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Darkest Before Dawn - 66
🕑 Added 2024-06-27 17:52:50 +0000 UTCChapter 66
“You liked it?” Uwabami asked as they got back inside the limousine that had taken them to the hospital.
“Of course.”
“Do you even have to ask?” he shot back, grinning widely. He was feeling great, even after having to deal with the reporters and such. That visit had been… It had been amazing. “That was…” he started, but words failed him. He just couldn’t find the right way to explain how he was feeling after that visit.
“... Eye opening,” Kendo finished for him and she’d hit the nail on the head.
That was a way to go about heroics that he hadn’t even considered, which he blamed himself quite a bit for. Not everything was a crisis situation. Not everything was about villains or disasters. Not everything was about people slipping through the cracks.
Sometimes, tragedies were right in front of people.
Sometimes, heroes were needed in less urgent but no less important moments.
If he’d learned anything that day, it was that. Kazuki would make sure never to forget that. Because those kids needed heroes just as much as the people in Hosu had needed them. Just because there was no immediate danger didn’t make their situation lesser. Kazuki knew, after all, how much one could need a hero during a normal day when you had a bad lot in life.
“What she said,” he readily agreed.
“Glad to hear that,” Uwabami replied, beaming at them. Kazuki wasn’t very sure, but he thought even the snakes in her hair looked happy. Then again, he wasn’t sure if the reptiles were that expressive… and even if they were, he was no expert in snake reading. “Now, it might be a little late for this, but I honestly didn’t expect a rescue situation to happen, especially one where I’d be called. Normally I have a lot of free time, which is one of the reasons why I took a side job that’s so time consuming.”
“Does that mean…?” Kazuki asked, leaning forward earnestly. Whatever fatigue he might be feeling after spending the morning and lunch with the kids evaporating instantly. If Maeda was saying what he thought she was saying…
“It’s time for me to teach you some more about rescue, yeah,” she replied, pleased and amused by Kazuki’s enthusiasm. Not that he cared, really. He was just too excited about the prospect to really mind. “You did fairly well in Hosu, despite the rushed instructions and lessons, but there’s much more you could learn. I focused too much on the public relations aspect of heroing and for that I apologize.”
“I mean…” Kazuki started awkwardly, breaking all of Uwabami’s rules for how to act and looking nervously to the side while rubbing the back of his neck. After all, he had been focused on that aspect too, probably more than even Uwabami herself. That was almost entirely the reason why he was there. She’d just been humoring him, for the most part.
“Your situation is, indeed, a reason why I skipped rescue entirely, but that was still a bad decision on my part. I should have, at worst, given you a basic rundown of how that works before diving into PR. One should always be prepared for such events,” Uwabami said and there was a lot of guilt together with other emotions coming from her. “Let that be a double lesson by itself, kids. Always be prepared for the worst and you never finish learning things… Now, I do believe you need your notebook, Kazuki?”
“Right, give me a second,” he replied quickly, dashing to get just that. He’d been giving it his all in his lessons so far, no matter how awkward they were, so he couldn’t really say that he would work harder on this one. However, what he could say was that he’d be much more enthusiastic about this class than any other.
PR would be useful, no doubt or arguments there, but rescue was what he wanted to do.
“I’m here,” he said, making his way to his room and back in record time. Both women looked entirely too amused, but Kazuki ignored that. Little could get in the way of his excitement at that very moment. “What are we waiting for?”
“You are just adorable,” Uwabami told him fondly and that got him a little embarrassed, but not enough to distract him. “Ok, I guess we can start going a little in depth about what I told you through the Hosu event. For example, how the summons work when situations like this happen…”
What followed was a good few hours of crucial – as far as Kazuki was concerned – information in regards to rescuing. There was a lot about how one had to have a fast call reaction, since by the time you were called, lives were likely already in danger. One of the points was how one had to be ready to receive a call at all times, which meant that they had to have access to transport options in order to get around (if they didn’t have a way around that with their Quirk, which Kazuki did).
