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Darkest Before Dawn - 56
🕑 Added 2024-04-18 17:52:25 +0000 UTCChapter 56
Kazuki sat at the train, leaning forward and resting his elbows on his knees. The vehicle moved smoothly, but there was the ever so slight feeling traveling through it. He could pick up on it mostly because he was looking for it, keeping his eyes closed. His breathing was even, slow and deep and one of his hands gripped at the handle of the suitcase with his hero costume.
The earbuds played new rock songs he was still going through, recommendations from Jiro. He had those for days, after all, and he was unlikely to run out, considering the girl kept giving him more and more every day. The music kept him calm, kept his mind distracted and dulled everything else.
Which he needed, because there was a passenger in the train with him that was driving him up the wall.
Contrary to what he’d have expected, it wasn’t someone angry or disgusted. Instead, it was someone afraid. As soon as Kendo and him had stepped into the train, he’d felt the feeling had spiked. It had taken him no time at all to see that there was a man off to the side that was looking rather pale while glancing in his direction. He’d chanced a look or two since then – when he couldn’t quite continue ignoring them – and he’d see that the man was traveling with a woman and a child. The former of which kept having whispered conversations with him.
Fortunately, she didn’t seem to feel too bad, other than some twinges of frustration and sadness. Kazuki’s best guess was that the man wasn’t telling them what was going on for whatever reason. He wasn’t sure why, but he was grateful. Admittedly, it was likely because he didn’t want to scare the woman and the child, but Kazuki would take that.
‘This train can’t get there fast enough,’ he thought to himself, before hearing the muffled voice of Kendo by him.
“What’d you say?” he asked, pulling at the wires of his earbuds.
“You seem upset. Something the matter?” the girl asked him, making him give her a wry expression.
“Nothing you have to worry about,” he replied, taking a deep breath in. “You should have sat somewhere else though. Bad enough you are going on this internship to the same place as me. No need to make your reputation worse.”
“Good thing you added that last part, or I’d have been offended,” Kendo commented amusedly. “And I don’t care about reputation.”
“You should. Because bad rep sucks,” he told her, gripping the handle of his suitcase harder. “It’s why I’m going on this internship instead of any of the other ones I could have. I need to try and improve my reputation somehow and Uwabami knows as much as one can about how to work with the press and the public as a whole. There are no villains turned heroes around, none that sent me an internship, at least, so she’s my best bet.”
“I know, I wasn’t trying to say-”
“I know that,” he reassured her, taking a deep breath in. “I’m just… upset, as you said. Sorry, I shouldn’t have snapped at you.”
“I wouldn’t call that snapping, but I’ll take the apology if it makes you feel better,” Kendo told him and he chuckled. Well, at least it seemed that he wasn’t in an internship with some asshole or model wannabe. He’d have been sort of worried. She seemed alright but going with Uwabami was questionable even for someone with reasons like his. For someone completely normal…
“Why’d you decide to go with Uwabami?” he asked. Interestingly, he saw the girl hesitate for a moment, pursing her lips. For a moment, he feared that he might have upset her.
“... She was the best hero that sent me an actual offer,” Kendo answered, sitting a little more stiffly by his side. “Which is… It sucked, but I didn’t get to show off much at the Sports Festival and my Quirk isn’t really flashy or even strong looking… which it is by the way,” she added, narrowing her eyes at him.
“Hey, don’t look at me like that,” he replied defensively. “I’ve trained with you. I know you are not weak.”
“Sorry, it’s just… Sorry. Anyway, Hatsume didn’t really help, I guess,” she added and he had to grimace at that. Hatsume had, indeed, not helped much with that “promotional” battle she’d set up against Kendo. “And Yaoyorozu beat me entirely too easily,” the girl continued bitterly. “So, I guess I didn’t look like a great prospect.”
“Well, that’s stupid,” he said flatly. “My friends got similar treatment though and I know for a fact the school provided internships are good.”
