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Darkest Before Dawn - 70
🕑 Added 2024-07-25 17:52:30 +0000 UTCChapter 70
“So, it went well? Don’t keep us in suspense, man,” Mineta asked him once they had some free time and the group gathered together. Unsurprisingly, they all had moved to his desk the moment they were able to. Kazuki had sort of expected that, but it still warmed his heart to know that they cared. He didn’t think he could ever take such gestures for granted.
“Uwabami saw and seems to think I did well, yeah,” he answered, leaning back on his chair and trying to push back the nerves creeping up inside him. Instead, he took a deep breath in, put on his best face and kept going. “So, I’m confident, at least for now,” he added, giving his friends his practiced smile.
“Why did you have to go and become cool? You bastard,” Mineta growled at him, which was kind of… confusing, really. Why did he say it like it was a bad thing? Kazuki took that as him making progress to look good though. “You are supposed to be an awkward guy like me, man.”
“I mean, have you seen our friend group?” he replied, waving his hand at the girls and Todoroki. “I feel like we are all cool here,” he told his first friend with a smile.
“Endo, you flatterer,” Hagakure told him then, giving him a light slap on his arm. He just turned and grinned at her, trying his best to look more or less where he thought her eyes were. It was always a little awkward to have to do that, but it’d have been more awkward not to, right? He did often wonder how well he did on that.
Now that she said that though…
“That reminds me,” he started, his smile dropping a little into one that was much more… unsure. “I wanted to ask you, could you guys call me Kazuki? I prefer that, if it’s not too much trouble.” There, he said it. Why was he feeling so embarrassed anyway? It was just his name, damnit. These were his friends, close friends at that. It was fine
“That is, um,” Yaoyorozu predictably mumbled a little, feeling nervous and unsure. No surprises there, he guessed. She was always the most “proper” of the group.
“So bold, Kazuki. What’d you do in that internship~?” Hagakure joked, but he felt some embarrassment coming from her too. Well, he guessed it was too much trouble, maybe. It was fine anyway.
“I guess-”
“That’s fine by me,” Todoroki said, his expression as flat as his tone. Yup, he was his usual self, it seemed. “I think I’d prefer not to go by Todoroki either, now that you mention it. Can you call me Shoto?”
“Sure thing,” Kazuki answered with a relieved smile. One of them was good enough, he supposed. And he shouldn’t be surprised it was Todoro- Shoto that understood.
“I guess it’s whatever,” Mineta commented then, drawing his attention to him. “It’ll be less awkward if I invite you to have dinner with mom and I again, if nothing else. If you call me Minoru too, that is.”
“That’s true,” he replied with a wider grin. “But you don’t have to invite me that often, you know?” he couldn’t help but add. His friend, though, just scoffed at him.
“My mom won’t shut up about it now. She says you shouldn’t be left to fend for yourself. Thinks you’ll eat unhealthy food all the time,” his friend explained, which made him chuckle.
“I might have to show her that I can, indeed, cook well. Hell didn’t I help her cook last time?” he commented, drawing a shrug from the short boy. He had been getting better, since he could only rely on himself at the apartment. Not that cooking was hard, really. He was no chef, but making decent stuff wasn’t difficult.
“Like that’d do anything,” Minet- Minoru said with a chuckle.
“I’ll feel like I’m intruding way too much if you invite me too often,” he replied, bringing a hand to his neck to rub it. He’d have run his fingers through his hair, but he didn’t want to mess it up. Even with what he said and all, he still found himself smiling.
“Would you be though?” Shoto asked, looking between them with curious eyes.
“I mean. It’s a family moment, right? Being just there by myself with them feels a little like I’m out of place or getting in the way,” Kazuki explained, drawing a hum from the half-and-half boy.
“I guess. I’ve never been invited like that,” Shoto commented. There was some sadness coming from him, but from what Kazuki could pick up and see, he was more just stating fact than anything else.
“Well, I can’t invite you to a family meal, but you can come eat at my place whenever,” Kazuki offered, because God knew he appreciated being invited himself. So, maybe he could offer some of the same to Shoto too.
“I’ll talk with mom. Maybe we can invite both of you,” Minoru added on that and Kazuki smiled. He was a great friend, as it turned out. Sure, he’d probably have to smack him when his perverted side got out of hand sometime soon, but other than that, he was cool.