It was funny how Uwabami still managed to give them advice on how to talk even in rescue situations. Not precisely PR, but just speaking tips, like how to calm down someone, or how to get them to work with you when they were out of it because of whatever situation was going on. Kazuki wondered if she was such a good hero when it came to dealing with people because of her skill with PR, or if it was the other way around. Maybe it was both at the same time?
Still, specialized advice or not, he’d take it. It was also something he needed, after all. He’d managed in Hosu, but he had a feeling that things wouldn’t always go well for him in that regard. He was bound to come across people that wouldn’t cooperate or something of the sort. That was also likely to be made worse because of who he was or how he looked, in contrast to someone like Kendo, for example.
That wasn’t to say that all the lesson was about talking, but Uwabami did find a way to add in bits about that throughout the whole thing. How to answer a call to get all the information one would need. How to communicate with heroes and civilian services once they were on site. How to get civilians to work with them. All those pieces of advice were sprinkled in between how to move to where the summon was, how to best proceed once they arrived and the different things that could happen through the whole rescue job.
Kazuki made sure to note all of it down, ready to go over it and compare it to his books. He’d be studying the whole thing by heart, that was for sure. Not like he slacked on other topics of his studies, of course, but if he didn’t get a perfect grade on this subject, then he’d consider himself an absolute failure.
“No matter what, however, no matter how in a rush you are or how pressing the situation is,” Uwabami told them at one point. “Remember that the victims in such situations are that, victims. They aren’t like you or me. They won’t know what’s going on, they won’t understand. They’ll panic and panicking people can’t think clearly more often than not. Getting angry or frustrated or anything of the sort will just make things worse. Always, always put yourself in their place,” she explained and Kazuki felt himself pause.
He wondered, idly, if his Quirk would help with that, or if it’d just make things more difficult. Because sure, his empathy could help him better understand, but the negative emotions could very well cloud his judgment. He’d gotten a taste of that in Hosu, but it’d taken a while for them to get there and the area had been more clear than not. There’d still been a lot of fear, pain and other emotions. He’d managed but… Would he, in other situations? ‘A balancing act, like with everything,’ he thought to himself, making some personal notes besides what Uwabami was saying. Maybe he’d check with her whenever they had a moment to themselves.
“Come on, let’s go to the gym. We can go through some simple simulations there,” their mentor told them eventually, standing up and adjusting her dress a little. More to follow her example than anything else, he checked his own costume/clothes. A touch here and there fixed whatever wrinkle he might have caused while moving around and sitting.
Looking up, he was met with an approving expression on Maeda’s face.
It made him feel all sorts of odd to be on the receiving end of such a face. It wasn’t often, but sometimes his teachers did look at him like that or even Inui on occasion too. However, since they had a whole class of other students – in the formers’ case – or had to remain calm and keep a cool head – in both cases, really–, it was never quite so open and warm.
Still, Kazuki did his best not to react. He needed to keep the act up, keep his head cool, his posture perfect and his expression controlled. He didn’t know if he did a good job, but Uwabami didn’t show anything that would say otherwise, nor did he pick up any emotions in his sense that would either.
‘I really picked well,’ he thought to himself, not for the first time.
[}-o-{]
“I don’t like sparring anymore,” Kazuki whined, sprawled on the floor mat. His lungs struggled to bring as much oxygen into his body as it demanded. His muscles burned and hurt at the same time. He was fairly sure that he had more than a few bruises.
Despite all this, his mentor and his fellow intern both giggled at him.
They were such awful people, especially in his time of need.
“You guys suck,” he grumbled, turning around on the floor so that he could push himself up. His body felt like it was made of lead and his arms struggled to do as he wanted until he was able to place his leg under him too, getting on his knees. “Whose bright idea was it to start sparring instead of continuing with the simulations?”
“Yours,” Kendo answered, laughter in her voice.
“Right… fuck,” he cursed, deflating a little before sighing and continuing to get himself up. “I’m an idiot.”
