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Darkest Before Dawn - 84
🕑 Added 2024-10-31 17:53:40 +0000 UTCChapter 84
‘I feel so lazy right now…’ he thought idly as he laid on his bed. The weekend had come and he was finding it extra hard to get out of bed that morning. ‘Bad enough that I actually woke up in the morning instead of noon,’ he mused.
Sure, he tried to be responsible and serious about his studies and such… But seriously. Getting up early on a weekend was a bit of a step too far. Not to say he never did it, but more often than not, if he had no reason to, he preferred to stay in bed. He worked enough through the weekdays, he felt.
Except that he didn’t, and he’d feel guilty if he took too much time off.
“Rest is important too, Kazuki. Remember to let your mind and body get some time to recover, okay?” he remembered Inui saying. He wondered if the man had meant lying in bed until noon on weekends. He’d assume so until he was told otherwise, he decided then and there.
Just in case, he also wasn’t going to ask.
‘Could use the time productively somehow though… couldn’t I?’ he wondered, raising his hand up in the air towards the ceiling for no particular reason. Then, breathing evenly and focusing on the air coming in and out of his lungs, he extended his shadow.
Initially, he was trying to create some Baby Series Grimm to keep him company, but then Kazuki paused. ‘Why didn’t I ever check on this…?’ he thought curiously as he blinked and extended his shadow even more towards all sides. Once the darkness covered the floor, it moved up the walls, over the window and, eventually, even the ceiling. Kazuki was left alone in a pitch black room with no light whatsoever coming in.
‘Why did I never think to use the shadow itself instead of the Grimm?’ he wondered, more surprised than annoyed or disappointed. ‘Learn something new everyday,’ he thought, already making plans to train that in the facilities of the school at the first chance he got. ‘Wonder how it works?’
Alas, something to find out later when he had friends around, the means to test stuff… and the will to actually do something instead of being lazy. As it was, he laid there looking up and doing what testing he could do without much effort. Which was a surprising amount, actually.
Kazuki tried to make the shadows take specific shapes, which wasn’t exactly new since he’d occasionally make extended shadows to summon Grimm some distance away. However, he’d never pushed it, tried to curve the shadows or anything of the sort. So, there he was, making tendrils of shadows, geometric shapes and continuously pushing the limits. ‘Maybe I can make shadow shows.’
Something interesting for the next time he had to use his Quirk in a more calming manner if the Baby Series didn’t work, he supposed.
The next thing he attempted was to make the shadows not be pitch black and… He could do it, but he couldn’t summon Grimm from those. Still though, this had brought the idea of making the shadows as “light” as possible before darkening them further away and summoning Grimm in a more inconspicuous manner. ‘Should test that too,’ he mused.
And that was something he could practice from where he laid.
‘The power of being lazy,’ he thought with a grin, not even feeling bad about having a lie-in anymore. ‘This is nice,’ he decided, continuing to play around- Er, test his Quirk, for a while longer.
Eventually, his entertainment was interrupted when his phone chimed with a message that he found came from Toru after checking.
“Do you want to come over to my house? My parents insisted,” he read, blinking.
‘Sure thing,’ Kazuki replied simply. ‘When and where? And… Well… It’s not a problem, right?’ he asked, adding that last part without knowing how to ask that without sounding offensive. Alas, he didn’t think there was a way to really do that.
“No problem at all!” was the next message he got and he had a funny picture in his mind of Toru shaking her hands, panicked. “And sorry. I know we had a different plan, but… yeah… My father found out it was just the two of us and he didn’t like that.”
‘No problem,’ he replied, shrugging to himself. That made sense to him, really. Any father would get a little protective if their teenage daughter went to visit a guy that lived alone all by herself. Nevermind the fact that he was… Well, who he was. ‘Don’t worry about it. So, when and where?’
“Thank you,” she said, although he wasn’t too sure where that came from, quite honestly. “And same time we had decided? I’ll send you the location.”
‘That works. See you then?’
“See you then!” she replied with, the message quickly followed by a cute thumbs up sticker.
‘Well then…’ Kazuki thought to himself. ‘What to do now?’ he wondered idly, feeling like the bed was still refusing to let go of him. Curiously, he checked the time on his phone. ‘Just a few minutes to half past… I’ll get up then. Yeah, that sounds good,’ he decided…
… Fully aware that he was likely to push it another half an hour after that.
