Chapter Forty

Home

"When life takes its own course,

Sometimes we just don't get to choose.

I'd rather be there next to you,

Promise you'll wait for me, wait for me,

Wait 'til I'm home.

All I have is this feeling inside of me,

The only thing I've ever known."

- Already Home (A Great Big World)

Eraserhead watched the city below, but he was finding it difficult to concentrate on the swarms of ants. No, for he was busy staring at the small star he held in his hand: his Charm.

As he looked at it, he tried to grasp onto a forgotten time, of blond hair and soft touches. He'd imagined a tunnel and a crowd of voices, and…

Shouta.

His name was Shouta?

His head ached and he curled his fingers around the Charm before he slipped it away. Even now, he wished to search out and find that small splash of colour in his world, but…

Tell me you don't blame me, tell me you're okay, tell me you want to come home…

...Home? Where was Home?

Eraserhead dropped silently from the building and allowed his barbed scarf to unravel. As he fell, he looped it around a fluorescent sign that jutted out the brickwork like a thorn, and he took hold of the capture weapon as he rappelled down. Although the dagger-like edges pressed tight against his palms, they didn't puncture the gloves, and he'd long since lost feeling in his palms. His shoes crunched on the pavement and he flicked the scarf to unhook it from the sign.

Home.

Shouta had to go-

Eraserhead flinched. He scratched at his wrist, where a faint scar marred his flesh.

No, no, no. Father would be upset. His home was with Father. Father would know…

And yet his feet moved. Although it was day, there were plenty of shadows to slip between, but even then he only got so far. He stopped as soon as his skin crawled. Eraserhead felt at the eyepatch over his left eye, but his mask was in the way of it. Where was he going?

He wanted to get There. He needed to go There. He was waiting for him, He was waiting for him, He was waiting for him.

Survive. Survive. Survive.

He activated his Erasure with his right eye and for a moment he saw four different sights. One was of darkness, one contained his feet, one was of the alleyway he'd been close to passing through, and the other was on the opposite side of the street. A metallic whine made his head ache, but he didn't let it stop him as he pressed onwards, avoiding the gaze of the cameras. Only when he was clear of them did he drop his Erasure, and the whine vanished, although his head felt like it would be split apart if he thought too much.

So he didn't think at all. Eraser let his feet guide him through streets and alleys that were both strange and familiar. Had he been here before? Maybe, a lifetime ago.

Finally, he was at his destination.

A small set of narrow stairs led to a door with a buzzer beside it. He slowly climbed up each mountainous step, and stared at the keypad with curiosity. A number… A number… A 6-digit number.

He keyed it in automatically. His body remembered more than he did. The light turned green.

Green, like his eyes. Green, green, green.

He opened the door and entered Home and…

A quiet apartment. Things were strewn about, but more so due to laziness than ransacking. He was supposed to say something as he entered, but the words alluded him, not that it would've mattered anyway.

No one was there.

Eraser moved further inside. It was as if everything had been frozen in time: crusty dishes were piled beside the sink, dust covered the ground, and the air smelled musty with negligence. His feet carried him forwards, each step streaking a soft line along the dusty floor as he moved for the bedroom.

The double bed was unmade. A layer of dust covered the sheets, and moths had eaten a few holes into it, but looking at it brought back something:

When he woke again, he felt a bit more like himself. Something warm and soft was pressed against his chest, and at first he imagined it was a pillow that'd absorbed his own body heat, but when he pressed more against it, it moved.

"Ngh…" whined a familiar voice, and he realised his 'pillow' was a sleepy Hizashi Yamada. His face was pressed against the blond's chest, with the blond's arms wrapped around him, as if he were sheltering Shouta from something unseen.

Home.

Eraserhead fell on the unmade bed. A cloud of dust rose with the fall of his body and it made the air difficult to breathe, but he was more surprised by how cold it was. The bed was cold and empty. No one had slept there for years, since…

I love you, Sho.

We'll become heroes together, Zashi…

...Heroes together? Had he once…

Eraser sat up and pulled off his mask, but ensured his eyepatch stayed on. Father didn't need to see this place.

His gaze landed on something rectangular, and it took him a moment to realise it was a television. Typically he would've ignored it, but something inside him thrummed. Today. Today. He'd be on today.

Without thinking more on it, Eraser turned it on and came face to face with blond hair and orange lenses and bandages.

"That was QUITE the race!" said the bubbly voice on the screen. "Midnight, your kids are CRAZY! 1-B has some big, big shoes to fill, Vlad!"

Despite all the bandages, Hizashi was grinning and exuberant and the simple sight of him like that lessened the constant pain in Eraser's skull. His shoulders shuddered as he relaxed, almost hypnotised by the sight of the man on the screen.