It was nice to be back with his friends, Kazuki decided.
“I guess if you really prefer that,” Jiro commented then, reminding him that the girls were still there. It was actually kind of odd for them to be so silent, actually. Kazuki just figured they were a little taken off guard and embarrassed by what he said. “It’d be odd if some of us went by first name and the others didn’t, right?”
“I mean, it’s just me that wants that, so I think it’s fine. Besides, I can tell you aren’t comfortable with that and that’s fine,” Kazuki replied quickly, trying to make things as clear as he could. “I guess I got a little carried away, what with Maeda, Mei and Itsuka.”
“Wait, what?” Yaoyorozu asked then, her head snapping straight to look at him.
“Maeda, Hina Maeda, that’s Uwabami,” he said, blinking. Why was she- Why were they reacting like that? “She’s the one that called me Kazuki first and I kind of liked it. So, I asked Mei – That’s Hatsume, from the Support Course– and Itsuka, you know her, right? She’s from 1-B,” he explained, looking between the girls and feeling some annoyance bleeding into their emotions.
Maybe they were mad they hadn’t been first? He supposed that made sense. They were closer friends than he was with the others. It was just how things had happened though. It wasn’t a matter of preference or anything.
Maybe he should explain that?
Before he could say anything though, Hagakure beat him to it.
“Is this going to be our nicknames 2.0?” the invisible girl asked, curiosity winning over whatever negativity she was feeling, by the sound of it. “Because I’m down for that.”
“I wouldn’t want to make everyone-”
“Sounds good to me,” Jiro interrupted, a smirk on her face that said she knew exactly what she was doing. Kazuki sent her a flat look. Just because he was more comfortable being called by his first name-
“Works for me too,” Minoru continued and Kazuki felt his eye twitch. “So, I guess we are all on a first name basis now?”
“Seems that way,” Shoto replied, the only one that wasn’t teasing Kazuki, apparently. He appreciated that. He was the only nice one of the whole bunch.
“That’s three more girls than I ever thought I’d get, honestly,” Minoru commented, making it sound like a joke. There was no hiding that spike of emotions from Kazuki though and he let him know with a smack to his back.
“I’m the negative one here, man. You can’t steal my schtick like that,” he told him, rolling his eyes. “Besides, Yaoyorozu hasn’t agreed yet,” he said, because yes, he’d noticed the rich girl remaining quiet. “And that’s fine,” he continued. The last thing he wanted was to pressure a friend into doing something they didn’t feel comfortable with, after all. “There’s also no need to decide-”
“No, it’s fine,” Yaoyorozu interrupted, her voice firm and her expression… visibly turning so.
“Nobody is going to care if you decide not to, is what I’m trying to say,” Kazuki told her, turning his attention towards her. The girl, however, stared right at him, head held high.
“And I’m not agreeing because of that. I’m fine with this,” she replied… before her embarrassment won out once more over her resolution. “So… You can call me Momo too… All of you,” she added, her voice losing all the steel it’d held before, but that was kind of amusing, really.
“Well… Thank you,” he told her with an appreciative smile. “And sorry for springing this on all of you.”
“Don’t mention it,” Ji- Kyoka said, a grin of her own on her face. “That internship really changed you, huh?”
“Did it? I can’t really tell… other than the haircut and the clothes,” he replied, a little uncertain. Sometimes it was difficult to tell if he was acting all that different from before, other than when he had to stop himself from a “bad” habit like shrugging or running his fingers through his hair.
“Yeah, you are a lot cooler now,” Kyoka praised, taking him off guard. That was a lot more direct a compliment than he was used to, from people his age at least. Uwabami hadn’t really held back on praise, after all. Furthermore, it came in a way that he wasn’t used to at all. Because it was one thing to be complimented on his strength and on something he did, but like this? It was… not something he heard a lot. “Then again, maybe that’s because you are a celebrity.”
“Am I though?” he asked, reaching up to rub his neck nervously. He didn’t feel like a celebrity.
“Sure are. We’ve been sending you all those articles and such, right? People are talking about you and not always badly,” Kyoka continued her unrelenting assault of praise directed at him and he couldn’t quite handle that.
