Chapter 10
"Agh," Mineta cried out after Kazuki kicked him in the chest and sent him flying back until he fell on his butt. The negative sensor didn't have much time to celebrate that small victory though, because he was trying and failing to catch a glimpse of Hagakure's gloves or boots. But the time he saw one of them, he was hit with a fist to the face.
"Fuck… That's annoying," he grumbled after his head snapped to the side and back. Turning to face the girl as best he could, he charged forward. Pushing aside the uncomfortable possibilities and likely outcomes, he wrapped his arms around her. Fortunately, it seemed that he'd managed to avoid any awkward spots and instead grabbed her by her midriff.
"Wait, Creepy!" she cried out as he hurled her up and threw her to the side. "Ouch," she mumbled from where she felt. Mineta had already gotten up though and was rushing him.
"Grape-" the short teen called out, jumping and pulling back his arm. To that, Kazuki simply stepped aside. "Punch," the boy growled out as his attack failed miserably. Instead, he was met with another kick that took his legs out from under him. "Wait what are you-?" he mumbled, twitching.
It was too late, Kazuki had already grabbed him by his feet and started rotating.
"Grape Hammer!" Kazuki called out with a grin on his face as he threw the short teenager towards roughly where Hagakure stood. The shriek that followed told him that his aim had been good enough. "Man, you guys suck in hand to hand combat," he commented, standing and running his fingers through his hair before throwing his head back and taking a deep breath in.
Sure, Mineta and Hagakure weren't that good, but it wasn't like he could beat them without breaking a sweat or anything like that. Besides, they'd already had a handful of spars already too. That was how they had figured out that Kazuki could take them one on one easily and how they'd ended up in a two against one.
"You are also not really working together, which I think is the problem," he pointed out. "Not really taking full advantage of the number difference there."
"Don't act like you are suddenly an expert on combat, Creepy," Mineta grumbled, and Kazuki could feel his frustration and annoyance but it wasn't too bad. He was coming to learn that despite how expressive he was, Mineta was actually quite the calm person on the inside, which was the important part for him, really.
"Oh, great. Did you have to get him stuck on me again?" Hagakure asked, standing up and revealing that Mineta's head was actually stuck to her shin… sideways at that, which made it pretty humorous. Especially the way the boy had to twist his body to not… Well, break his neck or something. The funniest thing was that Mineta couldn't just disconnect from the spheres now, after the time they'd spent training, without literally hurting himself. "It takes forever for him to get off."
"I mean, you gotta be careful with that kind of stuff in real combat too. It's all for training's sake, I swear," Kazuki said, with a very bad lying expression. The grin didn't help much either, he guessed.
"You suck, Creepy," the invisible girl said, and he could imagine her pouting and all. Fortunately, she only seemed to be mildly uncomfortable and annoyed, but little else. "Maybe we should have stayed away for a bit more."
He knew she just meant it as a joke, he really did. Kazuki still couldn't help the pang of pain in his chest that had nothing to do with the hits he'd landed on his friends nor the ones he'd received himself. It was stupid, but it still stung, especially because there were some people that he'd almost called friends that had actually stayed away.
"Too soon?" the girl asked, and Kazuki guessed he must have shown something on his face.
"What do you think?" Mineta asked dryly before he sighed. "Anyway. I think this is enough sparring for today. I'll just… do some normal exercises… after I get unstuck, that is."
"Same," Hagakure agreed.
"I'll get started on that myself," Kazuki said, moving towards the machines as he tried to get himself under control once more. Fortunately, all that training ignoring other's emotions helped him push away his own too… sometimes, at least.
He heard the other two talking somewhere behind him, but he ignored them. Instead, he paused and groaned, before moving towards where he'd set his things and pulled his phone out. He needed to keep his minders updated every so often, after all, just so they wouldn't come looking for him.
With that message sent, that's when he moved to the machines. He didn't particularly enjoy working out, that was for sure, but it was a necessary evil. He was sure his Grimm would fall short at some point and he'd prefer not to be completely helpless then. Besides, with the limit on how many he could make and control, he could use the extra hands he could offer himself.
So, he'd try and improve himself as much as his Grimm. Heroes weren't only their Quirks, after all. Sure, having a good Quirk helped, but it was also how one used it too. It wasn't like the Top 10 were the only ones with good Quirks in the country. No, he'd need to be the best he could be, himself and his Grimm. He had a few years to grow into that, however, and he'd use every single moment of it he could.
"I thought you said you weren't that much of a work out guy," Mineta mumbled and, with his focus pulled away, Kazuki could feel his envy as he looked at him exercising. "Way to make me feel insecure, man."
"I hit the machines quite a bit when I was in… Well," he trailed off, grimacing before just sighing. "When I was in juvie. There wasn't all that much to do, so I did a bit of everything," he forced out in as casual a tone as he could manage.
"Well, that explains why you kicked our asses then. We'll get you soon though, so you better be ready," the short guy said, narrowing his eyes and pointing at them with his fingers before pointing at Kazuki. "We've got you on our sights."
"Well said, Tiny. Be prepared, Creepy, we are coming for you," Hagakure said, giggling as she moved to one of the treadmills.
"In your dreams, you two," Kazuki replied, a soft smile on his face.
He was so glad they'd come to join him. He was so glad that they weren't afraid or uncomfortable with him now that they knew…
So glad to not be alone.
[}-o-{]
"Someone kill me, please," Mineta whined as he dragged his feet.
"You know, maybe you shouldn't have pushed so hard," Kazuki commented, a grin on his face even if he was sharing the pain from both of his friends and his own. It was a neat thing, to know that he had a higher pain resistance than them. Sad too, considering what that meant, but oh well. He was feeling pretty damn positive all things considered, so he'd ride that high for as long as he could.
"Look on the bright side, Tiny. We're gonna get some drinks and you'll feel better after resting for a bit," Hagakure reassured the short teenager.
"Thanks, Bu-"
"And on the dark side, you'll feel even worse tomorrow," Kazuki pointed out, making Mineta deflate and glare at him. Maybe he pushed a bit too much, but the annoyance he was getting wasn't all that high still. Thus, he just grinned at his vertically challenged friend. "What?" he asked, feigning confusion and drawing a giggle from Hagakure.
"You suck, Creepy," Mineta grumbled.
"A drink and some relaxation should help though, that's true. " Kazuki commented idly. "On that note, I think I might get…" he trailed off then, stopping where he stood and turning his head a little.
"Creepy?" Hagakure asked, obviously confused by his behavior.
"You can go on, I need to… check on something," he mumbled, turning to the side and crossing the street instead of continuing forward. There was something there, on the edge of his range… Someone was very afraid, borderline panicking and…
Pain.
Kazuki pulled out his phone from his pocket and started jogging. As best he could, he called Aizawa, almost tripping as he took his eyes off the path. Panic and pain, desperation. Someone was in trouble, he knew. He needed to do something, he needed to help.
'This is what I decided to do, right? Help those that wouldn't be seen,' Kazuki thought to himself. He'd thought he would feel more heroic if the opportunity came. Instead, he just felt like he couldn't get there fast enough.
