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Darkest Before Dawn - 87
🕑 Added 2024-11-21 17:56:09 +0000 UTCChapter 87
Kazuki whistled.
“You do great work, Mei, have I told you that?” he asked, eyes fixed on the drone his personal tinker had created. It still looked plenty rough, but it worked and it would – theoretically, that is – do its job. It flew, it listened to commands and it could carry things. According to Mei, there were slots to add certain modules in the future depending on what kind of job he went out on, but those were empty at the moment.
Not only because they were a little too close to his budget limit, but also because they might need to change the drone into a water reserve for Chikuchi if it came to it. He’d asked Mei to work on that, but she’d told him that she’d make the blueprints and wait to see if they were necessary. Much as she wanted to tinker to no end, her budget didn’t really allow for that. So, instead, she was forced to spend their money as efficiently as possible…
… So as to maximize the amount of tinkering she could do, even if it – funnily enough – required her to tinker less for the moment.
“I do, don’t I?” the Support course student answered with, looking pretty smug.
“So, it-”
“She!” Mei corrected, eyes narrowed as she glared at him. Well, fair enough. It seemed she was taking the baby thing much more literally this time. Not that he blamed her. Penny was in a league of its-her own.
“She-,” he amended, getting a nod from the tinker. “-doesn’t have any modules right now?”
“I am not battle ready,” Penny announced, drawing his attention back to her. “I am not rescue ready. I am partially search ready. I am transport ready,” she listed, to which he blinked and tried to process- Except she wasn’t done. “Designation A-1: Beacon.”
He turned to look at Mei, who looked uncharacteristically shy. There was a little shame and nerves mixed in there for his sense to pick up. He wasn’t sure what there was to feel like that about. Sure, that was a little weird, but surely nothing major.
“I haven’t managed to program identification without the designation part yet,” she admitted, looking down and kicking at the ground sheepishly. “Everything else is fine though! She’s programmed with everyone from the group and all.”
“I am recognition ready, Mother!” Penny said and Kazuki narrowed his eyes.
“There was no designation there,” he pointed out, feeling a spike of embarrassment from Mei.
“Um, well, I only managed to get mine done we-”
“That’s a lie,” he interrupted, giving his tinker an unimpressed look. It was a day of surprises in more ways than one. He was pretty sure that was the day he’d sensed the most emotions from Mei, who was usually barely registered. “Try again.”
“I liked the designation thing,” she admitted, her voice barely above a whisper and her head still down.
“Well, there are worse things. It’s a little long though. Maybe you can take out the designation part and keep the letter and number?” he suggested and Mei immediately darted to the computer, typing quickly. If there’d been any doubt before that she’d done it on purpose, the fact that she could modify the thing in around a minute finished telling the story.
“There it is.”
“Who am I?” he asked Penny.
“A-1: Beacon.”
“That works,” Kazuki told Mei, who beamed at him.
“Who am I?” Neito asked, having been watching from the side with everyone else.
“B-2: Sleight,” Penny answered right away, and Kazuki was left processing things once more.
“Sleight?”
“I’m rebranding a little. You and Chikuchi changed costumes. I can change my name,” the boy answered… a little too defensively, but Kazuki let it pass. Maybe he was nervous? He certainly picked that up, but he mostly picked up guilt and rather strong shame, for some reason.
“Well, if that works for you.”
“Who am I?” Chikuchi asked, following their example and cutting their conversation short.
“B-1: Thorn.”
“Wait, why is she number one?” Neito asked, frowning at Penny.
“Designation B-1: Thorn, Chikuchi Togeike, Second-in-Command,” Penny gave as an answer, which only earned her a scandalized look from the 1-B student. Before he could question that further though – which Kazuki would admit looked like a fun conversation to witness – someone else decided to join the fun.
“Who are we?” Masu asked, more curious than anything as they stepped up from the trio of Management students.
“C-1: Komako Masu, C-2: Futo Nagashira, C-3: Ronaudo Keage,” Penny answered and this time there wasn’t much of a fuss about the numbers. Or any fuss at all, really, as the two boys took to their second and third place with barely a shrug.
“There are longer designations though?” Masu asked and this definitely picked Kazuki’s attention.