He was allowed to be lazy for once, right?
Kazuki thought so.
Thus, he picked his phone and opened his game. Might as well kill some time playing games and earn some resources while at it. He’d decided to raise his characters because of a whim and had burned entirely too many materials. He had terrible impulse control when it came to games, he’d quickly realized.
He blamed it on there not being any real stakes.
When he was living everyday like a mistake could mean doom, it was nice to be able to make decisions that didn’t have that kind of weight on them. Thus, Kazuki found that he liked doing stupid things in the game. Like how he ignored game modes that gave limited resources because they were tedious or raised non-meta characters because they looked neat.
‘Starting squad?... Let’s go with the random one, keep things interesting,’ he thought, almost immediately groaning afterwards. ‘Two medics and one support? This is bullshit, man.’
His whims didn’t seem to end well for him most of the time, but that was kind of fun too.
[}-o-{]
Walking towards the Hagakure residence, Kazuki found himself strangely ok.
In a way, he guessed, it was because he’d already met most of his other friend’s families. Minoru’s, Momo’s, Kyoka’s, all of them had received him well… Sort of. Momo’s had come around, at least, so that set a somewhat nice precedent for if things didn’t go so well with the invisible girl’s parents. That was why Kazuki found himself feeling strangely optimistic about this visit. Or maybe it was because Toru didn’t really give the vibes of someone that would have troublesome parents for him.
She was just too… bubbly for that, he supposed.
‘Still though…’ he thought, trying to bring his expectations down a little bit, just in case. It’d really suck if this didn’t go well after getting his hopes up. Granted, Toru had reassured him plenty, but people could act completely differently when he was involved than when he wasn’t, he knew. It was less that he didn’t trust her and more that he didn’t trust… other people, bad as it sounded.
His mood wasn’t really helped with the fact that he was walking on the streets and that meant that he came across people that had some sharp spikes of emotion when they saw him. It was understandable, really. Most of them weren’t even that bad, but they were there and they were noticeable.
Nevermind the woman that had decided it was better to cross the street than to walk by him.
That was probably making him more paranoid than usual. Or was it returning him to normal paranoid levels? Either way, it was reminding him that he should worry about meeting new people.
‘Well… Here we are…’ he thought to himself, reaching the front of the house and just standing there looking at it for a moment. Before it got weird though, because that was the last thing he wanted, he rang. ‘No point otherwise and might as well get it over with.’
“Hello, you’ve reached to the Hagakure Residence. We aren’t home, but you can leave your message after the-”
“Toru,” Kazuki interrupted flatly, but a smile tugged at his lips. “No wonder you need help with your studies.”
“That’s so mean, Kazuki!” the girl whined from the other side of the intercom system. “Why did I ask you for help again?”
“No idea,” he replied, now definitely smiling. “Honestly, I’m still baffled you all are relying on me for this.”
“That’s because you are good,” Toru said, her voice reaching him somewhat low since she’d finally opened the door and stepped outside. “Momo tries her best, but she’s too smart for the rest of us to really understand her most of the time and she doesn’t really get where we struggle,” the invisible girl explained, moving to open the gate to let him in. “And Bakugo, Midoriya and Shoto are… You know?”
“Yeah, I get that,” he replied with a wry smile. To be honest, he’d already heard that explanation several times. It was just odd to be considered the best at something, he supposed. Good was one thing, but the best? There had to be better people than him. It was…
“Why can’t you do better than this?” he heard his father hiss in his mind and he had to hold back a reaction.
“Anyway, are you sure your parents are fine with this?” he commented, bringing a hand to the back of his neck as they approached the door. He didn’t really pick up anything from inside, so her parents weren’t upset by anything at that very moment. That was encouraging. The only reason he knew they were there was because there was also this vague hint of something in everyone, because there was always at least something bad going on with anyone. It was in their nature. It was just that most of the time, when the mood was good, Kazuki wouldn’t be able to sense anything unless he was really looking for it.
“I’ve told you it’s fine,” Toru told him and he could almost see her rolling her eyes with the exasperation that reached him. As if to prove that latter emotion, she took his arm and started dragging him inside.