"Endo? You know you can update us with-" Aizawa started, before Kazuki interrupted him telling him his rough location. "Endo, what's happening?"
"I need a hero, here, soon," he said, only then realizing that he'd gone well past jogging and was now full on running. "Someone is afraid, in pain."
"Where are you again?" Aizawa said, his tone shifting the smallest bit. Kazuki told him immediately, now more precisely since he was practically next to where whatever he had picked up was. "Endo, don't do anything rash."
"I know, I'll just knock and see if someone needs help… Or if I can buy time, that's all," he said, stopping to catch his breath for a moment before ringing the bell.
"... Don't get in trouble," Aizawa told him.
"Why would I? See you," he said then, hanging up and pressing the button for the bell once more. "Come on, come on," he muttered under his breath. The pain was still there, but it was a lingering one instead of newly caused. The fear was very much present still, however. 'Come on, let me help,' he thought, almost as desperate as the person inside, ringing the bell once more.
Then, a new emotion appeared, separating itself from the other ones.
Anger.
"What?" he heard a rough voice on the other side.
"... Good afternoon, I'm doing a survey for school, could I have a moment of your time," Kazuki replied, coming up with the first excuse he could think of. 'Thank God that was a decent one, otherwise I'd be in trouble… Or whoever is there would be,' he mused, because the person that had replied to him couldn't be the one that he was sensing. And that meant bad things, he was sure…
He really hoped he wasn't wrong, because that would be awkward.
"Go bother someone else," the person inside told him, making him grimace as the line went silent. Taking a deep breath in, he rang the bell once more. "Kid, go the fuck away. I'm not in the mood."
"Please, sir. I only need a minute or two, that's all," Kazuki said, forcing himself to be as polite and "normal" sounding as he could manage. "I'm from U.A. I only need you to answer me a few questions regarding heroes," he added, hoping the fact that he was from a hero school would buy him some credibility and, more importantly, time.
"I told you, to, go, AWAY!" the man inside shouted at him through the door phone. Kazuki brought his hand up and then balled it into a fist before he pressed the button again. Would he get in trouble if he kept going? He was probably on thin ice with his lax rules. If he messed up…
Hell, what if nothing was going on and there was a perfectly good explanation for what was going on there.
"Creepy?" Mineta asked, making Kazuki look to the side. The poor guy looked out of breath and barely standing, but there he was, with Hagakure at his side. "What's going on?"
"I'm just…" he trailed off, looking back to the house, sensing the fear and pain coming from there. When there was another spike of pain, he pressed the button once more. "Trying to be a hero," he finished then, his resolution solidifying.
Maybe he was wrong. Maybe he would get in trouble.
How many times had someone looked at him when he was a child and thought that maybe he didn't actually need help? How many times had he wished someone noticed? How many times had he wished someone would even actually look?
He couldn't just stand there and do nothing.
"I'm gonna call the police if you keep this up, you little shit!"the man shouted through the comms. "Last warning, before I-" Whatever else the man said, Kazuki didn't hear, because his focus was pulled away from the house and his senses. To his side, he saw someone fall down to the street.
"I was told someone needed a hero over here," the… man?... that had arrived said. He looked more akin to Kazuki's beowolves though. Or maybe it was better to say that he looked like a werewolf, really. "Endo, I got Aizawa's call because I was close. What's going on?" the apparent hero asked.
"I'm feeling a lot of fear from someone inside, and pain," Kazuki explained instantly, pointing at the house. "The pain isn't lingering either. It was like… like someone was being hit, and not lightly," he added, doing his best to word it in a way that made the hero believe him. Believe that he wasn't mistaken or something of the sort.
"I see…" the hero said, turning around and ringing the bell himself.
"... That's it, you fucker. I'm calling the police-" the man inside replied after a long moment of silence.
"This is Hunting Dog Hero: Hound Dog," the hero announced before turning to look at Kazuki and waving him away. The teenager, for his part, hesitated for a second before nodding stiffly and doing as he was told "I'd really appreciate it if you could let me in."
"The fuck?" the man inside asked, sounding quite shocked. That was the last he heard before he was too far away to really understand what the hero replied to that. Oh how he wished he could know what followed, but there was no chance of that, he knew. He'd already pushed his luck quite a bit, there was no need to do it further, even if he reallywanted to.
For the moment, he relished in the fact that the man's anger had vanished and had been replaced by fear and nerves. That meant that, maybe, Kazuki hadn't been wrong in his assumption. A second later, he realized what that would mean, however, and that really killed whatever good mood he'd managed to regain.
"Creepy?" he heard and he turned to look at Hagakure. "What's going on?" she said, repeating Mineta's words from before. "You took off out of nowhere, then you started ringing a random bell and now a hero appears?"
"I just…" Kazuki started, before trailing off. Did he want to throw that information around? Was that a good idea? Because it didn't sound like it to him. Even if he wasn'twrong. That would mean that there was a victim inside that really didn't need to have that kind of thing spread around about them. "I just picked up something with my Quirk and decided to see if someone needed help, that's all," he explained simply, drawing a suspicious look from Mineta, and he guessed that Hagakure wasn't much different.
"Is that-?" Hagakure started, before stopping when they saw the door to the house open and then the gate, letting Hound Dog inside. Kazuki watched intently as the whole thing happened and both man and hero disappeared inside the building. How he wished he could know what was going on there, but he'd have to hope that Hound Dog would be able to do something if something really was happening.
"Uh, should we, you know, leave?" Mineta asked, looking unsure. Kazuki didn't really know more than he did, in all honesty. "Or should we wait here?" he added, turning to look towards the white-haired teenager. Judging by the shift of Hagakure's clothes, she did much the same.
"I… don't know?" he answered with a shrug, nervously looking towards the house. He didn't know if he wanted to be there if he'd been wrong. He didn't know if he wanted to be there if he'd been right either, really. Then again, what if he went away and Hound Dog needed him or wanted him for something afterwards? "Maybe you should go. I imagine I should stay here though."
"No way," Hagakure denied instantly, crossing her arms in an "X" in front of her. "If you stay we stay, Creepy, that's how it goes."
"You gotta understand that you are kind of stuck with us now, Creepy," Mineta said with a smirk on his face. "Besides, who's gonna stop me from putting my foot in my mouth?"
"Nobody?" Kazuki answered to that last question, an amused expression on his face. "Because at most I take corrective action after the fact."
"Well, that's better than nothing," the short teenager said with a shrug.
"... Thanks, guys," Kazuki told them with a soft smile. Those words weren't just for them staying with him at that moment. Those were for them staying with him, period. All of a sudden, the rest of the class learning about who he was and what he'd done didn't sound so scary anymore. Sure, maybe they'd react as he feared, but at least he wouldn't be alone.
Mineta would be there. Hagakure would be there.
Midoriya and Yaoyorozu too, but, well, he wasn't so close to them.
And who knew, maybe there'd be more that wouldn't react all that badly. Sure, there'd be more Ashidos and Kirishimas but… Well, if there could be four people giving him a chance, then there'd could be more, right?