“Designation C-1: Komako Masu, Head of Management. Designation C-2: Futo Nagashira, Head of Design. Designation C-3: Ronaudo Keage, Head of Business,” Penny answered, and this time it was fairly obvious that everyone was very happy with their designation. However, the drone wasn’t done yet. “Designation Mother: Mei Hatsume, Head of Support. Designation B-2: Sleight, Neito Monoma. Designation B-1: Thorn, Chikuchi Togeike, Second-in-Command. Designation A-1: Beacon, Kazuki Endo, Boss, Father.”
There was a long moment of silence following the string of designations that had been dropped on them. Kazuki knew why though and it wasn’t because they were thinking them over. No, they were because of that last one, the very last word the drone had delivered.
He felt himself pale a little.
“Honoring that Monster Daddy title, huh?” Chikuchi commented, very obviously amused.
“Something you wanna tell us, Boss?” Neito joined in.
“Do I even wanna know, Mei?” Kazuki himself asked, massaging the bridge of his nose tiredly before addressing Mei, who… didn’t even seem to realize that there was something wrong. “Why did you add “Father” to my designation in Penny’s… list of contacts?”
“Because you are half the reason she exists!” Mei told him excitedly. “I made her, yes, but I wouldn’t have if not for all your ideas and input! So I thought you deserved half the credit for her existence!”
“Congratulations,” Chikuchi commented from the side, dry smile still in place. “It’s a drone.”
Kazuki just groaned.
[}-o-{]
“The exam wasn’t that hard.”
“Says you,” Kazuki grumbled, slumping on his chair and looking balefully at the books arrayed on the table in front of him. Their torture was far from over, after all, since they had a whole week of exams to get through. “At least let me get all this nervousness out of my system. You’ve got no idea how much I’m getting from everyone at school,” he added, taking an empty sheet of paper and crumbling it in his hand like a replacement stress ball.
Sure, he wasn’t feeling that bad. After school activities like visiting Inui and spending time with his pseudo-team had helped him relax plenty. However, at the same time, he couldn’t quite let his negativity out in those situations. They also complained about exams and all, but his friends didn’t deal with the same level of bullshit emotions that he did. After all, he had to deal with their bullshit and everyone else’s.
It wasn’t nice.
“Is it that bad?” Midnight asked him from where she was cooking dinner in his kitchen.
Why was she there and doing that? In her words, just paying him felt like doing too little, so she’d decided that she might as well return the favor of the meal he’d given her. From what he could read from her emotions and all, it was more that she still felt bad from having leaned on him that day.
Which was… The point was that Kazuki didn’t really feel it was necessary for her to do so. However, he allowed her to go for it. If it helped her feel better, then who was him to deny her that? Besides, with how stressful his days were – and especially how they were about to be – Kazuki had to admit that it was nice to at least not have to worry about preparing that one meal.
A small thing in the grand scheme of things, but any help was appreciated.
“Yes and no,” Kazuki replied, sighing and deflating on his seat. “It’s not nice, that’s for sure. But it’s nothing I’m not used to at this point. I’ve dealt with worse. I guess I’ve just… gotten used to things being better.”
God knew that emotions in juvie could get way worse than whatever UA had thrown at him except the Sports Festival. Although, to be fair, in juvie, he’d done his best to just ignore the emotions. Something that he wasn’t doing anymore, since he was trying to get better at actually making use of all of his Quirk’s capabilities. Still, the exams were nothing in comparison to bad days in juvie, the Sports Festival or the Rampage. After so many days of normalcy – normalcy for him, that is – though, it got to Kazuki a little to have several days in a row with emotions being pretty bad.
“Can’t you ask Shota to help you with that?” Midnight asked and it took him a moment to realize that she was talking about Aizawa. He often forgot that teachers were also normal people outside of being heroes, teaching and being his minders. Hell, Aizawa and Inui were the ones that he found more personable and they were still just Aizawa, the homeroom teacher, and Inui, the counselor, in his head. He didn’t know if he’d ever thought about any of the others without going straight for their hero names, Midnight included.