“I know, but I guess… I wanted something that I had earned instead of being given,” Kendo said, feeling angry but also confused and sad. The emotion was certainly strange. Kazuki couldn’t quite place it himself. Then again, he didn’t have the context Kendo had in her mind. “So, I picked the best one that sent me an offer and went with it, with her,” she finished, sighing. “It was probably not the best decision but…” she trailed off then, shrugging.
“Well, for what’s worth, I think you’ll at least learn some things. Maybe it’s not the best place to go for you, but it’s not bad or useless either, so there’s that?” he tried to reassure, which he seemed to manage, if the lessening of emotions and slight smile were any indication.
“Thanks,” she said, looking down at her own suitcase.
“Mister,” a new voice called, making him turn forwards to see…
A child. He wasn’t sure how old he was, never had been too good at that. He had black hair with hints of dark gray here and there. What caught Kazuki’s attention the most were the horns coming out of his forehead, curving up and backwards from his forehead. Well, that and the fact that he wasn’t scared or anything.
“Yes?” Kazuki replied hesitantly, looking around. “Shouldn’t you be with your parents?” he asked nervously. Last thing he needed was someone making a scene and screaming that the villain kid was kidnapping their child. That’d suck.
“You are the man from the hero school, right?” the kid asked, making him blink. “The one that won the tournament, the one with the monsters.”
“Yeah, that’s me,” Kazuki replied. He felt more than a little awkward under the intent gaze of the kid. He supposed it was kind of funny that he was unnerved being under the scrutiny of a child, but he was half expecting a horrified parent to pop up or something. “You saw the festival?”
“I did,” the kid answered, beaming at him. “I liked the horned monsters,” he added enthusiastically. “Their horns are kind of like mine.” And with that, the child pointed at his own horns, as if Kazuki couldn’t realize that he meant those by himself.
They did, indeed, look like his Imps’ horns, he supposed.
At least a little.
“They sure are,” he replied, looking around. Nobody was looking at the kid, which only worried him more. It meant that the boy’s parents were probably not aware that he was there. “You liked the Imps, I take it?”
“Imps?”
“That’s what they are called,” he explained softly, before deciding to bite the bullet. “Where are your parents? Shouldn’t you be with them?” he asked and the boy’s expression dropped.
“They are talking and they are boring. Can you make an Imp?” the boy asked, to which he almost sighed. It seemed that he’d have a hard time getting the kid back to his parents before something happened. He seemed to have next to no interest in his parents or going back with them.
“I can’t use my Quirk in public, that’s wrong,” Kazuki replied as calmly as possible. “I’m glad you liked them. Most people think they are scary.”
“They kind of are, but they are good, right?”
“... They are,” he answered with a smile. He didn’t think going into the specifics of how his grimm were controlled was altogether necessary with a kid of all people. He’d likely just confuse him and make him misunderstand.
“I bet they’ll scare villains,” the boy commented, sounding like he was very amused by that mental picture. Kazuki imagined it was a funny thing to consider, honestly.
“That’s the idea,” he replied with a smile. “Speaking of scaring people. I bet your parents will be scared if they can’t find you. How about we go with them so they won’t and we can keep talking then?”
“Fine,” the kid mumbled with a pout. “They are that way,” he added, pointing off to the side and when Kazuki followed the gesture… ‘Oh, fuck.’
Oh, fuck, indeed.
The kid was the son of the scared man.
Because of course he was.
“Come on,” the boy said, taking his hand before Kazuki could even react and then starting to pull him in the direction of the couple. “Mom, look, it’s him!” the kid called and both parents turned to look at him. Immediately, he felt the spike of fear from the father, which was saying something considering he already felt pretty bad before.
“Ken!” the woman said, having a spike of nerves shooting through her. “I’m very sorry,” she added towards Kazuki, although he noticed that she seemed to be saying it more out of reflex than anything else. “I took my eyes off of him for a second. I’m sorry that he bothered you.”