“Okay, okay, no need for that,” he mumbled, catching up and sensing her doubt. He’d bet she had narrowed her eyes at him. “I’ll knock it off, happy?”
“Yes,” she answered with a nod, or what he thought was a nod, judging by the shift of her clothes. “Now-”
“Well, this must be the famous Kazuki Endo,” a new voice said, interrupting whatever Toru was going to say. Kazuki, for his part, felt himself adjusting his posture at the male voice that was quite obviously her father. “We’ve heard a lot about you.”
“I’m sure,” he replied, plastering his most friendly expression. He wondered if that was meant to be about Toru talking about him or if he was talking about the press… or both. Kazuki felt it was a testament to his improved mentality that he didn’t jump to the worst conclusion only, in that moment. “It’s a pleasure to meet you, sir,” he added, extending his arm for a handshake.
As the gesture was accepted, Kazuki took a moment to look at the man. ‘I can see him, for one,’ he thought, somewhat amused. Toru’s father seemed to be about his height, more or less, with pink hair in a buzzcut. Other than that though, the most remarkable feature were the sunglasses he was wearing. ‘Something Quirk related?’ he wondered, since it didn’t seem to be for blindness.
“He’s polite too. I like him,” he commented, glancing towards Toru, or so Kazuki assumed, given the tilt of his head. For whatever reason though, this seemed to make the girl feel a spike of bad emotions that took him off guard. Before he could try to process that though, yet another new voice arrived.
“He’s here already? I haven’t finished cooking yet,” were the nervous words of Toru’s mother as she came to the entrance hall where they were. Sure enough, she was wearing an apron and wiping off her floor-covered hands on it. “Hello, Mr. Endo, it’s a pleasure to meet one of Toru’s dear friends. She talks about you a lot.”
“Mom!”
“I wanted to have some cookies ready for you two to eat while you study, but it seems I was a little slow,” the woman continued, looking a little nervous. ‘Visible too,’ Kazuki noted. He didn’t know why, but he’d assumed one of them would have an invisibility related Quirk. Didn’t seem to be the case so far. It was actually the opposite, considering the bright pink color of the man’s hair and the mane of neon green hair that her mother had, at that moment, tied back.
“It’s no issue, Ma’am. I was early, actually, so that’s my fault,” he said, feeling a little nervous. Hopefully they didn’t take offense. The woman seemed to still be feeling a little nervous and unsure, but other than that it was fine. It was kind of funny that Toru was feeling more or less the same, for whatever reason. Maybe he could ask about that later. “Maybe I can help?” he offered, but he was quickly waved off.
“Nonsense. You are a guest. Besides, you are here to help To-chan with school.”
“Mom, don’t call me that!”
“You two do your thing and let me be a good host, will you?” the woman said, pulling herself together and sounding more assertive. To that, Kazuki nodded hesitantly, trying to keep up with his best acting to make a good impression. If he did say so himself, he thought he was doing spectacularly, given how there was a little Kazuki panicking in a corner of his mind but nowhere near showing on the outside. “Good. Off you go, before this idiot starts teasing poor To-chan.”
“Mom!”
“Honey, don’t ruin the fun!”
“Dad!”
Well, they were lively, that was for sure.
“I guess I can see where Toru got her bright personality,” he couldn’t stop himself from commenting. Maybe things going well had made him relax or something of the sort. Immediately though, he felt like he’d messed up somehow, given how the invisible girl’s emotions spiked. “Sorry,” he blurted out immediately, panicking Kazuki taking over for a moment as his expression fell and he turned to look at her.
“No, Kazuki. It’s just- I mean, I was- And they are-” Toru stammered before someone else took over for her.
“No need to be sorry, Mr. Endo,” her mother told him, giving him a warm smile that just made him feel even more awkward and out of place. “It’s good to know To-chan is doing well,” the woman added, which was… a little odd? Or was it just Kazuki being paranoid as usual?
“I do have to wonder though, you seem awfully used to calling each other by first name,” Toru’s father commented, which made the girl’s nervousness spike, to say nothing of Kazuki himself, really. However, there was a perfectly fine explanation for that, which helped him keep his act together.