“Aizawa’s Quirk is nice and all, but this’ll go on for the entire week, maybe even further. There’s no point going for momentary relief when it’s just gonna be back to normal for days,” he explained, resting his elbows on the table and his cheek on his palm. “I might ask him for a look or two at school though. That’s when it gets worse.”
“Are you sure you are doing fine with it?” Midnight asked and he found himself slightly in awe of the concern she felt. Evidently, no, he wasn’t likely to get used to people caring. “Maybe there’s something we can do to help you out.”
“Fine is a strong word,” Kazuki answered, taking a moment to consider the offer. “I’ll get you back on that later if I feel like I can’t manage, but I think I can, for now. I have to get better at this, after all.”
“I guess I can understand that,” Midnight replied, although she sounded and felt a little reluctant. Idly, he turned to check on her and how the cooking was going. Apparently, the R-Rated Hero did, indeed, know how to make edible food. Very well, by the smell of it. “Do try not to push yourself too much, yeah? You’re a firstie. There’s no rush.”
“I do kinda need to keep a good level,” Kazuki commented, taking a deep breath in and turning to look at the books once more. He guessed he’d let himself get distracted enough for the moment. “But I’ll keep that in mind.”
“Well, I guess I should tell everyone to keep a closer eye on you. Last thing we need is you burning out,” Kayama told him, to which he smiled weakly. He’d walked into that, he supposed.
Not that he minded.
Sure, some might find it smothering, and he did too, on occasion. However, for the most part, he just appreciated the fact that they were looking out for him and making sure he didn’t mess up. He knew one wrong step could make everything he’d worked to achieve crash and burn.
“If it helps, you doing this is nice,” he admitted. “It’s nice not to have to worry about preparing dinner, at least.”
“Well, I’ll take that as my cue to pay you back. I’ll be cooking for you for the rest of the week,” Kayama said, sounding fairly happy with that arrangement. “It’s the least I can do after you helped me out. That one meal and company meant a lot more than you realize, Endo.”
“Well, if you are going to insist…” he replied with a smile on his face.
“I am.”
[}-o-{]
“I don’t want to make you nervous or anything, but you should know that they’ll be harsher with you,” Hina explained to him as they talked. She hadn’t had time the previous day, but she’d checked with him first thing in the morning when he wasn’t even awake yet. Thus, they had started talking as soon as he got up. “Things get a little more tense at the end of the interview period and they start demanding more out of everyone that tries out then. All the okay applicants will have been there already, so by then they are just fishing for the true talents.”
“So, what I’m hearing is that I shouldn’t even try,” he commented, half serious and half joking. Which was yet another sign that he was getting better, as far as he was concerned.
“Kazukiiii-”
“Fine,” he replied, rolling his eyes, even though he wore a smile on his face. “So, I should put extra effort into it because I’m waiting for exams to be over,” he summarized for himself, looking before crossing the street. UA was around the corner, so he guessed he’d have to hang up soon, else the media might catch him and ask questions. If he gave them literally anything, then they’d drag the interview as much as possible. “You sure I shouldn’t just go now and be done with it?”
“Absolutely not. Your exams are what’s important right now. You can practice a little in your free time if you want, but you should focus on your studies first and foremost. Even if you do something else, you should never half-ass being a hero, Kazuki,” Hina said curtly, firmly. It caught him a little off guard, even though it really shouldn’t have.
If there was one thing Hina took seriously, that was her job.
This was often misunderstood because she was only serious when it counted. Outside of strictly hero situations, she tended to be more laid back, which gave the impression that she wasn’t quite all that serious about things. In her words though, if you couldn’t relax when things were calm, when were you supposed to?
“Okay okay. I get it,” he replied, taking a deep breath in and grimacing as he started picking up on more and more people as the school got closer. Not only from those in the school, but also those on their way there. “I’m almost there now so… I should hang up or the reporters won’t let me go until I answer.”
“So what? Just answer,” Hina told him flippantly. “This is another one of your unnecessarily worried moments, right? I’ve told you. I’m fine. Honestly, I consider every time you’ve talked about me with the press as free publicity. If people are put off by that, then they can be on their way. I don’t want anything to do with them,” she explained to him, which wasn’t quite the first time he heard something of the sort, but he never could quite believe her. “So, go wild.”
