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Darkest Before Dawn - 96
🕑 Added 2025-02-20 17:51:46 +0000 UTCChapter 96
“The library?” Kazuki asked, blinking at Toru, Mina and Eijiro.
“Yeah, we kinda need to, you know, work on our theory grades,” the invisible girl commented, shuffling where she stood. “We don’t want to rely on you all’s help next time. We appreciate the help, of course!” she added quickly at the end when she noticed Momo looking a little hurt. “But… We want to do things on our own. It’s important,” she finished, feeling a little bad, but also straightening, which made him think she was very resolute and so were the other two.
“Well… Good luck?” Kazuki replied, tilting his head. Was that the right way to go about his response? “If you need help though, don’t hesitate to ask,” he added with a grin. “It’s fine if you wanna take your time and do things on your own, but there’s no need to hit your heads against the wall too much… Even if Eijiro would win that fight.”
“I’m just that manly,” the redhead said, placing a hand on his biceps and flexing his left arm. “Physically, that is. Need to work on making my brain manly too,” he added, but he seemed pretty upbeat about it anyway.
What Kazuki wouldn’t give to be that grounded and at ease with himself.
Alas…
“Are you going to be doing this a lot?” Momo asked, feeling pretty nervous and a little sad. Maybe she was feeling bad because a handful of their friends were leaving to do something else? Was she worried that they’d skip on the training facility hang-out often?
“Just a few days of the week. We have to keep up with our training too, you know?” Mina said and suddenly the negativity in Momo decreased a lot. “You’re not getting rid of us that easily.”
“Shame that,” Kyoka joked with a half-smile.
“You’ll be missed,” Shoto said, straightforward and blunt as he usually was. ‘Actually, isn’t Asui kinda like that?’ Kazuki wondered suddenly. The girl was also very impassive and went straight to the point. He didn’t think any of them spent all that much time with her, but maybe there was some merit to the idea of introducing Shoto to her…
Food for thought.
“We should get going though. Those books won’t read themselves,” Toru said and, even though she said it with her usual cheer, Kazuki smirked as soon as they turned and started walking. All three of them felt absolutely miserable about it, like a trio making their way to the gallows. It wasn’t actually that bad, but they certainly acted like it.
“So dramatic,” he commented, watching Mina and Eijiro dragging their feet through the hall.
“Hate to see you go, but love to see you-Fuck-Hey!” Minoru went to say, only to get interrupted by a smack from Kazuki and then Momo.
“Language.”
“You guys suck.”
“Yup,” Kyoka agreed, rolling her eyes and grinning. “Shall we go?”
“Sure,” Shoto agreed with a nod and everyone else quickly gave their own positive responses. No use just standing around, after all, and they might as well talk on the way and then already there, which is precisely what they did.
“Kazuki, my dad wanted to know if you’ll keep coming to the store to play now that you have a violin of your own,” Kyoka relayed and he blinked. “He said it’d be a shame if you didn’t.”
“I mean, sure, I can keep going. I’ll just bring my violin. I was always scared I’d ruin his somehow,” he said with a wry smile. Violins were very fragile things, after all. Even temperature changes could ruin them. “Even better, I’ll be able to prepare new songs instead of just going by the stuff I knew when I was a kid.”
“Some would argue you’re still a kid,” Shoto pointed out, to which Kazuki nodded his acknowledgement. Still, everyone had understood that other than the half-n-half boy. It was just that Shoto didn’t quite get that kind of stuff sometimes.
“You’re not wrong. Still though,” Kazuki said. “It’ll be nice to learn new stuff. Haven’t practiced something new in forever.”
“So, does that mean less gaming time?” Minoru asked, half joking. Although, he could pick up some dejection there. Maybe he’d be a little disappointed if that did cut into his gaming time. It was something they shared, after all, so he supposed that made sense.
“Sleep is for the weak anyway,” Kazuki replied with a grin, only to get a scandalized gasp from Momo.
“Kazuki! You can’t do that!”