“That’s my fault,” he started, his best smile in place. “I prefer going by my first name instead of my family name and I’ve asked all my friends to call me that. In turn, they allowed me to call them by their first names too. On that note, feel free to call me Kazuki if you prefer,” he explained as calmly as he would have given an interview. Maybe too much like he’d have given an interview answer, he guessed, but it was better than messing up… right?
“Is that so?” Toru’s father asked, eyes narrowed but there wasn’t all that much suspicion in him, so Kazuki wasn’t too nervous. “So, what are your intentions with my-Oof,” he started before getting interrupted by an elbow to the side courtesy of his wife.
“Ignore him,” the woman told him, kind smile in place. “You can go ahead if you’d-”
“Yes, we’ll do that,” Toru exclaimed, grabbing his arm and dragging him away. Kazuki only sensed slight annoyance from her father as he grumbled something he didn’t catch and heard giggles from her mother. All in all…
“I think it went fine?” he commented, more question than statement. There weren’t any strong emotions that he could sense, none that were particularly bad at least, so he was optimistic. Nothing to worry about, or so he’d like to hope.
“Yes, they did,” Toru reassured him. “They are just idiots like that. Don’t pay them any mind.”
“They seemed nice though,” he said, a little confused. He didn’t think he’d ever get why his friends complained about their parents. Minoru’s mother was an angel. Kyoka’s father was cool. Toru’s parents seemed fun. Even Momo’s parents were a little prickly with him because they cared and he could respect them for that.
Certainly a world away from parental figures he’d known before them… Which were only his, he supposed.
Then again, maybe his perception was skewed because of that. Anyone would look great to his eyes. Maybe that was why? Still though, Kazuki couldn’t see why they were so bothered. Sure, maybe they were a bit embarrassing, but that was nothing in the grand scheme of things, right?
“They are great,” Toru grumbled, her tone very at odds with her words. “They are just… you know?”
“I don’t?” he replied, unsure.
“Nevermind,” the invisible girl mumbled.
“Um… So, what did you need help with?” he asked, Toru letting go of his arm as he caught up properly.
“Eh? What…? Oh right, of course. Em, rescue, actually.”
“Neat,” Kazuki replied, beaming at her. That was his favorite subject and it was no secret to anyone. “You’ve asked the right person,” he commented, pulling her into a one-armed hug and chuckling.
It was a little awkward, but he tried to play it off. He was still getting used to being more… expressive, but he liked it all the same. His friends seemed more than receptive enough, even if maybe he was a little too awkward at times. Like at that moment, considering Toru felt a little odd from what he could pick up. That wasn’t really all that strange, so he soldiered on.
It was shaping up to be a good day, he decided.
[}-o-{]
It was a little late for him to be checking on his plants, considering he usually watered them and such before the sun set. He’d just gotten back from Toru’s place though, so there was no helping it. Besides, he was pretty sure it wasn’t gonna affect the plants negatively to do so at that time…
Although, it wasn’t like he was an expert.
Worse come to worst, Kazuki hoped it wouldn’t be enough to kill his plants. That’d suck. He had them to have a little corner of calm in his place, so having them die would be depressing as fuck. Maybe he should put as much effort as he put in his aquarium with those? Probably. He wasn’t as interested in them though.
Was he half-assing it? Yes, yes he was.
He should probably put more effort into those, but as other things started to clutter his schedule… Well, he just didn’t have the time.
Moving back inside, Kazuki started checking in his kitchen to see what he could make for dinner. He had a bunch of options, but that was actually a problem. He never could quite decide when he had options, since he wasn’t really all that picky nor did he have real preferences, for the most part. And even if he did, he usually tried to leave his favorite things for last.
‘Maybe some-’ he started, deciding to go for the first thing at hand and call it a day. However, before he could do so, he sensed someone feeling absolutely terrible walking into his range. Someone that he had felt at the edge but had gradually become more noticeable as they got closer.
It was to the point that he considered calling his handlers so that someone would check on this person. In fact, he did reach for his phone. Before he could do anything though, he got a message.
‘You’re probably sensing me,’ he read, blinking at the screen. ‘Sorry.’ There was a long moment after that where Kazuki wondered what to do with that information. ‘I’ll be fine. Again, sorry for the inconvenience,’ he received eventually.