He sure hoped so, at least.
Kazuki was then pulled from his thoughts by a message to his phone. Checking it, he blinked at the contact displayed. 'Aizawa?' he read, looking towards the house and back to the device in his hands.
"Get away from there, just in case," he received and he didn't hesitate.
"Well, guys, time to go get those drinks, it seems," he said, somewhat nervously. That message didn't bode well for him, but… He'd have to deal with that later, he supposed. At least he only got the usual response when he messaged back where he'd be for the moment.
[}-o-{]
Throughout the outing, on his way home and once there, Kazuki could barely pull his mind away from what had happened. He had received no news, no message, no information whatsoever since then. His minders were going through things like nothing was out of the ordinary and it was… Not precisely annoying, but it wasn't helping his restlessness.
With no luck trying to distract himself with his studies and even the game Mineta had introduced him to, Kazuki had decided to do something else that would be productive. He focused on the only thing that would always be there, whether he wanted it or not, his negativity sense.
He felt, through his Quirk, the people around him. He felt the sadness, the anxiety, the pain, the nerves, the anger, the annoyance. All of them were weak, for the most part. After so many years carrying his Quirk's burden, Kazuki was used to tuning out the less potent emotions around. Spikes and great quantities still could affect him though, and they grew more… noticeable, the closer they were too.
'Come on,' he urged himself. He'd grown good at ignoring them, but now, he'd have to grow good at actually sensing them. As far as he was concerned, that would be the most useful part of his Quirk for his future job as a hero. Sure, Grimm would be great against villains and to help in certain situations, but… There'd be other heroes in those situations.
However, how many heroes would be able to find the hidden cases like he could with his sense? How many people fell through the cracks because their suffering was hidden from the sight of the public, away from the spotlight heroes lived in? It wasn't the heroes' fault, Kazuki supposed, but that didn't make the whole thing less tragic. So, he'd be the hero for those people, he'd decided.
The hero of the desperate and unnoticed, that was what he wanted to be.
For that, however, he'd need to hone his Quirk's sense. He couldn't be doubting things like he had that day. For that, he needed to be more accurate. He needed to be able to better place where what he was sensing came from. He needed to be better at reading the emotions and sensations he could pick up.
'Maybe I should find some reading material regarding that last point,' Kazuki mused, sitting down with his legs crossed. He was still trying to get a read on what he was picking up. Multitasking would also be something to work on, after all. No matter how used he was at pushing the sensations away while he did stuff to give himself reprieve, he needed to change that. He'd have to change a lot of the habits he'd built through his life regarding his Quirk, but it'd all be worth it, hopefully.
'Focus more,' he told himself, frowning as he decided to hone in on one of the random feelings he was getting from all around. 'Find it,' he thought then, following it all the way across the street. Slowly, he found roughly where the person was, but he wanted more. Where were they, exactly? What position were they in? Could he find that out? He didn't know, but he'd certainly try to find out.
With deep breaths, Kazuki worked, trying to make his reading more precise. He needed to- A familiar weary feeling got closer and closer and his focus slipped from his fingers. 'Are you coming here? Tell me you are coming here,' he thought to himself, opening his eyes and fixing them on the door to his apartment.
He almost cheered when he felt the presence reach the spot in front of his new home and knock on the door.
"Yes?" he asked instantly, as he opened up and looked at Aizawa. Maybe he could have been more discreet or something, but curiosity got the better of him. Even while he tried to train, he'd found himself constantly thinking about what happened. He needed to know, and at the same time he dreaded the answers he could possibly get.
Aizawa didn't say anything for a long moment as he looked at Kazuki.
Then, the man sighed.
"Let's go inside, alright?" the hero said, making him nod seriously as he got out of the way and held the door open. Closing it behind the man as he walked in, Kazuki walked next to him nervously.
"Do you want tea, coffee, something?" he offered, not really wanting to bother but imagining it was better to at least do that much.
"Coffee would be nice," Aizawa answered, rubbing his eyelids as he took a seat on the table.
"Sure," Kazuki mumbled, moving to the kitchen.
"You haven't added anything here," he heard the man comment from behind him. Turning slightly, he saw the hero looking around the apartment.
"Hasn't been that long since I moved here," he replied with a shrug. "Besides, I wouldn't know what to even add."
"I see," the hero said, not really sounding like he "saw", but also not really confused or anything. Then, Kazuki heard him sigh and he tensed up. The man wasn't annoyed, or anything that would make him think he messed up, but still… Aizawa wasn't a very expressive person to begin with, so what if- "You did a good job, Endo."
"... I… did?" he replied, not really processing the words that came from his teacher.
"You did," Aizawa confirmed confidently as the boy turned around to regard the man. "You helped someone today, Endo."
And just like that, all the nerves and dread he'd been feeling vanished, replaced with relief and pride.
"You were a hero," the actual hero in the room told him.
Kazuki grinned at that, as what was said finally dawned on him. His smile widened and a laugh escaped his lips, half disbelieving and half joyous. 'I was a hero,' he replayed in his mind.
He could be a hero.
Chapter 11
Kazuki could barely sleep that night.
For once, that wasn't a bad thing, however. Instead of being kept up by his empathy feeding him emotions that kept his brain from drifting off, he was kept up by the giddy realization that he'd acted like a hero. He was still riding that high even the day after. He'd fallen asleep late and he'd woken up awfully early, but that was fine.
Being so… proud and happy was a new experience for Kazuki and he could safely say that he wouldn't mind if it stuck around. It wasn't going to happen, he knew, the foreign negative emotions that never left him well enough alone were already bringing his mood down little by little. However, he could very much enjoy the feeling while it lasted. He wasn't even affected by the kid that was very much intimidated and frightened by his looks as he walked by.
He wasn't sure anything could ruin his day anymore, all things considered. That might have been tempting Murphy, but Kazuki didn't even care all that much. If something bad happened, well, at least he'd enjoyed a good moment. Better than it happening when he was his usual "cheerful" self, he supposed.
With all that happiness though, came a fairly big amount of motivation.
Hence why, as soon as he arrived at the classroom, he sat down and pulled out a few books and a notebook. He was the first one there again, Kazuki noticed, which was a little surprising. There hadn't been any press outside to slow things down, after all. Then again, he'd arrived awfully early considering his messed up sleep schedule of the day.
After noticing that detail, however, he focused back on the task at hand. It wasn't homework or studying that he was working on though, or at least not directly. He guessed it could count as studying heroics, indirectly if nothing else. He did use the book for that class for it, after all.
What he was doing was research and theory work for future Grimm, however.
There was the crowd control project he had thought of a while back, which he had several ideas for. One of those had been of a bird, basing it off the Nevermore but focusing on the cries/singing of the animal group. However, reading through it, he didn't think it'd work quite as well as he imagined. His creatures still needed to breathe – even if that was a little weird, considering they were just constructs –, and having a continuous cry while flying wouldn't quite work out for that creation. It could still work if he had to stop before doing its thing but he'd put a pin on that.