Well, Shoto wasn’t the only one who had jokes fly over his head regularly. Momo was just much more… Not obvious, but much more expressive, which meant that if she did it, there was no way you would miss it. It also made it that much more awkward when it happened, but they were getting used to that.
“It was a joke, Momo,” he reassured her. “At least, a little bit.”
“What do you mean-?”
“So, yeah, you know how the rest of my weekend went. Learning and all that. What about you, guys?” Kazuki interrupted, deciding it was better to get the conversation away from that topic. That was a spiral that could take them literally up to an hour if they humored each other. He’d know. It had happened a few times.
“Oh, you know…” Minoru started, picking up the conversation before Momo could try to push it. There wasn’t much to catch up on, but that didn’t mean they couldn't turn inane things into long conversations anyway. It was one topic of conversation later and a few halls away from the training facilities that something interrupted them though.
“Kazuki Endo, please report to the principal’s office,” they heard through the speakers in the hall. Immediately, his head snapped up, confused and admittedly a little worried. All of his friends seemed to be on the same boat, by the feel of it, which was appreciated, truly. Alas…
“Well, I gotta go, it seems.”
“Do you want us to go with you?” Minoru offered, but he waved him off.
“Nah, go train. If I need anything, I’ll text you guys. Pretty sure this shouldn’t be anything bad. At least not something I did,” he commented, taking a deep breath in to calm the nerves he still felt despite what he said. “See you guys there, alright? If this doesn’t take long, that is.”
“Sure,” Kyoka replied, recovering first and he nodded at her before turning to walk away.
He really hoped he hadn’t unknowingly lied to his friends there.
[}-o-{]
Maybe he hadn’t been expected to arrive so quickly, or maybe something had come up. Whatever had happened, Kazuki was told to wait outside Nezu’s office when he got there. So, that’s what he did, taking one of the plastic seats, held up by metal tubes. The white walls and exceedingly clean and tidy atmosphere felt oppressive, even though Kazuki didn’t know the reason why, and his Quirk wasn’t really helping matters.
That was far from the worst he’d had to put up with though. Furthermore, he was feeling great after his weekend. The only worries he had at that point were his social media venture and that call from Nezu. Even then, those somewhat felt like less than he imagined they would. Maybe all that therapy and good things going on were really helping?
Stranger things had happened.
“Come in,” Kazuki heard through the door, the voice of the principal muffled by the wood. Thus, with a deep breath in, he stood up, nodded towards the secretary and then went to the door. Even when he’d been called in, he was hesitant as he stepped inside, as if he had to ask for permission again, or make sure that it was him that had to go inside and not someone else. “Kazuki, good to see you!” the principal greeted him with, seemingly actually happy to see him.
“Principal,” he replied, trying to keep his nerves under control as he nodded. “You called for me.”
“Don’t be so nervous, my boy. You’re not in trouble,” he reassured and Kazuki almost deflated where he stood. “Now, come, take a seat. There’s just a few things I want to talk with you about and then you can be on your way. I’m afraid it’ll probably occupy all your training time for today, but it shouldn’t be more than that,” the principal told him and he nodded again.
“Anything you need, sir,” he said, meaning every word. Nezu was the reason why he even had a chance at all to do all the things he’d been doing as of late. He was the reason why he could have good times. He was the reason why he could have hopes and plans for the future.
“There’s a few things I wanted to talk with you, Mr. Endo, or would you prefer Mr. Kazuki?” Nezu asked and he could only blink at him for a long moment. That was a first, certainly. He’d been called and offered to be called in a number of ways, but “Mr. Kazuki” was a new one. “I do believe you don’t like to be called by your surname, but I like to keep things… with a level of formality, if you will,” Nezu added and he nodded slowly.
“Mr. Endo works. I don’t like it, but Mr. Kazuki just sounds weird. I can deal with it,” he replied, being entirely honest. Besides, he’d just barely noticed his dislike for the surname, really, so there was no need to make things weird because of that.
“If you’re sure… So, what I wanted to talk about,” the principal continued and Kazuki prepared himself for whatever it might be that he had to go over. “First of all, your mother’s situation.”