‘Can I help?’ he asked. He knew the most likely answer he’d get, but he had to try anyway. ‘I can offer some comfort… and I’m about to make dinner,’ he sent, gaining a little confidence as he went on. That’s why he pushed on even though he saw the person writing a message back. ‘And I’ll have to deal with your emotions anyway, so it’s in my best interest to help you.’
Seeing the one on the other side of the conversation stop typing felt like a victory.
‘Way to make me feel worse, Endo,’ was the reply he got. ‘Fine.’
Kazuki grinned, despite the emotions still reaching him just as strongly, now mixed with guilt, shame and even more powerlessness than before. He was going to help though, so that made it all a little more bearable. It was much better to know that he’d be making those bad emotions go away than just feeling them and staying uselessly away.
As he felt the person approach little by little, he got to work preparing things for dinner and making one of his Baby Series to comfort them. It wasn’t much, but he was doing something. That alone was enough to keep his mood up despite everything. Still though, there was the part of him that wondered if that would be enough.
A warm meal, someone to be with and something cute and fluffy at him. Surely that would be enough, right? He hoped so, at least. It was the kind of thing that’d cheer him up at least a little.
That was how his confidence slowly bled away from him.
It was also why he opened the door feeling fairly nervous.
“Welcome,” he greeted with an uneasy smile.
“Hey,” Midnight greeted him, in costume and looking dead on her feet, and that was just going by her expression, nevermind her emotions. “I…” she started, before trailing off for a long moment. He could feel her emotions shifting and almost guess where her mind was going. “No, this was a bad idea. I don’t know why I came here. I’ll just-”
“I already started preparing dinner,” he interrupted, finding some strength somewhere in him. “So, you might as well stay,” he spoke, soft and calm, just how Maeda taught him to deal with people that had just been through stuff. “Come in. I’ll get you something to drink in the meantime… and I made a Sabyr Kitten,” he added, stepping aside so the woman saw the Grimm behind him.
Instantly, he knew he’d won. Why? Because Midnight’s emotions calmed down a fair bit. Not a whole lot, considering how absolutely shitty she felt, but enough that he noticed the shift. Progress was progress. He’d helped, and he planned to help plenty more if the teacher would allow him to.
Might as well try and repay some of the help the teachers had offered him so far.
“I’m making curry. Hope you like it,” he said, smiling as warmly as he could.
“I… That sounds great but-” she mumbled, visibly trying to deny the offer now that she had a somewhat clearer mind. Maybe she’d accepted the offer on the phone because she was a little out of it. “I really shouldn’t-”
“I want to help,” he told her, firmly, but gently. “Let me help.”
“... You are awfully pushy.”
“Meddling when you don’t need to is the essence of being a hero.”
“Quoting All Might at me, huh?” Midnight mumbled, her lips tugging up into a smile that was barely there before disappearing. Then she sighed. “Fine. But I’m paying you for the troubles.”
“I’m fine with that,” he replied with a beaming smile. “Now, come on. Rough day, I’m guessing.”
“You have no idea,” Midnight mumbled as she stepped inside his place.
Kazuki wondered if that was how Inui felt when he offered an ear to them.
If that was the case, then he definitely understood why the man enjoyed the job.
[} Chapter End {]
Hey guys! How’s it going?
Well, half this chapter came out of nowhere for me.
First of all, the first part of the chapter. The shadows thing came as a surprise as much for me as it did for Kazuki. I’d never considered going in that direction, but then I was writing and I noticed that yes, I did mention his shadow extending and such to summon Grimm and I was like “huh?” and… There you have the scene, I guess.
Then there’s the last scene, which came even more out of left field. I have some doubts about it, not gonna lie. I feel like it might be a little too out of nowhere and forced, but maybe that’s just my impression. It’s always a little… It feels off to do stuff out of nowhere in my fics, because I feel like maybe I’m forcing something to happen or whatever. Life can be like that, of course, but it’s always odd to write it in my stories.
Does that make sense? Am I just overthinking things? Hopefully you guys can answer me those questions.
Anyway, I also hope you enjoyed the chapter.
Discord Link: discord.gg/UTDransjJZ
Random Question: Do you min-max in games? I do so… Right up until it becomes bothersome and boring. Because I’m a creature of comfort, so I’ll always prioritize convenience and fun.
See you.