Another thing he had in mind was using one of his other Grimm as a foundation instead. Like how he'd used the Beowolf to work off towards the Boarbatusk. Sure, they weren't much alike, but it was certainly closer than what the Imp or the Nevermore were and it was better to have a base and modify it from there than to try to work off something from the very beginning.
The question now was which of them to use. If he were honest though, Kazuki was partial to using the Imp. The Beowolf had already been used to work out the Boarbatusk, after all, so he felt like it would only be fair to allow another of his creations to have its moment to shine… It was a stupid reason, he knew. It wasn't logical or practical at all, but it was how he felt.
With that in mind, Kazuki imagined how to modify the Imp into what he needed. For one, he'd probably need bigger lungs. It wasn't supposed to be a fighter or anything like that, so maybe he could cut some corners and give it weaker limbs or something like that? Granted, he didn't really need to do that, so long as he had enough negativity at hand he could make whatever without having to worry about saving energy or anything like that.
However, he didn't like the idea that maybe one day he might be short on resources to make it. It could happen one day. Maintaining his Grimm out and about cost him energy. Forming them again and again when they were destroyed cost him energy and time. If he needed to make a particularly big Grimm for one reason or another, it cost him extra energy too.
He couldn't go around thinking he'd always have excess resources, not when he'd never quite pushed his power to the limits. Call him paranoid, but he didn't want to find himself out of juice when battling villains or when there were lives on the line. He already carried enough guilt with him to add more on top of that.
He was only making the new Grimm for one purpose only, crowd control. Everything else was pretty much unnecessary. Even then, Kazuki didn't want to completely leave it bereft of limbs, for example. So, he just planned to make them weaker. Barely able to walk, barely able to use its hands, but still better than nothing. One never knew, maybe he'd need that at some point. Dismissing the Grimm and making another was a bit of a hassle that might be better to do without at certain times.
'I think this is simple enough,' he mused with a frown, looking over his notes. He'd had to read up on biology a bunch to make sure he had the right information and "blueprints" as it were. He'd probably try and see if he could make that work during training that afternoon, unless his friends felt especially lazy and wanted to skip it for the day.
He wouldn't blame them, considering how miserable they'd felt the previous day. They were bound to feel even more sore that day. Then again, it wasn't like he could spend a lot of time trying to figure out how to make the new Grimm anyway. It wouldn't take him too much, so they could take the day to rest while he did that and then they could go out and do something else…
Kazuki smiled softly at his notebook, happy to know that he had friends. Actually friends that knew who he was and what he'd done and still wanted to hang around. He almost couldn't believe it, quite honestly.
'... Anyway,' he mused, closing his eyes and shaking his head slightly. He could ponder on those thoughts when he got bored during class or something. For the moment, he had stuff to work through.
With the crowd control Grimm somewhat decided, he could move on to a different project he'd come up with the previous day. After all, things would have been much easier if he could have had something to check on the situation inside the house better than just the vague feelings of his sense, right? Granted, he wasn't sure how… legal it was for him to peek into someone else's property, but he'd risk it if he was put in a situation like that.
… Maybe it'd be good to check with Aizawa or some other teacher though, just in case.
It didn't mean he couldn't work on the Grimm though.
That is, before the sound of someone clearing their throat made him jump where he sat. Looking up with wide eyes, he was met with the slightly uneasy expression on Yaoyorozu's face. The girl looked down and to the side, rubbing her arm with the opposite hand.
"Ah, sorry if I scared you, I just… Well, I got here and there was nobody else so…" she mumbled, seeming unsure of where she even wanted to go with her words. Kazuki focused on his senses, but all he got was nervousness, really. That and maybe a hint of loneliness. "Do you, um, need any help with that?"
Kazuki blinked at that, looking down at his stuff and then back at the girl.
"Uh… You know a lot about biology?" he asked, unsure. He didn't want to outright tell her no, after all. Yaoyorozu had decided to give him a chance, probably against her better judgment. So… He wanted to be nice, at least a little bit.
"Biology?" Yaoyorozu asked, this time being her turn to blink at him. "I thought you were working on heroics," she added, pointing at the book for that class before taking a good look at the others on his desk. "What's one to do with the other?"
"Uh, I think my creature creation works better if I have somewhat of an idea of what I'm doing. I don't need details, but the more I know the easier it is. And since I'm trying to work out other Grimm to add to the ones I have, I work through it with biology stuff," Kazuki explained. "And I got the heroics book too, in case it gives me ideas for stuff I might be able to cover with a Grimm."
"I see… So it's different from my Quirk," she said, biting her thumbnail thoughtfully. "I need to know exactly what I make, but then again, I think yours is less actual creation and just making vague constructs, somewhat abstract ones like Dark Shadow, right? That's what I'm guessing, at least. Interesting."
Distracted from his work, Kazuki leaned back.
"I'll admit I'm more knowledgeable in other topics, mainly ones more related to what I can do with my Quirk. Unfortunately, that sort of excludes living beings. I can make some organic matters, like wood and others, but actual, living things are out of the scope of my Quirk," she explained to him, sort of reminding him of how she'd spoken after the Battle Trials.
"That's fine, thanks for offering anyway," he replied with a half-smile as he looked towards his books. Then, as if just realizing, he checked the time on his phone. Fortunately, he had enough time to try and research some more for other Grimm projects. He probably wouldn't get very far, but that was fine. He just needed to make some progress and then continue back home. He seemed to have at least one somewhat figured out so he could try during training, which was good enough for the day.
"I mean, maybe I can help. It might not be my focus, but I pride myself in my intelligence," Yaoyorozu said, and Kazuki was slightly surprised by how… Not eager, but determined she sounded. "As class representatives, we should have a good relationship with each other, shouldn't we? I think helping each other could be a good first step."
"I don't think that's how it works," he replied with a wry smile. "But I appreciate all the help I can get," he added when he felt a spike of nervousness and sadness from her. "Also… You don't mind, that I'm the vice-president?" he asked, now being his turn to be apprehensive.
"I'm… not sure how I feel about that," she told him honestly, hesitating for a moment. "However, the teachers haven't said anything and I've got to admit that you did a good job regarding the incident with the press… Even if you could have done so without the crude language."
"Did I ever tell you what my Quirk does?" he asked then, drawing another blink from the girl. He honestly didn't remember if he had told Yaoyorozu. He had better stuff to keep track of than that, he felt. "Besides the creature creation? I can sense negative emotions around me. They fill me as if I was feeling them myself. It's what I use to fuel my Grimm creation," he explained for what felt like the hundredth time. Maybe he could make a card explaining that or something. It was an amusing thought, if nothing else.
"I… see, I… Yes, you had mentioned it. I seem to have forgotten that, however. I apologize," Yaoyorozu replied slowly, and he felt her uncertainty grow. Then it changed into something else that Kazuki hated. Pity. Of all things, he was sure he hated pity more than he hated being feared or any of that. "That… explains some things," she added.
"Yeah. It does," he commented, sitting straight once more and looking down at his notes. He was pretty sure that conversation was done and she'd move on to other things. The sooner Kazuki could distract himself from her emotions, the better.