“She’s right,” Hagakure joined in and Kazuki could already tell that he’d be plenty flustered in the near future. “You have fans now, Kazuki,” the invisible girl added and he noticed the different tone when she said his name. He wondered if that was because she was getting used to it, because it was awkward or because of something else. “I just realized that though! We have a famous person in our group! We have a celebrity as a friend!”
“That might be… an exaggeration,” Kazuki replied wryly. He’d say it was more like he was an infamous person, really. “I appreciate the enthusiasm though.”
“We really do have to do something about your pessimism, man,” Minoru commented, unimpressed. “Because I get it, I really do, but if you could be a little more positive, it’d probably help you feel better.”
“It’s not like I can force myself to be positive, you know?”
“Who says that?” the short guy asked and he blinked. “Fake it til you make it, man.”
“You think that might work?” Shoto wondered out loud, a considering look on his face.
“Worth a try, right?” Minoru answered with a shrug. Kazuki just stared at him for a long moment before sighing. Well, he was changing the way he acted so that people would like him better, right? What was a little more change? Might as well try to make… himself like him better? That sounded wrong.
“I guess you do have somewhat of a point,” he acknowledged.
“Will wonders never cease?” Kyoka asked jokingly.
“Gee, I feel the love, Kyoka, I really do,” Minoru replied sarcastically. “Now, Kazuki, any models that you got the number of while out gallivanting with the pretty people of the world?” his vertically challenged friend asked him, and Kazuki instantly felt danger.
Not because of any intuition or anything, but because of the spikes of emotion coming from his female friends.
“Not really. Uwabami kept us away from her fellow models and actresses whenever they were around. Not really part of the internship thing, she said,” he answered… leaving out the extra part his mentor had added to that. “Unless you count Itsuka. She got a part in an ad recording Uwabami took us to.”
“Really? Cool.”
“Yeah, cool,” Hagakure mumbled from his side, her emotions and tone belying how she really felt. Maybe she wanted to be in an ad too? She was invisible, sure, but Uwabami could probably give her a part in one anyway.
Maybe he could ask his mentor about that?
Either way, it was really great to be back.
[}-o-{]
Kazuki found himself stretching at the training facilities.
He felt… very excited to be there. After days and days of awkward, uncomfortable lessons and exercises, it was nice to be back to something he was much more used to. Physical exercises, Quirkless spars that wouldn’t end up with him barely putting up a fight and Quirk training, all of those were very much welcome prospects for him. He honestly didn’t know what he wanted to do first.
“Why do you look so serious, Boss?” a voice asked and he turned with a grin. To his surprise, Togeike wasn’t alone. Monoma was right next to her, his usual smug smirk fixed in place already.
“What’s this, a team reunion?” he shot back with a grin that they both mirrored. “And it’ll be nice to get some work done. Itsuka and Uwabami kicked my ass in Quirkless sparring during the internship, so I’m ready to kick your asses here.”
“I’m suddenly feeling like doing some regular physical exercising,” Minoru said from behind him.
“Same.”
“Yup.”
“Sounds good.”
His friends were all cowards, but Monoma and Togeike were right there so…
“Itsuka?” Monoma asked, eyes a little wide before a grin formed. Beside him, Togeike seemed to focus on the actual important part of what he said, considering her nervous look. “Something I should know?”
“Yeah. I’m getting all my friends to call me Kazuki and they’ve asked me to call them by their first names too. I’m guessing you’ll be calling me Boss anyway?” he answered, a little amused. He guessed it was better to get used to his Sports Festival team’s shenanigans.
“You bet,” Monoma replied before pausing. “What was that about training?”
“The three of us are gonna be doing some Quirkless sparring. I hope you covered that with Endeavor,” Kazuki replied and he saw the blonde’s face pale. “If not, then you can get better here.”
“I-We were going to do some Quirk training, actually. Weren’t we, Togeike?”
“S-Sure th-”
“I’m the Boss, aren’t I?” he asked them and both of them stiffened. His grin widened and he stepped closer to the two. “So, since I’m the Boss, you’ll listen to me, right?” he told them, letting some negativity flow through him at the last word to get the point across.
“That’s… That’s just a silly nickname, K-Kazuki,” Monoma tried. Kazuki would give him that. Alas, he was fresh out of mercy and ready to recover from the damage Itsuka and Maeda had done to his combat pride. These two were just the perfect targets.