“If you say so,” he replied hesitantly. He guessed he could see some sense in what she was saying, of course, but it was just so… odd. Like a part of him couldn’t quite comprehend how it made sense. “... Are you sure?” he couldn’t help but ask, some of his doubt shining through.
“I’m sure. I haven’t hidden anything about you, your internship or anything. So… Why are you hiding me, Kazuki?” she asked, not accusing nor hurt but almost… pitying.
He knew the answer to that question, of course. He just couldn’t find the words, or couldn’t voice them. Instead, he just kept walking, with a knot forming in his throat.
For the longest time, Kazuki had ruined everything he’d touched. His parents hated him. Other kids were frightened or disgusted by him. The adults had turned the other way. Nothing he did was ever good. And then came the Rampage and the years and years being kept away from the world, contained and hidden like a rabid dog they couldn’t put down.
Now though…
“Ok then, I guess I’ll be late for class,” Kazuki answered with, adjusting his position as he got closer to the school and saw a few reporters already waiting for him. He was getting better at differentiating them from other people that were just around. “Lots of praise to throw your way, after all.”
“Just remember to mind your phrasing. I draw the line on those kinds of rumors, alright?” Hina advised, drawing a snort from him. “Hey, this is a serious matter!”
“I know, I know. I’ll do my best,” Kazuki replied, already having to look at what he said, since the reporters were within hearing distance. “I’m here, so I’ll talk to you later alright? We can hash out the details for the interview later.”
“Oh, teasing the movie already? Very bold, especially coming from you. I approve,” Hina said and Kazuki told himself that the smile on his face turned the slightest bit more honest. “We’ll talk later. Good luck with the vultures and the exams. Take care.”
“Take care yourself,” he said, hanging up and turning to look at the reporters confidently.
“Mr. Endo? I’m from…” the first reporter started, introducing who she worked with and who she was before going right for the expected question. Honestly, Kazuki only half heard them when they did all that part. “Can we know who you were speaking to? That sounded like a serious conversation.”
“Uwabami,” he answered straightforwardly, widening his smile a bit. “We’ve kept in contact after my internship and she keeps giving me advice that I very much appreciate. Let me tell you, I don’t think I’d be doing half as well in rescue classes as I am without picking her brain,” he started with, drawing on his Quirk’s emotions as best he could.
This was an interview that he was particularly motivated to do well in, after all.
[}-o-{]
“Somebody kill me, please,” Kazuki groaned, letting his head drop on top of his desk.
“Kazuki, don’t be dramatic,” Momo said and he could almost see the exasperated roll of her eyes even without looking at her. “It wasn’t that har-”
“Only if you kill me too,” Kyoka grumbled, dropping on a seat to his side. The girl wearily rubbed at her tired eyes, her head falling back like a puppet with its strings cut. “And this is still just the beginning. I really wanna die.”
“Guys, please, let’s not exagger-”
“Is it too late to transfer to the General course?” Minoru asked, dragging his feet towards them. “We should warn Chikuchi away from here. This is a place made to break the spirits of us, the youth.”
“Guys!”
“Truly, a terrible place to be,” Toru agreed from somewhere behind him. “I should have gone for an accountant career like my aunt,” she mumbled. Then Kazuki’s eyes widened when he felt a pair of arms wrap around him and Toru pressing her body against his back. “Thank you, Kazuki! Without your tutoring, I’d definitely have failed. You’re the best!”
“Tutoring?” Momo asked, blinking at them.
Well, the cat was out of the bag, it seemed. Kazuki turned to look… at the invisible girl. Not his proudest moment, he realized when all he saw was a peek at her clothes. One that made him turn away immediately. It was always awkward to look at Toru, especially from certain angles. After all, through the “hole” where her neck should be, one could see… a whole lot more than one should.
“Kazuki came to my house the other day and tutored me in some things that I had doubts on,” Toru explained cheerfully, apparently not concerned anymore with that. Maybe she was feeling more confident now that she’d done well or something? Considering how shy she’d been about things when she invited him…
Ah, Momo was feeling hurt and a little angry because she’d been excluded. Understandable, really, since she’d been the one in charge of most of the tutoring. Maybe she felt like she should have done better or something along those lines? That couldn’t be allowed to remain the case.