‘Of course,’ Kazuki thought, both annoyed and… sad. The first he thought was perfectly understandable for anyone. The second though, he had no idea where it came from. He wasn’t sad that his mother had been arrested. He wasn’t sad that she was in trouble and likely to face punishment. If he had to try and put words to it, he was sad that… the situation was happening at all. He was sad that his mother was like that in the first place and that he had to be involved with her once more for this whole mess.
“As I understand it, she’ll be tried eventually, even if there’s no date set for that yet. I highly doubt she'll be found innocent of any of the charges, but I’ve learned to expect a certain level of… unpredictability, especially when people are involved,” Nezu explained to him and Kazuki found himself appreciating the straightforwardness. Nobody had talked to him about the issue – not that he’d tried to talk to anyone about it, but still – and he was grateful for the explanation. “Now, it’d be helpful for the case if you’d testify against her, I’m sure, but it’s not a requirement. There is more to her cases than just you, surprising as that might be for you.”
And surprising it was. Considering he was pretty sure her only “victim” – he had trouble thinking about himself like that – was Kazuki himself, he’d have expected that the case would very much require him. Even if Nezu wasn’t lying though, Kazuki was pretty sure he was understating what him not being there could mean.
“Admittedly, there’s a chance that you’ll be called anyway,” the principal continued, to which he blinked. “By the other side,” he added and everything made sense then. He might not be called by the prosecution… but he could be called by the defendant, by his mother’s side.
He felt some part of him, deep inside, die a little bit at that realization.
“I’m prepared to participate in this, sir,” he replied, and his voice sounded a little too flat even to his own ears. The lights seemed to dim to his eyes and the colors dulled, just like any other time he’d stopped to think about his mother and all the things related to her as of late. “I won’t like it, but I can do it.”
“That’s good to know, but we’ll try to keep you out of it. I do believe it’d be… ill advised for your mother’s side to call you, but, as I’ve said, one should always have some preparation for the unexpected,” Nezu told him and he almost sighed in relief. That was very reassuring, for sure. Now he just needed it to be what actually happened. “I’ll keep you informed on the development of this situation, if only so that you can be prepared when you’re inevitably faced by the news about it.”
“I’d appreciate that, sir,” Kazuki replied, still feeling a little out of sorts. That’d be helpful for sure, but he couldn’t bring himself to feel happy for the help and the thoughtful gesture. All he could feel was… oddly detached.
Here was hoping whatever else Nezu wanted to talk about – because he thought that was likely, all things considered – would be a little less… depressing. If this was how things were going to go all around, he’d need a session with Inui right afterwards, he felt. He really hoped that wasn’t the case though, but his capabilities for optimism weren’t that great.
And he’d been having such a good time…
“Now, we’ve also been discussing the details of your job in this movie that, as I understand it, you auditioned for this weekend?” The shift in conversation was so sharp that Kazuki almost got whiplash, and he wasn’t even exaggerating. How had Nezu gone from talking about his mother’s trial to… the movie audition?
‘What the fuck?’ Kazuki thought, reeling back a little as if the principal had slapped him.
“... Yes? Nothing is definite though, so-” he tried to explain, gathering his thoughts as best he could. Jarring as it had been though, he was a little grateful for the sudden topic change too. It allowed for his mind to focus on something a lot less negative and that was always appreciated.
Back to the new conversation topic though... Well, there really wasn’t anything confirmed about it. He didn’t have the role just yet or anything. Granted, he had talked to Inui about that for advice, but there was a real chance that he wouldn’t get the job, so it’d all been hypothetical. Evidently, Nezu didn’t much care for those details, because he interrupted before he could even get started explaining.
“I understand that,” the principal said, pushing some papers on his desk to the side. “Either way, we’ve talked with Uwabami to help iron out some things and we believe we’ve arrived at a good compromise that the production should agree to. We’ll allow you some time off classes to attend to your duties, but we’ll give you makeup work and extra homework. We’ll expect you to keep yourself up to date, Mr. Endo. If we see you lagging behind, we’ll have to remove these privileges.”
