EDITED (YYYY/MM/DD): 2019/06/06
CHAPTER TWO
Kaminari Denki found that panicking inside his own head was a very good way to pass the time because after he met the rabbit-eared girl who was his sister's friend, there was nothing but the anime and manga series in his mind.
It was too much. What was the possibility of someone being… reborn… in a… in a…
He should stop that train of thought before he stepped into the hamster wheel all over again. He had no time left for hesitancy. He had already turned four years old, his quirk could manifest anytime now, and the countdown to his and to the world's end would start really soon.
There was really no more time to waste.
.
In the end, he decided that he would simply pack his bags and ran away at the first sight of any of the character from the series. He didn't think it would be hard at all.
He knew how wrong he was the moment he encountered a tiny and crying Tokage Setsuna at the park with nobody else but him in the immediate vicinity. He cursed each and every deity he knew for his rotten luck. What he ever did to deserve an encounter completely against his wish, he would never know.
Even after seeing for himself how panicked the girl was as she clutched to the empty socket of her arm - she looked very scared and confused - his four-year-old self was still reluctant to help, mainly because his sister was supposed to be away only for a moment to get an ice cream for each of them and he was sure that his sister would do better in helping the girl compared to him. But despite his reluctance, his golden eyes were glued tightly to her tiny trembling form. Somewhere in his mind he wondered how long he should stay there doing nothing but wait for people who may not come anytime soon. For all he knew his sister was also sidetracked with something along the way and wouldn't arrive in another hour. Then what was he waiting for?
More time passed and Denki couldn't stand the small girl's heart-wrenching cries anymore. Hesitant and unsure, he slid down from the bench he was sitting while reading his favorite story book and walked cautiously to the green-haired girl. In her current state, she may very well be a ticking time bomb for him.
Denki knew he was already doomed the moment he wondered what he could actually do, powerless and small as he was, and decided to offer the girl a hug.
"What's wrong?" He asked rather awkwardly. The girl didn't notice however and instead clutched to him tightly enough that Denki felt a bit suffocated.
"M-My arm!" she sobbed. "M-My arm fell out!"
If Denki didn't know what might have occurred, he would totally be grossed out by that desperate exclamation. But he knew. "Then stop crying," he chided. "Let's go look for it together okay?"
"T-together? T-the other kids I was playing with all ran a-away," the girl hiccuped, her tears were positively unstoppable. Combined with her words, she successfully tugged on his already weak heart strings.
"Yeah. I'm waiting for nee-chan but she's still gone. We can look for your arm together for now," he said quietly, trying his best to wipe her eyes. Sometimes his limbs just didn't want to follow his lead and trying to do things gently always proved to be so much more of a challenge than brushing his teeth. There's no gentleness in him brushing his own teeth.
He succeeded in not thinking about about his and the world's bleak future as he focused on wiping the girl's eyes gently. He really hoped he did well enough.
"O-okay…" she hiccuped again. Her eyes were red and her face was wet from tears and sweat, but she proved to be quite a cute girl. It was clear that she was still shaken and scared though.
"But first you have to calm down and drink water," he said, tugging on her hand toward the bench he was sitting on moments ago. He opened the bottle cap and offered his water bottle which she accepted with her one hand. She drank from it without even questioning him and he didn't know whether to be angry or happy that she wasn't wary or cautious with him at all. His manly pride hurt.
She returned the bottle back to him and he put the cap on it again. He then put the bottle on top of his storybook on the bench before holding her hand. Inwardly, he hoped his belongings would still be there when he return because he rather liked both his water bottle and the book.
"Okay, so where did your arm fall out?" He asked bluntly.
The girl wiped her eyes and snot with the sleeve of the hand he was holding before smiling shyly. He glanced to the snot sticking to the sleeve and glistening under the sunlight and decided he would let it slide this one time because she was cute. It was rather disgusting, but children have worse tendencies and he could name a few disgusting things the children in his kindergarten class did on daily basis. He could tolerate a cute girl's snot at least.
"Umm… I think I came from there…?" She spoke up, her voice was soft.
He looked to the way she was pointing at and resisted not to make a face. After all, there was no way she came from there. That road headed to the main road with cars and all. "Let's start looking around here, then we can go there," he decided quietly while gesturing to the area where she was standing at not too long ago.
"Okay…" the girl agreed quite obediently that he wondered if it was really the same chatty, headstrong, and provocative Tokage Setsuna from the series.
Still… seriously. The girl should be glad he was more mature and definitely more patient than his true toddler self. He sincerely doubted that he would stick around and find a stranger's missing arm, cute as the stranger was, otherwise.
.