“Toru was a little embarrassed, so she asked me for some extra help. That’s all,” he reassured and it did, indeed, make Momo feel a little better. All was back to normal, thankfully.
“Kazuki’s the best!” Toru exclaimed again, hugging him a little harder.
Kazuki, for his part, smiled ever so slightly, taking in the gesture. Not like he could hug her back from the position they were in and he was kind of grateful for it. He was a little awkward about expressing himself physically, but like this, just being on the receiving end… It was nice, warm. And it reminded him why he wanted to get better at it himself.
Because the touch focused his mind, pulling him away from his sense, his Quirk.
“So, do you guys want to do anything after we are done with Inui?” he asked, making no attempt to make Toru pull away and she didn’t seem to be in any hurry at all. He wasn’t complaining. Momo seemed a little scandalized, but he was really hoping she wouldn’t speak up about it.
Was it weird? He guessed so, but he hoped it wasn’t too bad.
He was kind of afraid to ask and ruin it.
“Sure!” a slightly unexpected voice called, half excitement and half relief. “Eijiro and I were talking about relaxing for a bit in a cafe I found while browsing Shorts. They are death trap, by the way,” Mina explained, stepping up to their group.
“Shouldn’t you spend time studying?” Momo asked and the pink girl flinched and grimaced.
“Ah… I was taking a break?” Mina answered in the most unconvincing voice ever. Still, amused, Kazuki decided to throw the poor girl a bone. It helped that he was interested.
“I’m in. I feel like all I’ve been doing is studying, training and nothing else,” he commented with a chuckle. Besides, it probably wouldn’t be too hard to convince Mina to show him the videos she’d been watching. Maybe those could help him a little with his future social media project?
He didn’t have much idea what normal people did with those, quite honestly.
Kazuki had checked a little here and there, of course, but he didn’t quite know what was normal and what wasn’t anyway and people posted all kinds of things. So, maybe he could pick his friends’ brains a little and get more ideas? And if it turned out not to be, then he’d just put that off for some other time.
He really did want to just take a break.
He felt like his brain would explode and not just because of all the studying.
“They had good cakes, right?” he asked as a follow up, knowing that Mina had the greatest sweet tooth ever… or thereabouts.
“Sure do! We can try a bunch of them, ask for different ones and share them, don’t you think?” Mina asked excitedly, visibly looking forward to that immediately after it was brought up. Which was a little suspicious…
“That’s why you brought it up, isn’t it?” Kyoka asked dryly, drawing a forced chuckle out of the pink girl. “Of course,” she added with a sigh. “I’m still in though. God knows I could use at least a little bit of a break.”
“...Were there healthier options?” Minoru asked, shifting where he sat, a little self-conscious. He really did struggle with the fact that he had to take care of what he ate to recover from the effects of his Quirk on his growth. Kazuki wasn’t too sure why he minded that much, but he didn’t have a problem with it and he tried to always be quick to dismiss his worries.
Alas, he was beaten to the punch.
“Sure are,” Eijiro was the one to answer. “I’m not a great fan of sweets, so I checked to see what else there was,” he added as an explanation with a shrug.
“Settled then?” Kazuki asked.
“I want it on record that I think we should study,” Momo muttered, almost pouting. “But yeah, I’m in too.”
“I’ll go~” Toru said, still hugging him from behind.
“Aren’t you going to let go of him?”
He got it, he really did, but sometimes he wished Momo would be either a little more absentminded or laid back.
Oh well.
[} Chapter End {]
Hey guys! How’s it going?
Exams, amirite?
I honestly don’t have much to say about this chapter, except that I kind of like it. All the parts are to my liking for once. The first one was fun to write. Admittedly, I have no idea what’s going on with Midnight. Then there’s Uwabami, who’s always nice to have around. And, of course, exams being exams.
Thus, I hope you enjoyed reading the chapter!
Discord Link: discord.gg/UTDransjJZ
Random Question: I think I’ve asked this at some point, maybe in another of my stories, but do you like sweet things or salty things? I tend to lean more towards salty, but I have quite the sweet tooth too.
See you.