“It was no bother,” Kazuki replied and he had to hold back a flinch at the way the man’s emotions spiked again. If that man wasn’t a Rampage victim… “It was just a surprise. I’ll get out of your hair now,” he added then, because it was clear that the man wanted him gone and Kazuki was grateful that he hadn’t caused a scene. So, he’d leave it at-
“Wait,” a new voice said and he froze mid-turn. Unsure, he looked at the father. “You… I… Can I ask… Why?” the man breathed out, almost in a whimper, which made Kazuki close his eyes and take a deep breath in.
That question… It was so easy to answer, Kazuki supposed. So very easy and it’d solve so many problems… But he didn’t want to answer it. He didn’t want to dig into his past and open scars, dig out memories. He was moving forward and he didn’t want to share those things with some stranger on the train.
As much as he didn’t want to, though, he was sure the man was a victim of an incident he had caused.
He owed the man something.
“My Quirk… It’s more than just making… creatures,” he explained, turning to face the man and squaring his shoulders. “My Quirk lets me feel negative emotions. Anger, sadness, nerves, embarrassment and… fear,” he added and he saw the realization in both parent’s faces. “Ken here feels none of those things, especially with you here. You are a lucky guy,” he said, directing that last part to the boy in question. “I wasn’t so lucky and I had a Quirk I didn’t know how to control.”
If going into detail about it was worse than how he was feeling just having to say that, then Kazuki had clearly made the right call keeping that to himself. He felt so… tired just saying that. He felt small and weak, like he was that kid once more, confused and afraid. He felt awful, but more than anything, he felt…
Helpless.
“I was there,” the man said, confirming his suspicions.
“Could I… ask for your name?” Kazuki asked, his right hand balling into a fist before he relaxed once more. Maybe that was the wrong thing to say, but he wanted a name or something that’d give him some sort of clue.
“Jun Tajima,” the man answered, straightening a little. It was probably supposed to show courage, but to Kazuki it looked incredibly brittle. Maybe it was because of the insight he had on his emotions. Regardless… ‘Tajima, there was a couple with that surname that died,’ he remembered. The man, Jun, looked young too. If he had to guess then… He’d killed his parents, probably when he was still young. He might even have been there.
Looking at the son, Ken, Kazuki wondered if he was even alive when the Rampage happened. He looked like he might be young enough not to. Ultimately… it was unimportant, he supposed.
“I’m very sorry,” Kazuki replied, giving him a sad smile. “For whatever it might be worth, I am sorry.”
“Can that happen again?” the man asked then.
“Not if I have any say in the matter,” Kazuki answered, giving the family as determined an expression as he could. “I’ll do anything in my power so that it won’t. That’s… all I can do.”
“I… I’ll take that,” the father said, giving him a shaky smile. He was deathly afraid still though, which was why Kazuki was kind of surprised he was talking, let alone with any semblance of security. “Thank you.”
“... Don’t mention it,” Kazuki replied with a nod before turning and leaving. He heard the son talking with his mother behind him. He felt the fear of the father still rushing towards him. He saw Kendo looking at him curiously.
In the end though, he just sat down and continued listening to music.
[}-o-{]
As they got off the train, Kazuki self-consciously fidgeted with the visor of his cap once more. That encounter had gone fairly well, but he’d rather like to avoid being recognized again. ‘Don’t look like you are hiding,’ he told himself, twitching as he got his hand back to his side and then shoved it inside his pocket.
“I think I’m starting to understand why you came here,” Kendo commented from his side, to which he smiled wryly.
“I’m terrified of what the public thinks of me,” he admitted as they walked. “I’ve seen the news and they are not flattering. So, my hope is that I can learn something here that’ll help me with them… either of them,” he added, taking a deep breath in and then letting it out explosively.
“I guess that makes sense,” Kendo replied with a nod, but Kazuki could feel the emotions building up in her. He had a feeling he knew what those were all about. “Certainly more than me coming here.”
“If it helps, I think it doesn’t matter. Everyone could use help with how to deal with the public. Imagine the others in their own internships having to deal with the press at some point. Do you think they’ll do well? We haven’t had a single class in that regard yet,” Kazuki pointed out, and he wasn’t even having to make stuff up. He really thought that could be a problem. This was their first dive into heroics, which often had to deal with the press after any kind of action was taken.