They didn't find the arm in the end but the girl had a brand new arm which had regrown by the time his older sister returned with two ice cream and a plastic bag full of undoubtedly newly bought books. She grinned sheepishly when he looked pointed to her until she took out a plastic-wrapped children storybook from the heavy-looking plastic bag. He took the book with a small excited smile until he noticed his sister's smug look. Denki's smile fell and he huffed, deciding to let the older girl get away with it. She bought him a new storybook after all.
After he explained to his fourteen-year-old sister what happened and who the girl was, his sister gave the girl her ice cream, apologizing to both of them for going away for too long. His sister didn't have to, but the big bright sparkly gaze the small girl had on her eyes when she received the ice cream made it hard for him to simply brand her as a random lost little girl and be done with it. Then he found out that she was not a random girl because her name really was Tokage Setsuna and she lived in a house just a row behind his which wasn't far at all.
Not only that, he had a feeling that with how smitten his sister was to the girl, Denki's plan to make an U-turn in face of familiar characters had just gone down through the drain. It was a really short-lived plan but there was near to zero possibility of it succeeding. So he sensibly decided that the wisest choice was to abandon it and think of other alternative plans which were more realistic.
As he enjoyed his new book, he felt weight on his shoulder. He sighed when he realized what it was, or rather who it was. Of course it was the girl, now deep asleep with her head on his shoulder and her hands still holding to the cup of her unfinished ice cream.
Then he saw the gleeful look his sister's had on her face and he wondered what he had just signed up to.
He could never be prepared for the day his quirk manifested. Or for the sheer pain of it.
The day started with him feeling a bit fuzzy and dazed in the head. He naturally chalked it as sleepiness since he did sleep a bit later from watching news of All Might's newest achievement in the living room with his older sister the previous night. He didn't think much when he saw his hair to be spikier and messier than the usual when he passed by the full-length mirror while heading to the bathroom either. It sometimes happened.
He also didn't find anything amiss when he entered the bathroom while carrying his towel and completely missed the very subtle sparks around him as he hang his towel where he could reach it later when he was done taking shower.
It was only when he turned on the shower and felt what it was like being completely electrocuted from head to toe that he finally realized that something was really really wrong.
.
.
.
The next time he woke up, he found himself staring to white ceiling, white walls, white bed sheet, and white cabinets. It was the hospital. He opened his mouth with difficulty. "Why-
Before he could finish, all of the sudden his whole body jerked hard and he groaned in utter pain. His whole body felt on fire that he almost missed a female voice informing that he was awake. "Sensei, Kaminari-kun has woken up!"
"Denki-chan!" His older sister exclaimed, rushing to him immediately.
"W- what happened?" He tried to voice out. His throat hurt very much.
"Your quirk manifested and you electrocuted yourself. It was intense enough that you caused the whole neighborhood a blackout and received severe burns all over your body," his sister explained. "It's been over a week since you passed out, and your body is still healing."
Oh… oh.
"...it… hurts, nee-chan…" he whispered, tears welling involuntarily in the corner of his eyes. His eyes spun and he couldn't see his sister crying for him.
"It does but please bear with it. The pain will eventually go away and I will buy you ice cream then, so you have to be patient and let your body heal," her sister said comfortingly, holding his wrapped hand.
He hoped the pain will go away soon because it hurt so much. He didn't know how painful having a quirk was. The people in the series should have explained in detail how awful one could get from their quirks as his body flinched hard and pain shot through his body again.
'Oh kami, let this hell end quickly as you can, please,' he thought desperately from the sheer pain coursing all over his body.
Merry Christmas and Happy New Year 2019 by yours truly, TF~
I'm sorry for not being able to update and I'm sorry you have to deal with my repeated apologies. No amount of apology would be enough without action, so I shall stop apologizing and start the action. I'll try hard to, at least.
I'm not making excuses when I say the latter half of university life is no joke. I barely have any time to myself as it is. Anyway, after months of disappearing, I felt the strong urge to rewatch the whole series again to refresh my knowledge of the BNHA verse and I just finished the first season when there are three seasons of the series already.
I really have a long way to go.
In any case, I decided that Kaminari Denki wouldn't be Kaminari Denki without his Electrification, so there. As in regards of personality, I took notes of Cancer individuals, and in regards of Tokage Setsuna… they're both born in Saitama Prefecture. Who knew?
Last but not least, I wish us all a fulfilling new year with countless new opportunities, plans going smoothly and successfully, and absolutely no regrets in the end.
And please don't forget to R&R. Your reviews, constructive criticisms, and of course, follows & favorite notices, are my bread and butter. See you in the next chapter, bye now~