'Ok, so, the idea is something that can help me take a look around places. Feeling through Grimm is weird, but maybe I can make something specifically so that it's not weird…'he mused. Maybe an owl or something like that? It didn't quite feel right, but it'd make sense for something that was supposed to be a separate pair of eyes for him. Maybe he could come up with something that felt better. Gut feelings usually worked when it came to his power.
"So, um," Yaoyorozu said, breaking him from his newly recovered focus. "Do you want some help or not? You never… Answered," she asked, already having placed a chair next to his desk. Where she sat, she fidgeted with her hands on her lap, not quite meeting Kazuki's gaze.
"I mean…" he started, before trailing off. She was already sitting there, so it'd be kinda rude to ask her to go away, right? Sure, he'd have to put up with her emotions, and all that but… She was giving him a chance. She deserved one in turn, right? "Sure."
He smiled lightly as the girl beamed at him for a moment. Her bad emotions all but vanished from his sense, which was nice. They weren't completely gone, but they were almost nothing. Very easily ignored, that was for sure, which was all Kazuki cared about most times.
Then she cleared her throat and schooled her features.
"So, what were you working on?" she asked, looking at the books on his desk as if they were going to give her a clue. Kazuki nodded then, trying to grasp at the train of thought he'd had before.
"So, what I wanted is some kind of scout…" he started.
[}-o-{]
Things hadn't gotten better.
That's what Kazuki learned once classes actually started. Yaoyorozu and him had almost messed up by getting too caught up in their little conversation regarding his possible Grimm building. She hadn't known a whole lot regarding biology, but she was certainly creative with her ideas. He guessed it made sense, considering her Quirk.
Fortunately for them, Hagakure had arrived just in time to save their skins and remind them that, indeed, there were classes to be had. Wouldn't have made a very good impression if the class president and vice-president were too caught up on other stuff right as classes were supposed to start. As it was, Kazuki barely had enough time to put everything back in his bag.
The real problem came with classes and having his focus broken. That meant he had a front row seat to feel Ashido's apprehension and Kirishima's discomfort. The fact that the latter was sitting right next to him certainly wasn't helping matters either. It was a nightmare, quite honestly. 'I knew this was gonna happen. I need to focus on something else,'he told himself, glaring at his notebook, at the blackboard, at the teacher. Everything else was much more important than sensing how those two were feel-
'Fucking hell,' he thought to himself, closing his eyes and grimacing.
Why was it so hard, all of a sudden? Kazuki had years upon years of experience ignoring other people's feelings. He had more than enough practice on how to keep himself distracted from his senses. He shouldn't be having so much difficulty ignoring two people. Hell, they weren't even close to some of the things he'd sensed in the past and he'd ignored those too.
So, why?
He sighed quietly before resigning himself. Even if he couldn't keep those two out of his mind, Kazuki couldn't let this already start ruining his studies. Classes had barely started, but that didn't mean he could just slack off. He needed to do well in class.
So, he stopped trying to push Ashido and Kirishima out of his mind. Instead, he let them be, he let the emotions wash over him. So what if he felt shitty? That was nothing new to him. He could do his thing in class while dealing with that, he could. 'Don't ignore it, just go on,' he told himself.
'And the day had started so fucking well,' he thought to himself wryly. Funnily enough, that was what improved his mood a little. After all, it reminded him of how happy he'd been at the start of the day, how motivated he was, how enthusiastic he was. More importantly, it reminded him of why that was.
He could be a hero.
He had been a hero.
Maybe not everything was going well for Kazuki, but overall… Things were going much better than he'd ever hoped they would, before and after Nezu's offer. So what if he'd come across a few setbacks and some things had crumbled down in his hands? Not everything was lost and there were good things to think about too.
So what if Ashido seemed to be afraid of him now? Mineta had stuck to him like one of his Quirk's spheres. So what if Kirishima seemed to want to be anywhere but next to him? Hagakure seemed to be perfectly fine with him.
Besides all that, he was at U.A. to be a hero first. Having friends would be good and all, but that wasn't why he was there. He was there to study, to learn, to practice and get better. He was there to be a hero, to be the one to help people like he'd always wanted someone to help him.
With his determination returned, Kazuki powered through and did his best to focus on his classes. Sure, it was a struggle and it sucked, but he could manage it. He had to manage it. Failure wasn't an option. He would succeed, because he wanted to and because he could succeed.
Nothing else mattered.
[}-o-{]
Lunch break was upon them and Kazuki had told Tiny and Bubbly to go ahead while he gathered a few books and a notebook. He wanted to get some more work done while he was motivated. He was pretty sure the energy that was now flooding him after the events of the previous day would leave him soon enough. Better to make the most of it while he still had it, after all.
Besides, it wasn't like he couldn't work on stuff and also chat with his friends, right? At least he could try. Besides, who knew, maybe the others would have some insight or say just the right thing to inspire him. All could happen in the world if he could find friends as nice as the ones he did.
"Creepy!" someone called and his good mood was dashed instantly. Stopping where he was in the middle of the corridor, he took a deep breath in and let his shoulders drop. Then, turning around, he faced Kirishima and all his discomfort. If Kazuki made him so uncomfortable he should just have kept avoiding him, for fuck's sake.
"Can I help you, Kirishima?" he asked, already wanting to be done with the conversation, even if it hadn't actually started. At his words, the redhead winced and he felt a pang of hurt. Kazuki couldn't bring himself to care too much. He'd hurt more than that because of the whole mess.
"I just…" Kirishima started before stopping and visibly struggling to find the words to say whatever it was he wanted to. Frustration was added to the teenager's emotions on his sense, but eventually he sighed. "I know it probably doesn't mean much, but I wanted to explain… what I can, at least."
"I'm all ears," Kazuki said flatly.
"I… don't know the whole story," Kirishima mumbled, rubbing the back of his neck. "I just know that something about your… case caught her attention, Mina's, and not in a good way. She's not…!" he added quickly before pausing. "She's not afraid of you or anything, I don't think. Pinky… Mina's not like that," he corrected, replacing the nickname with a somewhat saddened expression. "I don't blame you for what happened, Endo, and I don't think Mina does either. But… I have to stick with Mina. We've been friends since forever so… I just wanted to… Well, let you know that."
Kazuki, for his part, stared at the boy for a long moment.
Then he snorted weakly.
"Doesn't change much for me, does it?" he asked despondently. "I still lost two friends because of what I did, regardless," he added. "Don't worry about it, man. This is no surprise for me. I kinda expected things to go about this "well", I'd say. At least there's still Mineta and Hagakure. All in all, I surpassed my own wildest hopes," he said with a weary smile. "I don't hold this against you, Kirishima. I don't even hold it against Ashido… See you in class."
With that, Kazuki turned and continued walking towards the lunch hall. He could feel Kirishima staying where he'd been standing, feeling increasingly worse. It sucked, and he didn't understand but… That was life. He just needed to keep going, focus on the good, ignore the bad and do as best he could.
So, doing his best to push all that interaction and everything that was related to it aside, Kazuki continued walking towards the lunch hall. Once there, he'd distract himself with something, be it his Grimm projects, or his friends. Hell, he'd even take being distracted with a bunch of stranger's shitty emotions at that point. He was thatdesperate to get away from the bitter thoughts in his head.