It had nothing to do with how awkward the Boss thing was for him.
Honest.
“Is that so?” he asked, looking intently at both of them. “Are you sure about that?” he added. He wasn’t sure he could do anything if they decided to chicken out anyway, but as Uwabami said, confidence could go a long way to convince people.
Her infinite wisdom was proven right when both Neito and Chikuchi folded like a cheap suit.
What followed was a lot of fun, for him at least. It felt like it’d been forever since the last time he was able to fight someone without getting his ass kicked. Still, having easy fights wasn’t the best thing in the world. He made a mental note to go against Itsuka and whoever else could put up a decent Quirkless fight more often, just so he could push himself.
Either way, Neito and Chikuchi were pretty good, even if they couldn't win.
“You are merciless, Boss,” the former told him once he stopped, looking down at his collapsed sparring partners and wiping the sweat from his brow. Even if he won and even if it wasn’t quite what one could call a close fight, the two had made him work for it still.
“Thank you, Neito,” he replied, catching his breath.
“Wasn’t a compliment, damnit,” the boy cursed under his breath. Kazuki just grinned.
“You’ve gotten better though, good on you. I’ll have to train a little extra to keep ahead. Can’t be the Boss otherwise, can I?”
“We are gonna regret sticking with that, huh?” Chikuchi mumbled, looking resigned to her face. As well she should, really. That’s what they got for fucking around, they found out.
“Yes. Yes, you will,” he told them and that was a promise. “So, take a minute and we can do Quirk training if you guys want. I’ll be hitting the machines.”
“Slave driver,” he heard Neito grumbled behind him as he turned to leave, but there was a chuckle following. Yeah, he’d really nailed some great members for his Sports Festival team. Maybe they could give it another go the next year too. That sounded like a cool idea.
“Poor bastards,” Minoru commented when he took the machine next to his to exercise.
“We can have a go at Quirkless sparring if you want, man,” Kazuki commented, making him squeak. Seriously, he was good, but it wasn’t like he was that good.
Honestly, they were all drama queens.
“I wouldn’t be opposed to that,” Yaoyorozu replied from a little further away.
“Now that I’m a little more tired, huh?”
“Of course,” the rich girl answered with a smile. “Have to fight smarter, not harder.”
“We’ll see how that works for you, then,” he replied with a grin.
[}-o-{]
“The team is all back together!” Mei exclaimed and Kazuki just smiled at her, looking at Neito and Chikuchi, who had been pulled into a hug with one arm of the Support student each. “We’ll make the bestest babies together!”
“Phrasing,” Chikuchi replied dryly.
“Let her be. It’s not that weird,” Kazuki waved off with a chuckle. “Or maybe I’ve been dragged into the madness,” he added, still smiling.
“Boss is the best!” Mei said, letting go of the two before moving closer and slapping his back. “Now, what babies will we be working on today? I have tons of ideas! Also, what can I make for you two?” she asked, her boundless excitement showing as she turned to look expectantly at the other two.
Not a minute later, they were going over costume designs and equipment ideas. Kazuki was kind of surprised that Neito had a “similar” costume to his, of a sort. That meant that they could share some ideas though and had one more brain dedicated to coming up with things. Granted, not everything was the same. Like Neito’s stopwatches, which they went on a long tangent on.
Apparently, there was a lot of stuff that Mei could cram in those to make them a little more “special”.
While they were at that, Kazuki brainstormed ideas with Chikuchi in regards to her own costume. After all, she wasn’t quite a Hero course student – ‘Yet,’ he reminded himself. – and that meant she didn’t have a costume yet. Not that he had great ideas, honestly. His own costume design process had been completely discarded, after all.
However, he did offer to note all her opinions down and bring them up with Uwabami when he got the chance.
“Are you sure you can do that? Internships are over, after all, and heroes have their lives,” she commented, uncertain and fidgeting with the hem of her sleeve. Kazuki was a little caught off guard by that though, because… he hadn’t even considered that maybe it was weird that he was still in contact with his mentor. “Besides, I might not even get in, so I wouldn’t want to bother a hero with such a thing.”