“Language aside,” Maeda started, giving him a look that got an apologetic one from him in turn. She’d explained how speaking like that could affect him. Others might get away with that in public depending on how they portrayed themselves because it was seen as normal in the right circumstances.
Kazuki himself was, again, in a different situation, however.
He could theoretically go for a public persona that would get away with that kind of thing too, of course. However, he’d face more backlash than the average hero. While Uwabami said there’d always be negative views of him out there – not even All Might was spared from that, after all –, she also told him that there were different levels for that depending on who you were.
Kazuki liked to think he’d developed a thick skin after years and years of bullshit. However, that didn’t mean he liked to deal with that, so he’d rather keep that to a minimum… As much as he could get away with, at least. His reputation would never be quite as positive as he wished and he’d come to terms with that, but that was no excuse not to try and get it to be as good as possible.
“You are very good, Kazuki,” Maeda continued, pulling him from his thoughts back to the present. “Don’t be discouraged. Although, maybe you should learn when to quit,” the heroine told him, unable to contain her amusement. “You are still a solid fighter. It’s just that we are better.”
“Aren’t you the one that’s supposed to know how to talk? You can do a better job at being comforting,” he grumbled, finally standing on his feet once more even if he felt like he’d fall over any moment. Dropping his head back to face the ceiling, he continued taking deep breaths.
“Probably,” she acknowledged shamelessly. “Just because I know the perfect way to do things doesn’t mean I go for it every time. It can get exhausting, no matter how good it’d be. Like doing something you like all the time, no matter how much you enjoy it, you’ll burn out anyway if you do it too much,” Maeda explained, happily going on a life lesson.
Kazuki had learned that she liked doing that, either with life lessons or normal lessons. If she found a good spot to give them some of her wisdom, she went for it, every time. Sometimes, like then and there, it made Kazuki wish he had his notebook on him all the time. The best part was that she was never condescending or anything. That certainly helped.
“So, even if I could act perfectly all the time, why would I? That wouldn’t be me, would it?” Maeda asked him, walking up to him and patting his arm. “There’s nothing wrong with bettering yourself, but there comes a point when you are just forcing yourself to act like a different person. Never do that, ok? Find moments to be yourself, either with friends or family-” That had to be directed to Kendo, Kazuki was sure. “-or anyone else.”
“Got it,” he replied with a nod.
“Perfect. Now, I think that’s enough of Quirkless sparring. Do you two want to do some more specialized training? I’m not sure how much I can help, but I can try to brainstorm with you in regards to Quirk usage or maybe equipment ideas?”
“That’d be nice,” Kendo replied, apparently actually excited this time, kind of like how she got when they suggested sparring for a bit. “I’d like to go over my costume and ideas for support equipment.”
“Definitely can help with that!” Uwabami told her, beaming and looking just as excited as the redhead.
“Same, actually,” he commented, holding back a groan as he moved closer to the two. He was still sore… pretty much everywhere, really. “I have a friend that’s working on support equipment for me, so it’d be nice if I could at least help them. The change in costume kind of… messed with the plans we had, even if we weren’t very convinced.”
“Oh, got yourself a personal tinkerer? If they are good, that’s great. It’s not often that that happens… Or at least, it wasn’t last time I was at school. Then again, I didn’t go to U.A. so I could be doubly wrong,” Maeda replied, tapping her chin with her finger thoughtfully as she looked up. “Either way,” she continued, shaking her head and directing a look his way that worried him for some reason. “This a friend of yours?”
“Yeah, she was in my team at the Sports Festival. You might remember her,” he answered, leaving that last part as a sort of question but not really. He didn’t know how much attention she’d been paying. She’d commented on his Nevermore use in the first event, but maybe she hadn’t checked too far into his teammates and such after deciding not to send them offers?
If she had. She might have.
“Her, huh?” Maeda said and Kazuki felt his soul flinch.
Oh.
Oh no.
Please, no.
“Yeah, the team and I keep in contact, all four of us,” he replied, trying to make things clear because God he didn’t want to be teased right then and there… Or ever, really. “You might remember Togeike and Monoma too?”