Once he reached his destination though and picked up his meal, he blinked as he found Mineta and Hagakure sitting on a table. Now, that was perfectly fine, of course. However, the strange part was the other person that was sitting with them. Walking slowly, he finally took a seat next to his more vertically challenged friend.
"Sorry for the delay, guys," he said, sensing the third person at the table feeling increasingly nervous as they picked at their food. "I got held up for a bit," he added, finally relaxing a little now that he could at least sit down. "It seems I missed something."
"Yeah, Yaoyorozu asked to sit with us today," Mineta said, looking like this was the happiest day of his life. "Can you believe it?"
"Somehow, you seem too happy, man, it's kinda creepy," Kazuki mumbled, bringing some food to his mouth as he considered the shorter boy. "And that's saying something coming from me."
"Should have seen him before then, he was worse," Hagakure pointed out, giggling. "We also already decided a nickname for Yaoyorozu," the girl announced and Kazuki wasn't feeling too confident about that considering the embarrassment he felt coming from Yaoyorozu. "She's Hotty."
He blinked.
Then he turned to Mineta and fixed him with an unimpressed expression.
"Hey, it wasn't me. It was Bubbly!" the boy protested, pointing towards the invisible girl. To that, Kazuki sent a baffled expression towards the apparent actual culprit.
"What? It fits!" she defended herself, before starting to giggle.
"... I mean, you are not wrong, but still…" he muttered before sighing before turning to the class president, who looked and felt pretty out of place and uncomfortable. She also seemed to be very embarrassed and getting worse, if the increasingly red cheeks were any indication. "We can come up with some other nickname for you, if you want. I'm guessing you know theirs and mine is Creepy, in case they didn't tell you."
"They did," Yaoyorozu replied, her voice barely above a whisper. "And I don't mind the nickname," she added then, although Kazuki wasn't too sure how true that was, considering her emotions. Still, if she wasn't going to argue against it…
"Just, don't feel like you have to put up with it if you don't like it. We had to discuss Bubbly's nickname for a bit, for example," he said, pointing towards the aforementioned invisible girl. "Doesn't Beauty at least sound more… respectful?"
"Eh, it works too," Hagakure agreed, giggling. "Might help discourage Tiny here from being dumb too, I guess."
"Hey!" Mineta protested.
"Either way, welcome to our group, I guess," Kazuki said, turning his attention back to Yaoyorozu. "Can't promise we won't be a bunch of weirdos."
"Hey, speak for yourself, mister!" Hagakure told him, pointing a finger at him… Or so he guessed.
Judging by Yaoyorozu's small smile though, it seemed that she wouldn't have a problem with them.
Chapter 12
All Might wasn't getting better and Kazuki knew it. He could feel the man walking around in just as much pain as he'd been before. 'Why hasn't Recovery Girl healed him or something?' he wondered as he walked through the corridors of U.A. If the Number One hero was intent on staying like that for whatever reason, then Kazuki had half a mind to go and ask him what the fuck was going on. That shit was difficult to ignore by itself, nevermind having a whole lot of other things coming his way too. Going through his days with All Might's presence like that was going to be hard, he could already tell…
But then again, this was the Number One hero so… Kazuki didn't know if it'd be a good idea to actually go and ask. There was probably a reason for that and if he was hiding it then… Yeah, maybe it was better to stay put.
'God, it's fucking awful though,' he mused with a grimace before they finally made it to the school gym and training grounds. As they did so though, he grimaced. There was Kirishima already working on some machines and there was a guy that looked remarkably like him working out too.
"I'll go straight to work with my Quirk," he commented, starting to move before his companions answered.
"I'll go too," Mineta called from behind him, starting a little jog to catch up and walk beside Kazuki. "Don't feel like working out just yet either," the short guy commented casually. Behind them, Hagakure and Yaoyorozu called that they would be on the treadmills for a bit, to which both boys waved and gave their own affirmations.
"You know you can be friends with them, right?" Kazuki commented, drawing a wry grin from Mineta.
"I know, but… I don't get why they are doing what they do, so I prefer to stay away from them too," the shorter boy answered with a shrug. "Honestly, it's dumb. You were a kid, everyone messes up with their Quirks as kids. It's just that I've got a bunch of embarrassing stories and you… Well, that…" he muttered, waving vaguely and awkwardly towards Kazuki.
"I guess…" the white-haired teenager replied, looking forward. "Most people don't see it that way," he added, looking around.
There were other people training all over the place now, it seemed. Certainly more people around than the previous day, which he guessed made sense. Not only were they a little further into the school year, but the previous day had been a bit of a mess with the press thing and such. Kazuki and his friends couldn't be the only ones to decide that training was a good idea when they were going to have to fight for their lives and others' in the future, after all.
Fortunately, there was enough space on the Quirk training grounds though.
"Yeah, well, most people are idiots anyway," Mineta commented, making Kazuki snort. "What? It's true… So," he started then, as they reached one of the emptier spots in the area. The closest student to where they were was a girl that seemed to be manipulating small objects around her and moving them around with hand gestures. "What are you gonna work with first?"
"Well, I have a new Grimm I wanna try making. Somehow, I doubt it'll be as easy as the Boarbatusk, but I have time," Kazuki mused. Closing his eyes for a moment, he noticed that there were plenty of people around to fuel his attempts this time. For one, All Might was still in the building, and that was plenty enough pain to work with. On top of that, the people training were feeling the exhaustion and pain of the exercises, on top of some frustration sometimes. And further away there were also some people that he could feel. "At least I have more negativity to work with… shitty as that is to say."
"Hm, well, I think I'll work on that thing I told you, about bouncing on Pop Off to move around. Just… don't laugh when I fall on my face and stuff, yeah?" Mineta asked, and judging by the emotions rolling off of him, he didn't actually mean it as a joke as much as he made it sound. He was seriously apprehensive and nervous. It took Kazuki off guard a little, that was about as high as his friend's negative emotions had ever gotten.
"I won't," he replied seriously. It didn't seem like a good time to make a joke then and there, really. His response seemed to catch Mineta off guard, if his widened eyes were any indication. Then they narrowed at him and his face colored a little as he felt a wave of embarrassment.
Evidently, Mineta had realized that Kazuki picked up on what he'd tried to keep hidden before. He didn't say anything though, no complaints about minding his own business nor accusations. He just gave a slight nod and moved a little away before starting setting up some of his Pop Off spheres.
Kazuki looked at him for a moment before turning and seeing Hagakure and Yaoyorozu already jogging on top of the machines on the other side of the training facility. 'Time to get to work myself, I guess,' he mused, rolling his shoulders. Focusing on the empty space in front of him, he delved into his own self, diving for the reserve of negativity once more.
Thus started the process of trying to shape his new Grimm.
Just like with the Boarbatusk, and really any of his current creature selection, it was a matter of failing and trying once more. The thing would, at the start, come up entirely too similar to the Imp. Which wouldn't be bad in itself, but the Imps were too thin, their lungs too weak, to really follow through with the purpose of the new Grimm he wanted.
