at him almost all the time. How was he supposed to treat her as he'd usually done when she felt nothing like she had before?
"Can I do something for you?" he asked, keeping his voice as casual as possible.
"I… I don't know," the girl answered then, looking down, holding one arm with her hand and shrugging slightly. "I just feel like I should…. Like we should talk."
"Try and fix things?" That question got Ashido to look up, her yellow eyes meeting his red ones. He gave her a sad smile, a pitying one. "It doesn't work like that. Sometimes, things can't be fixed."
"I know I messed up, but-" she started then, clearly misunderstanding what he had said. Before she could keep going, he shook his head, chuckling softly.
"Not what I meant. This is not your fault, Ashido. Maybe it's not even mine, although who knows," he told her, walking towards the side and looking out the massive window on the corridor. "But there's things that can't be fixed. I can't fixwhat I did to your aunt. No matter what. Not even if I could give her arm back, because it's more than that. It's… It's a whole lot of things. Some things can't be fixed. You can patch them up and think they are fixed… but they are not."
"I don't understand," she replied. Kazuki got it, really, he did. It'd taken him a while to understand that himself.
"I don't hold what you did against you," he told her and he smiled a little at the way her worries, guilt and shame lessened. "Just like I think you don't hold what I did against me."
"I dont!" she said vehemently. That was reassuring, he would admit. However…
"But both of those things still happened. You can't just forget that I caused your family a great deal of pain," he told her.
"And you won't just forget that I pulled away," she finished for him, her sadness growing.
"It's not remotely the same thing, obviously. But… it's kind of difficult to be friends again like nothing happened, when you are still afraid of me."
"I'm not-"
"You are," he interrupted with a smile that held no mirth behind it. "And there's no point denying it. I get it. It's fine. What I don't get is why you keep coming back if you feel like that. I don't understand that, honestly," he admitted, once more looking outside the window instead of at the girl. It almost let him fool himself into not sensing her emotions.
"I just… I liked being friends with you, with everyone else," Ashido told him, her voice barely above a whisper. "Is it wrong, to want that back?"
"No, it's not. And you should be able to get back on everyone's good side. I can try to convince them," Kazuki offered freely. As it was, he felt kind of bad whenever his friends gave Ashido the cold shoulder. It was all ultimately his fault, if anyone was at fault at all, so…
"Mineta might hate me for life," Ashido replied, only half-joking. "I appreciate it though, but… We can't be friends again, then?"
"We can," Kazuki disagreed. "But if you are still feeling like you are about me… Well, it complicates things. I'm sorry. I can't… I can't just tell you that it'll all be fine and we'll be hanging out like usual tomorrow."
"I know. I just… I guess I'd like that, even if I know it won't happen."
"Time can heal a lot of things," he told her, giving her a pat on the arm. "Maybe we can be eye buddies again eventually," he commented, remembering their first encounter.
"I'd like that," she told him with a small smile.
[}-o-{]
Cooking wasn't Kazuki's favorite thing in the world, but he managed to make do with the help of internet tutorials and not being picky. Even if his cooking wasn't great, at least it was edible. With an upbringing that encouraged shutting up and complaining as little as possible, he'd learned to just eat whatever was put in front of him and swallow his opinion on the matter.
Turned out not all of that was bad though, because now he wasn't having a terrible time through his learning period as he took care of himself. Kazuki was also very proud of the fact that he was getting better. He was no chef, but he could make some simple things and have them taste good, if not incredible. Good was enough for the moment, however.
He kind of stopped his preparations and such when he felt a familiar presence come towards his apartment. A grimace formed on his face but he quickly pushed it away. 'I'm used to this, come on,' he told himself. Just because he was getting used to it didn't mean it didn't suck, but it was better to just push through, like with everything else.
Washing his hands, he left everything more or less ready before waiting for the person to arrive.
Eventually, there was a knock on the door and Kazuki only gave a token wait before opening it. He stood a little too stiffly, he supposed, his expression probably letting on how curious and confused he was. Regardless, he tried not to stare or otherwise do anything stupid.
"All Might," he greeted with a smile.
"Young Endo," the Number One Hero replied in kind. He was in his weaker form, Kazuki noticed. "I just wanted to talk, if you have the time."
"Of course," he replied, inviting the man inside. As if he could do anything else, really. Not that he had a problem with the man at all, of course not, but still. "Anything I can get you? I was starting to prepare for dinner if you want to stay," he offered, fully expecting a no and that that would be it.
"I wouldn't want to impose," the man replied, bitterness welling in between the waves of pain. There was helplessness there too. Kazuki blinked at that, a little confused.
"It's no problem at all. I tend to prepare extra anyway, so I can just re-heat it later,"he said, moving to get a glass of water at the very least. All Might hadn't asked for anything else the last time he was around, so he didn't know if the man preferred anything.
"In that case, if you wouldn't mind," the hero replied, surprising Kazuki. "I don't eat much, so you don't have to worry about that," he added then, the same dark feelings appearing once more. "My injury took my stomach away, after all."
"... You… can live without a stomach?" Kazuki couldn't help but ask, blinking in bafflement.
"You'd be surprised what you can live without," the hero answered, equal parts amusement and bitterness. One shown to the world while the other was hidden deep inside.
"Ok then, I'll get started on that," Kazuki said, deciding to just get on with it. 'Maybe I can prepare something with smaller pieces then,' he thought, changing his plans for the meal. 'Would that be better?'
"Regardless, I came here for a reason, and maybe it's selfish of me to stay," All Might started, but before Kazuki could tell him not to worry, he continued. "Your help during the USJ incident, I wanted to come here and personally thank you for it. I know you risked much, pushing through your injuries to protect me and my secret. You realized I couldn't fight anymore, didn't you?"
"I could sense it," Kazuki answered with a slight nod as he started preparing the meal. It was good that he had something to distract himself, since he wasn't sure he could look at the Number One Hero as the man thanked him for the help. What was the world coming to if such a thing could happen?
"Thank you, Young Endo. If not for you, I don't know what would have happened. In several instances, according to Aizawa," All Might told him. "You were a hero and U.A. is proud to call you one of its students… More than that, I'mproud to call you one of my students."
Kazuki had to pause then, suddenly overwhelmed. He'd expected a simple thank you and he'd have been happy with just that. He hadn't expected… that.
"If there's anything I can do for you, Young Endo, don't hesitate to ask. I owe you a lot for what you did, despite your own injuries," All Might said and Kazuki paused. There wasn't much he could ask of the hero, or at least nothing that came to mind in that moment. Nothing but an almost forgotten conversation years before, but…
"Plus Ultra, right?" he replied, trying to buy time as he recalled that half lost memory from back in the day.
"Indeed. It's good to see you've taken to the school motto and you follow it in such instances," All Might commented, amused. Kazuki grimaced then, as he felt the pain in the man's chest flare before he coughed. "I'm sorry."
"Don't mention it," he waved off before smiling slightly. "Say, about that favor… Could I get an autograph?"