“Yeah yeah, but they didn’t become your personal tinker. Now about this girl-”
“Shouldn’t we talk about costume ideas and such?” he asked, gulping and glancing towards Kendo. “We don’t want to waste time on th-”
“Oh no, don’t worry about me,” Kendo interrupted, grinning in much the same way Uwabami was. “I’m curious too.”
“Yes, Kazuki, tell us more.”
“Is it too late to continue getting my ass-”
“Language.”
“-kicked?”
“Yes.”
“Yep.”
“Well, fuck me, I guess.”
“Language.”
Kazuki just sighed.
[}-o-{]
“And he’s all “Hatsume, stop blowing up things!” as if I could. Do you have any idea how much more inconvenient it’d be to have to be careful with that? It’d delay everything so much, Boss!” Hatsume whined in his ear through the phone and Kazuki wondered how to reply to that. Obviously, he wanted to tell her that her teacher was right and explosions were dangerous… One would have thought that was obvious, but apparently it was not.
However, he had a feeling that the pink-haired girl wouldn’t appreciate that and she’d ignore him just like how she ignored Maijima, her teacher.
So, how to tell her that but in a way that her strange mind would understand and listen to…
“That does sound like it’d be annoying,” he commented, focusing on the fact that he’d react much the same way if someone got in the way of his grimm tinkering, if it could be called that.
“I know, right?!” she exclaimed and he grimaced a little at the volume. “I knew you’d understand, Boss!”
“But, I mean, if one of your babies blows up and you get injured, you might not be able to make babies anymore,” he pointed out and there was silence on the side of the line. Taking that as a minor victory, he pushed through. “Or if they explode and injure someone else, you might lose clients. You could even lose resources that you need because of that.”
“But Boss! I’ll never get all the babies I want done if I have to make sure nothing explodes!” she whined, complaining at him instead of to him. It was… certainly a situation to find himself in, that was for sure. Now, how to make sure one of his few friends didn't blow herself up.
“And you have so many ideas that you wouldn’t get them all done anyway. You need to prioritize and take care of yourself, others and your things, Hatsume,” Kazuki said, trying to keep his voice calm, soft and non-confrontational.
Who’d have thought he’d use Uwabami’s lessons like this?
Certainly not him.
“You are my personal tinker now, you know? I kind of need you to be able to tinker,” he added, seeing if he could appeal to some other angle. It was obvious that Hatsume wouldn’t be easily convinced if he just mentioned her health and such, otherwise Power Loader would have convinced her already.
“But Boss, come on! Don’t be like that!”
“Guess I’ll better start looking for someone else just in ca-” he started, not even lying. Maybe he could look into Hatsume’s classmates and see if someone stood out. Because the last thing he needed was to have his costume or equipment damaged or something and not have Hatsume around to help him because she was careless.
That is, if she didn’t react-
“Now, wait a second, mister!”
-like that.
“You said you’d only use my babies from now on!” she exclaimed, scandalized.
“That was before I knew that you were likely to blow yourself up,” he replied, his voice unimpressed. “I’d rather not be left alone because my personal tinker was reckless,” he explained, shrugging even if she could see him. It was great to not even need to lie about that. However, that’d only be if he couldn’t convince her, which he hoped he could.
“... Fine,” she muttered and he could almost hear the pout on her face. “But I want it on record that I’m decidedly against this and I feel deeply betrayed right now.”
“I’m the boss, aren’t I?” Kazuki replied, a grin spreading on his face. It was nice to be able to throw his Sports Festival team’s title for him back on their faces… one of their faces. Maybe he could do that with Monoma and Togeike at some point? He’d certainly try. “I gotta watch out for you and give the orders, even if you won’t like them.”
“I liked you better when you weren’t boring, Boss.”
“Tough,” he replied flatly before chuckling. “Will you take care of yourself?”
“... Yes,” he heard her say between her teeth. Not the enthusiastic response he’d have preferred, but it wasn’t like he expected that. He’d take what he could get. Power Loader would have to work with what he’d achieved, he supposed.