So, he started shaping once more, taking away the energy from the limbs of the creature and sending it to its chest. It was… complicated, especially because his mind seemed to go on reflex to do the same thing it always did by forming an Imp. Slowly though, try after try, he managed to make progress in the right direction. First came the thinner, weaker limbs, then the bigger torso housing the larger lungs. The horns of the Imp were taken away too at some point he didn't even notice, but it was likely when he'd been pulling energy from the limbs.
Eventually, the nightmare come to life was ready, more or less as Kazuki had envisioned. As he looked at the thing, he wondered not for the first time why they all needed to look so… So fucking frightening. What he wouldn't give to make something cute or friendly, but his power just didn't like that. He'd already tried when he'd made the Beowolves. After all, those had come from his attempts to make a nice dog and… Well, he hadn't quite succeeded, obviously.
'I guess making them with negative emotions influences how they turn out,' he mused to himself, walking around the new creature, inspecting it to see if he'd missed any mistake. Seeing as it didn't seem to be the case, he looked around at other students. Apparently, he'd spent more time than he'd thought, because he could see Mineta, Hagakure and Yaoyorozu on the sparring rings.
Kazuki blinked.
'Huh, interesting,' he mused. There were few people in the training facility now, it seemed. The girl that was moving stuff around before was now on the machines. Kirishima and the guy that looked similar to him were still working out. There was a guy that reminded Kazuki of a praying mantis practicing hits against a punching bag too. Other than them, there were a handful of other students but they didn't really catch his attention.
With the place mostly empty, he decided to give the new creation a test run. After all, it could look fine, but it needed to do the one task it was made for right, otherwise it'd be back to working on it. Kazuki really hoped it would work, because if not it'd be difficult to know when he was doing things right or not if there was no visual cue for it.
With a deep breath in, he mentally commanded the thing.
Instantly, the vaguely humanoid thing opened its mouth and let out a wailing sound that shook him a little. It was loud, for sure, but it wasn't quite what he was going for. It was louder than the Beowolves, for sure, but… It wasn't enough, he thought. It was for crowd control and as it was, it wouldn't do much of that in a panicking crowd bigger than the one from the previous day.
Clicking his tongue, he considered what to do. The creation had worked, he knew. Maybe he could make changes for it to have even bigger lungs and so on, but… That didn't feel right and besides, it would require more energy and-
"Did you throw Bakugo's anger into that? That was one loud shout," he heard, making him blink and turn towards Mineta and the girls.
"Maybe Midoriya's nerves or fear? It didn't feel angry enough to be Bakugo," Hagakure pointed out. Next to them, Yaoyorozu stood awkwardly, likely not wanting to insult their classmates. She was nice like that, Kazuki supposed.
"It's not like that," he replied to his friends with a wry smile before regarding the Grimm for a long moment. "It doesn't work like that, really. I just take every… thing…" he started saying before trailing off. "I usually pull from everything," he said then, frowning and staring intently at the Grimm. "But I've never tried to use specific emotions before…"
Instantly, he dismissed the creature and closed his eyes. There was plenty of energy in him still, considering he had plenty to recharge with around before. Not so much then but oh well, maybe he could pull it off with what he had. Checking the pool, he tried to see if there was any way to differentiate between emotions. At first sight, and as far as he knew, it was all mixed into one thing but… looking carefully, looking deeper, he saw something different.
It was very small, but it was noticeable, like the stars in the night sky. He tried to see what that was about, but he couldn't quite make out the details in the sea of negativity. He looked, and looked some more, as if that would force the strange feeling of it all to make sense. What was that?
"Creepy?" someone called, making him open his eyes and blink "You okay, man?" Mineta asked, looking at him curiously. "You just closed your eyes and stood there doing nothing for like, ten minutes."
"Six minutes," Yaoyorozu corrected, making both boys and Hagakure turn towards her. "I just… uh, checked," she mumbled, looking away as her cheeks turned red and Kazuki felt embarrassment coming from her.
"I just… Had never tried to use specific feelings for my Grimm," he told them, running his fingers through his hair. "I thought maybe that could maybe do something I didn't know about happen but… Well, I'll have to look into it. I tried to look into the negativity I have but it was… weird."
"Hm," Hagakure hummed, taking some skipping steps towards him and around. "Using your Quirk in a different way, huh? As if you needed to become more unfair, Creepy."
"I know, right?" Mineta asked, with a despairing expression. Although, Kazuki did feel the envy that came from him. Maybe he'd have to talk with the guy. He wasn't liking the picture that was forming in his head much.
"I just… never really tried to learn how to use my Quirk much," he admitted, bringing a hand up to massage the back of his neck. "Didn't have many chances either but also… Well, I didn't like using my Quirk either. I just trained myself to ignore it, mostly. Now… I guess I'm sort of starting from scratch, really," he said, looking at his Grimm, which was still around.
He was reluctant to name it just yet. It wasn't finished. It didn't feel finished. His Grimm always sort of… clicked at some point, where he'd know he got what he was looking for. Even if his Beowolf and Imp had ended up being completely different from what he was trying to make, they'd still felt finished when he got them, like puzzle pieces finally falling into place.
"Hey," someone called, making Kazuki and his group of friends turn to the side. There was the guy from before, the praying mantis boy that had been practicing combat. "Can that thing fight?"
"Yeah? Not very well, but it can. Why?" Kazuki replied, blinking.
"I want to fight someone but my Quirk is sort of… dangerous. But I saw you making that thing from nothing, so I thought it might be okay to fight it," the guy said bluntly, somewhat annoyed too. Kazuki could feel his temper raising for some reason.
"Huh, I mean-"
"Shouldn't you introduce yourself?" Yaoyorozu asked, feeling both slightly nervous and irritated, from what Kazuki could pick up.
"Right, Togaru Kamakiri," the boy said, nodding towards them. There was a round of introductions then that only served to make his already bad mood worse, apparently. "So, about that fight?" he asked, now much more curt.
"I mean, you can, but," Kazuki started, before pausing for a second and then grinning. "I can do you one better, give me a second," he said, before making the project Grimm disappear and then starting to make a new one. A Beowolf, to be exact, was the one to next appear from his shadow. "Better, right?"
"Oh, you have no idea," Kamakiri replied, his temper cooling down as he grinned just as widely as Kazuki. This would be great practice for fighting with his Grimm, he knew and besides… His shadow extended once more and a Boarbatusk took form. "It gets better and better, huh?" the boy commented, sounding positively ecstatic, even laughing as a new Beowolf appeared next. "How many can you make?" he asked.
"Just the three, so that's about it. Besides, I just want to try that one a bit," Kazuki replied, pointing at the Boarbatusk. "And if it's too much for you, that's fine. If it's not enough… Well, I'll just need to train more."
"I think we are gonna be great friends, Endo," Kamakiri said, laughing once more as blades extended from his arms and he took a stance. A second later, the first Beowolf rushed towards him. And so, the spar had begun.
"So… he's Edgy, right?" Hagakure asked, sounding like she was holding back her own laughter.