He couldn’t imagine having a microphone shoved on his face and having to answer questions about what they’d done. He was sure he’d mess it up one way or another. Then again, maybe it was just a him thing, considering his current grievances with the news. He’d seen plenty of misunderstandings and such happening though, because communication wasn’t the person interviewed’s strong suit.
Then again, the hero they were interning under would probably deal with most of that, right?
He hoped so, for his friend’s sake.
“I guess you do have a point there,” Kendo acknowledged, looking thoughtful but still feeling kind of bad. “I won’t lie though. I hope we get to see some action.”
“I wouldn’t hold my breath,” he told her, deciding to be honest. She probably wouldn’t like it, but it was better than lying to her to make her feel better. “From what I know and was told, she’s not very active here and when she does do something it’s usually search and rescue, since that’s what her Quirk is the strongest at.”
At that, Kendo grimaced. No surprises there though. She had a good combat Quirk herself, so she probably wanted to do stuff related to that, get better at that. Kazuki thought she’d have been better off with someone else himself. Alas, she’d made her decision, partly because of him, he supposed. Not that she had much time to change her mind when they’d submitted their forms.
“If you look at it a certain way, this could be a good chance for you to cover other points in your skill set. You have a solid combat foundation. With this, you can cover search, rescue and PR,” he continued, feeling like he was starting to ramble a little. He was trying, alright? Comforting others wasn’t easy, even if he could tell how they were feeling. Sometimes he just didn’t know what the right words were.
“I guess you are not wrong. Doesn’t mean I have to like it,” Kendo replied, making him chuckle. Well, she wasn’t wrong about that.
“If it helps, I’d rather be fighting things too, but alas…” he trailed off then, shrugging. Once more, he resisted the urge to fidget with his cap. Nobody seemed to be so much as glancing at them, fortunately. Which was good, because he didn’t think the cap did all that great a job at hiding his identity. Certainly less conspicuous than going harder on the disguise with stuff like sunglasses and a mask, at least. “Needs must.”
“Yeah, I know,” Kendo mumbled. “I know you are right. I just… Well, I was kind of excited for this before the Sports Festival. Now I’m feeling a little disappointed, I guess.”
“Yeah, I get that,” he acknowledged. He felt more or less the same way, really. Not for the same reasons as her, but he had been thoroughly disappointed when his dreams for things after the Festival had been proven too hopeful. “Well, I guess it wouldn’t be school if it didn’t have its boring parts, right?” he asked with a half-smile.
One that turned into a full grin when the girl beside him snorted.
“You are right about that too, I guess.”
[}-o-{]
Eventually, the two of them reached the building that Uwabami’s agency called its headquarters.
Standing outside of it though, Kazuki couldn’t help but feel out of place. Looking down at his outfit, with his faded black jeans, sneakers and white shirt open over a blue undershirt, he felt like he was too much of a peasant to step into the place. It looked too good and everyone he could see in and out of the building was dressed with suits and other very formal clothes.
“I’m not the only one feeling underdressed, right?” Kendo asked from beside him, her sudden insecurity showing in the stream of emotions. She looked much better than him, in his honest opinion, but then again, what did he know about fashion?
“No, you are definitely not,” he answered wryly. “Better to get it over with, right?”
“Right… You first?” the girl asked, trying to make it sound like a joke but the nerves he was sensing spoke of more. So, Kazuki took heart in the fact that she needed help. It allowed him to ignore his own nerves as he squared his shoulders and moved forward.
Somehow, the automated doors just made the whole thing more intimidating.
Freezing at the door would have made everything worse though, however. Besides, Kazuki was trying to help out his fellow internship student – Partner? Comrade? Whatever – get to it too. There was nothing to be afraid of. He’d been asked to come here, after all.
Then again, as he stepped inside with Kendo following behind him, Kazuki was very aware that it was Uwabami that had wanted him to go there. Everyone else that worked at the building might not even be aware that he was coming. They could very well not be ok with him doing his internship there, or being a hero-in-training at all. Hell, there might be another victim somewhere there.