“That’s… more than I expected, thank you,” he replied, eyes wide and his mind trying to process that. He’d thought he’d have to manage his time after classes and that’d be that. Hell, that’s what he’d been told was likely the way things would go. Hero schools were notorious for not being that accommodating in regards to things like that, after all.
“You’ve been a model student, Mr. Endo,” Nezu praised without hesitation, something which… Kazuki didn’t really know how to deal with. “Your grades are amongst the best and your practical level is even better. Furthermore, your work ethic and desire to improve yourself beyond the curriculum is commendable.”
“Uh, thank you, sir,” he replied awkwardly. Praise wasn’t something he was used to in general, after all. Least of all from someone like Nezu, to be honest.
Nezu wasn’t just anyone. He was UA’s principal. If his opinion wasn’t highly regarded, then something was wrong with the world. Furthermore, most of the people that praised Kazuki – that he knew of, at least – were people that he knew, personally. His teachers, who he saw often, or his friends, which shouldn’t even need an explanation. Nezu though? He could count his interactions with the guy with one hand and he’d have fingers left over. That’s what made the praise so significant he supposed.
“We believe you can get through this without it affecting your future, Mr. Endo. Prove us right,” Nezu told him, taking a cup of coffee from his side that Kazuki had missed somehow and drinking some. “Now, onto a different matter. There were two other things I wanted to discuss with you, but you could say that was the important part. The next matter is regarding your activities with Ms. Togeike, Mr. Monoma, Ms. Hatsume and the rest of that group,” the principal said, changing subject yet again, and without any preparation time. Kazuki could have really used a smoother transition there. It was like having a conversation with Mei, but with heavier topics.
Was the whole meeting going to be like that?
Then he processed what Nezu had actually said and frowned. Had they done something wrong? He didn’t think so. What is more, they’d checked. Or, at least, the Management students had checked. Just in case, to make sure they weren’t going against any of the school rules.
“Again, nothing’s wrong, Mr. Endo. On the contrary, I commend the initiative that you all have displayed with this… club of yours,” Nezu continued, reassuring Kazuki but also confusing him a little. What was there to talk about if it was fine? Just compliment them? Nothing wrong with that, of course, but he hadn’t talked with Nezu since his… recruitment, other than when his mother got arrested. “I wanted to bring up the possibility of making it more… official.”
“... How so?” Kazuki asked, after a moment, to try and shift gears from the previous conversation.
“I thought it might be worth considering turning your group into an actual club,” Nezu clarified and he tilted his head, narrowing his eyes in thought. “What this would entail is-” the principal continued, clearly realizing what Kazuki’s question was going to be. “-that you’d have an official capacity instead of an informal one. You’d be given a space to yourselves for your activities, a budget for club activities, which is not to be confused with a budget increase for Hero and Support students, and I’d be your supervisor, making sure you stay true to the mission of the club and its conditions and requirements. I’d also give you a hand in the running of the club as the president of it.”
Kazuki almost pointed out that he might not be the president, but he wasn’t that delusional. He was openly called Boss for a reason and all the members of his “unofficial club” deferred to him for decisions. Even for decisions that had nothing to do with the group or himself, which was a little baffling.
“Amongst other things, of course,” Nezu said, pulling out a stack of paper sheets from a drawer on his desk. Then he laid it on top of the piece of furniture and pushed it towards Kazuki, who reached for it hesitantly. Lookin at it, he was reminded of a contract, which was… concerning. “This is all you need to know in regards to this idea and what it’d involve for everyone, yourselves and UA both.”
“I… see,” he mumbled, leafing through the pages and only picking up some words here and there. He didn’t need to read the whole thing to realize that he was in over his head, especially for any kind of big decision. Did Nezu expect him to give an answer at that very moment? Because then the answer would be no, just to be safe. However, if he had time… “I’ll have to check with the other members of the group, sir,” he replied in the end. And by that he meant mostly the Management students. Those were the ones that were most likely to understand what the whole thing meant. Then they likely would be able to dumb it down for Chikuchi, Neito, Mei – if she even cared – and him.