"Definitely," Kazuki agreed with a chuckle.
[}-o-{]
Later that day, back in his apartment, Kazuki sat on the floor with his legs crossed. He was once more focusing his mind on delving inside his reserves of negativity. It was an unpleasant feeling, to have that wash over, around and inside his mind, but he wanted to know what the fuck those small things he could feel in there were. They had to be something, right?
So, he kept looking for a way to get answers. He was blindly moving his arms around a room, trying to find his way. He felt like he was trying to listen for something and he didn't know if it was just his imagination or if there was actually something there. It was frustrating, but he kept going.
Kazuki didn't know how long he'd spent doing that by the time he made any kind of progress. For the faintest, shortest moment, he seemed to manage to touch on one of those many spots in his reserves. Instantly, he felt pain, sharp and through his whole body.
Twitching, he took a deep breath in, as soon as he'd moved, as soon as he'd pulled away… the pain had disappeared. Only a single moment, less than a second, of pain, that's all it had been. 'Now, that was unpleasant,' he thought, breathing slowly to calm himself down.
Unpleasant but progress in the end. Kazuki was sure that those little things were exactly what he'd been looking for before. Specific emotions floating around in the sea of negativity that formed inside him. 'So, if I want to try to use a specific feeling, I need to learn how to do this without torturing myself,' he mused, sighing.
'Nothing about my power can be nice, can it?' he thought wryly as he stood up and stretched a little. God, he needed something to calm himself down and relax. 'Time for a cup of tea and maybe play a bit of that gacha game…' he decided walking towards the kitchen.
As he did that though, he did his best to take in emotions coming his way to improve his sensing. He was doing his best to stop just ignoring them as best he could, at least outside of school. He kinda needed to in order to really be able to pay attention to classes and such. Same back home when he had to do homework. He'd have liked to dedicate more time to that but…
'Little by little, Kazuki,' he reminded himself. Things were just getting started, he didn't need to rush things. Hell, he was still in his first week of school. There was no need to already push himself too hard. And still… he felt like he had to. Otherwise, it was like he was throwing away opportunities, wasting his one chance to do something with his life. His one chance of doing anything at all ever since he was-
He sighed.
'Calm down,' he told himself. He had years to improve and train and generally get better at all things hero. He just needed to take it easy and take one step at a time. He only had so much time in his day and… Well, maybe he could have some more if he didn't hang out with his friends after school, of course.
Maybe it was selfish of him, but he didn't want to do that. It was nice, to feel like a normal teenager for once in his life. It was great to know that he had friends, for the first time, and they even knew who he was. So, he would enjoy it as much as he could without hurting his chances to succeed in his path.
With what felt like the hundredth sigh that day, he looked around his apartment. 'Wow, this is fucking depressing,'Kazuki thought. He hadn't cared much about how empty and plain his place was before. He'd been too preoccupied with the Entrance Exam and then his first few days at U.A. Now that things seemed to be settling though…
Well, it was a little – a lot – sad to see his place so… So hollow.
'I need to add stuff here, make this place look less like… this,' he thought. He didn't have many ideas though. Maybe he could set up some training equipment but that didn't sound like it'd be a great improvement on what he already had and he was likely to just use the gear at school. Some shelves for books would be nice but… Not really all that good either to make the place feel better.
The game he was playing on his phone courtesy of Mineta might have some merchandise, he supposed, but that didn't feel right either. Something else, maybe? But what? There wasn't anything that he liked all that much but maybe he could put some things together. He'd have to talk with his friends, maybe they'd have ideas…
He was thinking about asking for advice to decorate his place.
'God, I'm pathetic,' he groaned, letting his head fall forehead first on the table. And yet, what else could he do? He didn't even know what normal people put around their place, what would be weird and what wouldn't? 'I just want this place to have a little more life… Huh, that could be good. Maybe some plants?' he wondered, looking around. He could set up some near the window, right? Something colorful, with flowers, but not too much though, normal plants could do too…
'Yeah, I like the sound of that,' he mused, a slight smile on his face.
He jumped a little when his phone vibrated in his hands as a message arrived. He didn't think he'd gotten many of those without it being a reply from one of his minders, really. Checking what that was about, he blinked.
Apparently, he'd been added to a group with Mineta, Hagakure and Yaoyorozu by the invisible girl herself.
"I can't get this song out of my head, help!" the girl announced immediately afterwards, making him blink again. The message was followed by a link to a video that he imagined was the song in question. Clicking it, he listened to the music, nodding along with the tune. 'Yeah, that's catchy,' he mused, now understanding the problem.
Looking at the video though, he wondered when had been the last time he'd listened to music for himself instead of just it being there for some other reason. Had he everactively listened to music? Idly he started looking for stuff, going from song to song. With that in mind, he decided on a reply.
Before that though, he chuckled, seeing a message from Mineta cursing Hagakure for reminding him of the song. Yaoyorozu, for her part, seemed to… not know what to say, really.
"Speaking of, any song recommendations? Maybe that'll make you think of something else, Bubbly," Kazuki sent. His smile widened as a list started forming, with all three of his new friends jumping to that topic. "Thanks, guys," he sent them then, looking for a notebook to write down all the recommendations. He'd be going through them in his own time.
Which was good, because he didn't know how, but things had spiraled a little and the three had already gotten into a discussion regarding music genres, it seemed. Kazuki settled to hear some songs and just read as they argued. It wasn't like he had an opinion on that topic anyway.
So, he listened to music, he read his friends' conversation and he let his mind wander a little, following the strands of negativity that reached him. Somehow, it wasn't as bad as other times, he felt. He wasn't sure why that was the case, but he wasn't complaining, that was for sure. He'd take the win for once and let things be. It was a peaceful moment and he wanted to enjoy it.
A peaceful moment that didn't last.
He was maybe two songs in when he felt someone enter his range. 'All Might,' he recognized instantly. That man might just be the only one Kazuki could recognize instantly through his senses. That pain was very characteristic, after all. He groaned, rubbing his chest with one hand as the man moved.
It didn't take him long to figure out that the Number One hero was coming in his general direction. He'd admit to being nervous about that. The man hadn't said anything to him, really. He hadn't even shown anything through emotions that he could pick up, really. Had something slipped past him before? Was that it? But what, how-
The man was nervous, and that only confused Kazuki more than before. What could the Number One Hero be nervous about? Especially… Maybe he was going somewhere else? He had to be, right? Only, it didn't seem to be the case. The more time passed, the more it seemed like the man was coming straight to his place.
Kazuki looked to the side, as All Might got close enough that he had to be somewhere outside his apartment. Maybe he was going to visit one of his minders though? That had to be i-
Someone knocked on his door.
Gulping, he took a deep breath in and then moved to open the door.
"Yes?" he greeted hesitantly. "All… Might?" he added, blinking at the man outside. That was definitely the feeling of All Might's pain, he couldn't have been wrong. So… Who the fuck was this man? The guy looked like a skeleton with skin for God's sake!
"We have some things to talk about, Young Endo," All Mightsaid.
"What the fuck?"