‘No backing down now,’ he thought to himself, reminding himself that he had to keep going, for Kendo if nothing else. Thus, he continued walking all the way to the counter in the entrance hall. It was spacious and he felt like he could get lost there, which was its own sort of overwhelming. The counter looked like the place to go to at least ask where they were supposed to go.
“... Hello,” he greeted lamely, his nerves failing him. At least he’d managed not to make some awkward noise other than that single word. What he hadn’t managed was not to make that sound like a question as much as a statement. When the woman behind looked up, he went to say that they were there for their internships.
The woman beat him to the punch, however.
“Kazuki Endo and Itsuka Kendo, right?” she asked, after giving the two of them a look each. He found himself somewhat surprised that she hadn’t reacted to the sight of him in any way. Instead, she just put on a professional smile and stood up. “Cover for me, would you?” she asked, a woman to the side, who agreed without problem. “We’ve been waiting for you two, if you’d follow me? I’m Suzu Shiba,” the woman introduced herself, walking around the counter and signaling for them to follow.
‘Name doesn’t ring any bells, thankfully,’ Kazuki thought to himself as he nodded hurriedly and they started walking off to the side. Sharing a glance with Kendo, she seemed about as out of her element as he felt. That was kind of comforting, admittedly, even if it was probably bad of him to think so.
“We are all very excited to have you here,” the woman told them as they walked, which made Kazuki wonder if that was true. He didn’t detect any lie, but it sounded very much like it was some sort of scripted/rehearsed speech. Still, she wasn’t outright saying stuff she didn’t mean at all, so he guessed it was fine. “If you need any help at all, you can ask anyone here. We are here to help you and teach you what we can about work here. We might not be heroes, but we have worked with heroes for a while.”
Shiba stopped for a moment to point out a few places they came across through the halls. Many of them didn’t sound too interesting, but everywhere had its use. Kazuki tried to commit all the departments and offices and such to memory, just in case. One never knew, after all. He did make special note of the PR department though. If he could, he’d drop by for a chat or ten during his internship.
That place might as well have been a vault full of treasures, as far as Kazuki was concerned.
Alas, their tour/journey wasn’t quite over yet.
“Uwabami has also made it clear that we are to treat you two as guests, to the best of our ability,” Shiba continued and Kazuki caught a hint of anger and frustration there. It was small, but it was there. That paired with her words painted a picture in his mind. “If any of you have problems with anyone, please do let someone know. Uwabami or someone else will deal with the situation, alright?” she added.
‘Did she have to threaten them because of me?’ he wondered to himself, frowning. Suddenly, he was worried that he’d cause trouble for someone. If someone was fired or something because of him, he could almost see them in the news, just like his mother.
“I’m disappointed, in UA and in our heroes in general.”
“I’m sure we’ll have a great time here,” Kazuki said, doing his best to put a smile on his face. The words and the expressions were as much for Shiba as they were for himself.
“Well, I certainly hope so,” a new voice said and the two of them turned to see Uwabami right there, with her blond, curled hair, maroon dress and golden bracelets. “Welcome. I look forward to working with the two of you,” the woman told them with a smile.
“Thanks for the opportunity,” Kazuki replied, with Kendo following suit a moment later.
[} Chapter End {]
Hey guys! How’s it going?
I didn’t expect the trip to take the whole chapter, but crazier things have happened in stories of mine.
Not much else to say, honestly, so I’ll just add…
I hope you enjoyed the chapter.
Discord Link: discord.gg/UTDransjJZ
Random Question: I don’t remember if I went asked this before but… Any predictions on how this arc will go?
See you.
Comments
JACOB HEBERT
I'm realizing during this chapter that thw key of public relations is controlling what info the public has about you, and controlling how they get that info. This means Kazuki is probably gonna make some self interview or maybe regular interview videos, since aside from maybe someone who read the exact details of his Quirk, everyone else thinks he's a guy who merely summons monsters and chose to summon them in the Rampage. This will open up other problems regarding public fears of loss of control, but one thing at a time.