And in response to what he said, Nezu just… laughed. ‘That’s good… right?’ Kazuki wondered, a little caught off guard, again. Whatever he might have expected from what he said, that wasn’t it. He thought he might just be allowed the extra time or maybe not. He thought he might have been told to make the decision himself, as a leader or some other bullshit reason like that.
The laugh was a little odd, he was pretty sure.
“I think I’m going to like working with you and your group, Mr. Endo,” Nezu said, taking another sip from his cup of coffee and shaking his head. What was he even talking about now? “Yes, this project will be interesting, if nothing else. Fascinating, even.”
“Thanks?” Kazuki replied, hesitantly, feeling like he was a few laps behind in this race of a conversation. He was having trouble following what even was going on, quite honestly. Just when he was getting into the right mindset, the principal dropped a whole new subject on him.
“On that note, the last thing I wanted to talk about,” Nezu continued, shifting gears, once more too quickly for Kazuki to really keep up. Was he just annoying like that or was that his intelligence Quirk at play somehow? “I want to tell you that… You’ve been doing very well,” he said, his voice shifting a little from that borderline mad scientist tone he usually had to something… softer. “You’ve exceeded my expectations, Mr. Endo. I expected a good student and you’ve become a star student. Furthermore, you’ve gone way past my predictions in your efforts to improve your image and yourself as a whole. I thought the diamond in the rough you were would have way more edges than you’ve turned out to have.”
Kazuki wanted to say something, but, somehow, he felt like it wasn’t right. It was a bit of a contradictory feeling, he supposed. He wanted to thank Nezu, for the opportunity, again. He wanted to thank him for the compliment. He also wanted to say that he was just doing his best, doing what he could. He wanted to make the most of the chance he’d been given, that was all.
And yet…
“Please, don’t try to make less of what you’ve done, what you’re doing,” Nezu told him, as if he were reading Kazuki’s mind. “You should be proud. Acknowledge what you’ve done and be proud, Mr. Endo. What you’re doing, it’s impressive and commendable. It’s something you should be pleased with,” the principal continued and Kazuki felt his throat close up, tied into knots. “I might have given you a chance, but that was all it was. You’re the one that’s turned that into so much more. You’re an example for those like you and that’s not something to be understated. Be proud for what you’ve done, Mr. Endo, just like I am.”
All that Kazuki managed as a response to all that was a weak smile to answer Nezu’s wide one. Somehow though, it seemed to be enough, as the principal raised his cup of coffee in a mock cheer and then took a sip. Silence fell upon the office, but Kazuki felt like it was, weirdly enough, very loud.
“That was all I wanted to discuss with you, Mr. Endo, and it’s surprising, considering I expected a lot more talks needing to be had when I brought you here, and I expected them to be a lot less pleasing for both of us. As it is… Well, I find it’s a shame that we haven’t talked much before this,” Nezu said and, for the first time that day, Kazuki could feel the negativity appearing in the principal.
“No reason why we should just talk when something bad happens,” he managed to say, finding the words within himself. He wasn’t sure he’d appreciate a lot of talks with Nezu, admittedly, considering how… dizzy this one had left him. However, he did mean what he said. Apparently, that was the right thing to say too, or so he thought when the principal barked out a laugh.
“I guess that’s fair,” Nezu replied, apparently deeply amused by something. “I might just take you up on that.”
[} Chapter End {]
Hey guys! How’s it going?
Well, that conversation took a whole lot of this chapter, huh? I’m happy with it though, I have to say. I’m usually nervous about writing characters like Nezu, because I’m not nearly smart enough to write an actually smart character, or so I think. However, I think I managed a decent bit of writing here, so I’ll just smile and nod as if that were expected, yeah?
I hope you guys agree and that you enjoyed the chapter.
Discord Link: discord.gg/UTDransjJZ
Random Question: How do you think the club thing will go?
See you.