“Don’t worry about it,” he reassured, waving off her concerns. “I’m sure she won’t mind. And even if she does, asking won’t hurt anyone, right?” he added with a smile. “So, just leave it to me.”
“Already taking care of the team, eh, Boss?” Mei asked, interrupting their conversation. “I’ll do the same. I’ll make all your equipment, guys. We’ll be the best team in this school.”
“More like only team in this school,” Neito commented dryly, but he had a smile on his face either way.
“Does that mean you are all my sidekicks?” Kazuki asked then, drawing a scandalized look from the blond boy. However, before the 1-B student could protest, Mei spoke up.
“Silly Boss, that can’t be,” the Support course student answered, rolling her eyes. Neito seemed to agree wholeheartedly, smirking and nodding along. “I just make equipment, these two are the sidekicks,” she added, and the blonde next to her sputtered.
“Ah, yeah, silly me,” he replied blandly while Chikuchi giggled beside him. “Chikuchi is my second-in-command, by the way.”
“Excuse me?!” Neito exclaimed. “I’m much more suited for that!”
“So, you are my sidekick in this team, huh?” Kazuki asked and took great pleasure in the way the other boy’s eye twitched. It was then that he decided that maybe he’d had enough fun and it was time to change topics. Also because he wanted to quit while he was head, obviously. “So, are you guys doing anything after this? Because I’m not.”
“I have to make more babies!” Mei replied immediately, with no hesitation whatsoever. That was not an unexpected answer, admittedly, but it worried Kazuki, because he was getting a sense of weariness and hunger from the girl. Which, considering everything he knew about her…
“Hm, are you eating and resting enough?” he asked, narrowing his eyes at the girl. “Because if you don’t take care of yourself, you won’t be able to work properly and your babies will be… bad,” he commented. He expected a reaction of the sort, but Mei’s absolutely crushed expression was a bit much.
“But-But-”
“No buts. You are going to take a break and come get something to eat. I can literally feel that you need both things,” he told her, rolling his eyes. Maybe he needed to drag her with Inui too, he mused to himself. ‘Why does everyone in this school need counseling, man?’ Kazuki wondered to himself.
“Fine,” the girl sighed, slumping. “But only because you are the Boss.”
“Works for me,” he replied, massaging his eyelids tiredly. “What about you two?”
“Eh… sure, that sounds good to me,” Chikuchi replied hesitantly and he could pick up some nerves and uncertainty from her. Maybe she was shy? Too bad. She was a friend now.
“Sure, I guess,” Neito added then, to which he smiled.
That was great, because most of his other friends were kind of still catching up with stuff at home after their internships it seemed. They had errands to run, family things to attend to and so on. He understood, but it was still…
‘Doesn’t matter,’ he decided, shaking his head and pulling out his phone. What mattered was that he would spend time with friends still, even if they weren’t from his closest group. ‘I’m not gonna drop by today,’ he sent to Inui.
‘Is everything alright?’ was the response he got not long afterwards. Which was a valid question, considering he’d gone as far as scheduling a visit when he usually just dropped by. However, he’d expected the day to be a lot more taxing, what with the interviews.
Yet, he felt a lot… lighter after that was done. Maybe he’d go home to realize that everything had gone to shit and his situation was worse than before. Something of the sort had happened after the Sports Festival, after all…
“I’m disappointed.”
But he felt like he’d done his best, like he’d done well too. Maybe it was the encouraging words of Uwabami afterwards, or maybe it was because the rest of the day had gone well… Or maybe it was for some other reason. The point was that Kazuki felt… strangely positive.
‘Yeah. Everything’s fine,’ he answered with a message, before setting his phone aside for a moment.
“So, shall we go?” he asked his friends. Apparently, Mei had dragged Chikuchi into a discussion about an equipment idea while he was distracted, with Neito seeming fairly interested himself. Somehow, he wasn’t surprised.
He could give them a moment, he decided with a smile.
[} Chapter End {]
Hey guys! How’s it going?
An aftermath chapter… sort of, but not really. More of Kazuki going back to normal. A different normal from before, but a normal all the same. Will this normal last or be changed for another? Time will tell, I guess.
All in all, I’m fairly happy with this chapter.
Hope you guys enjoyed it.
Discord Link: discord.gg/UTDransjJZ
Random Question: Any favorites between Kazuki’s “team”?
See you.