“Great. Now, what else is new in the life of Mei Hatsume?” Kazuki asked, deciding to change topics before Hatsume could actually get angry. Well, hopefully she hadn’t done so already. He thought it hadn’t gotten that bad, but it was difficult for him to tell without the help of his Quirk.
Expectedly, his friend was more than happy to start talking about something else entirely, preferably ideas for babies. Kazuki, for his part, was more than happy himself to let her do just that. She enjoyed that, so why wouldn’t he? He already felt terrible about basically having her working for him for free. Kazuki didn’t need to be a shit friend on top of that too.
‘Gotta go to the workshop and help her out if I can,’ Kazuki mused idly. Hatsume was talking though, so he didn’t have much time to think. Ignoring her wouldn’t make him feel better, after all. ‘Maybe I can try to make a Grimm that’d help? What could that be though?’
Ultimately, he didn’t have much time to ponder that, but he did make a mental note to think over that idea.
“Not that I don’t want to talk with you more, Boss, but I do need to get started going over our ideas. The costume limitations might interfere, but I think figuring out what to do in regards to that is half the fun,” Hatsume told him and if he couldn’t hear the laughter in her voice, he’d have felt guilty – again – about making her work more than necessary.
“Sure thing, Hatsume. Have fun.”
“You can call me Mei, Boss,” she told him, making his eyes widen a little bit. That was surprising, but it wasn’t shocking, if that made any sense. Hatsume – Mei – was a rather… eccentric character, after all. Kazuki wasn’t too surprised she’d gone for that. It was less out of the blue than Maeda had been, that was for sure.
“You can call me Kazuki then,” he replied, a smile on his face. He wasn’t sure why that was, but he rather enjoyed being called by his name instead of Endo. Maybe he’d have to talk about that with Inui? The man seemed to understand how Kazuki’s mind worked better than he himself did at times, even though it shouldn’t be that easy, what with his Quirk complicating matters.
“Sure thing, Boss!”
‘Why did I expect anything else?’ Kazuki thought wryly, but he still wore a smile. Boss was still better than Endo, he supposed. Maybe because he was getting used to it every time he was called that. ‘I’ll still get revenge for this. These three better be ready to deal with it.’
“Well, I’ll leave you to your tinkering then. Have fun, Mei.”
“Later, Boss! And do come up with nice ideas for next time, ok?!”
“I’ll do my best,” he replied, holding back a chuckle. That was that on that call. Pulling his phone away, he checked for messages… and sure enough, there were a bunch of them.
Apparently, his friends had caught the news about the hospital. ‘Are they just looking for news that involve me or what?’ he wondered idly. No way they just happened to come across those, right? He didn’t think he’d have had the time to watch the news with his internship going on if Uwabami didn’t have them do so for lessons and such, really.
Surely not though, right?
Either way, it seemed that he had questions to answer.
He could have done without the link to a forum that Mineta had sent where people were talking about his interview though. More specifically, the comments spoke of the moment when the kids had interrupted the aforementioned. Kazuki had been called a lot of things throughout his life, some good but most of them bad. The point was that, somehow, the people on that site had found a way to surprise him anyway.
“Monster Daddy” was a new one, that was for sure…
And also very weird.
[} Chapter End {]
Hey guys! How’s it going?
More Uwabami internship for you, guys. I think I’m getting the hang of this, finally. A little late, considering how little is left of this, but oh well, better late than never. And who knows? Maybe Kazuki will come back for another internship. With my characters? I won’t be making any guesses.
There’s literally no point.
Anyway, I hope you guys enjoyed the chapter.
Discord Link: discord.gg/UTDransjJZ
Random Question: Any theories about what Mei and Kazuki are brainstorming for his support equipment adapted to his new costume?
See you.
Comments
JACOB HEBERT
Radio Communications suite, HUD smart glasses/visor, some personal shield/defense for when his Grimm are otherwise occupied?