Then the camera turned. Sitting beside Hizashi was another hero, dressed in red and white, and Eraser recognised him instantly: Vlad King. "1-A are showy," he said with a grunt, "but keep an eye on my students. They haven't shown you what they're truly capable of yet."

Eraserhead didn't feel much usually. He simply did what Father wanted so he wasn't punished. Everything was done logically and by Father's wishes and Eraser typically felt nothing but the pain in his head, and yet…

The simple sight of Vlad King made him burn with rage.

The hero had tried to hurt Hizashi! Hizashi was-

The camera shifted again, this time focusing on a female hero wearing a tight costume: Midnight. "Our next round will be… Cavalry battle!"

The rage intensified. She had been there! She had been there! She had tried to hurt his Hizashi too!

The Quirk in his right eye flared.

For a moment, he saw a million windows of the world. Through one was surely Hizashi Yamada, his face paused in surprise… But then Eraser blacked out.

More dust rose from the bedsheets, while what remained was dirtied by blood.

-x-

The phone in his back pocket sparked. Present Mic tried to yelp, but his breath caught in his throat, until… A second later, it passed. His oxygen returned and his phone settled. He was relieved he hadn't ended up yelping, considering his current commentary in the Sports Festival, until he realised they'd flicked off their microphone anyway, so Midnight could announce the next event.

Even so, a commotion swept through the entire audience, and he noticed people pulling out their own phones in confusion.

"Hey hey," he said to Kan, who also pulled out his phone. "What's up?"

Vlad looked his device over, his face locked in a frown. "Not sure… Some interference?"

He waited a few seconds, to see if it would happen again, but it didn't. With nothing more happening, he shrugged his shoulders and turned the microphone back on using a foot pedal he'd had them temporarily install. His body was tightly bandaged, arms still useless, although he could use them like two chopsticks to clumsily hold things between the two casts. Recovery Girl promised to remove them soon, and he couldn't wait.

"Sorry 'bout that, [listeners], just a bit of feedback from our system," he lied, hoping to put everyone at ease, considering the recent villain attack. There wouldn't be any problems today: there were too many heroes about. If this was something the villains had done, it was just a harmless scare tactic. The Sports Festival continued.

This year's events were the same as his when he'd been a first year, with the obstacle course, cavalry game, and the eventual tournaments, and seeing his students applying their own tactics made him emotional. Even the obstacle course had been similar, except the mountain climb zone had been replaced by ravines. Hizashi tried to imagine how team Hi-Ta-Nem-Sei would've fared against that area and what tactics they would've tried.

Perhaps he would've gone a similar route to Mei Hatsume, who used her support gadgets to easily pass. She was one of the four students he was keeping a close eye on today, while the others were Midoriya, Bakugou, and...

Shinsou had brainwashed other students into carrying him through the obstacle course.

Hizashi grinned at the sight, although it hurt a little. Yes, it was forced teamwork, but it was comforting to see that Shinsou knew his own strengths and weaknesses.

The cavalry battle was different though: he saw Shinsou talking to three others in a group. Ojiro was one of them, but he looked nervous and kept shaking his head. Aoyama, another member of the group, struck a few poses rather than answer, while the other was a student from class 1-B, who seemed to side with Ojiro.

Shinsou's people-skills were definitely growing, but…

Shinsou was really arguing with them… Mic could guess what it was about: he wanted them to let him use his Quirk, but they were refusing. They'd have perfect teamwork if they agreed, but knowing Ojiro especially, they wanted to win on their conscious merits. Mic watched, worried. There was a chance Shinsou would just use his Quirk on them anyway as they argued, but… He didn't.

The arguing stopped, but Hizashi didn't see any tell-tale signs of the others being mind controlled. Instead, it seemed they'd come to an agreement together. Mic thrummed with pride. Shinsou would become a great hero...

Hatsume was a part of Midoriya's team, so keeping an eye on them was easy enough, while it was difficult not to notice Bakugou's group with the student constantly screaming about how he was going to murder everyone. At least he had excellent energy for the cameras!

The cavalry was certainly exciting, and his commentary rarely let up, although Mic had to resist the urge to commentate about Shinsou's team, who went wholly ignored by Todoroki and Bakugou's teams. Apparently everyone had it out for Midoriya! Crazy kids.

At the end, the four teams to progress were Todoroki's, Bakugou's, Shinsou's and Midoriya's, and he felt prideful at their progress. He only hoped they'd fare well in the finals…

-x-

Hizashi, Nemuri and Kan were sitting in the staff room afterwards, having a few beers to celebrate the end of another successful Sports Festival.

"What an exciting year!" Nemuri said with an eager grin. "They really turned me on! Ojiro vs. Kirishima? I was fanning myself the entire time!"

Mic laughed and downed a good few sips of beer through a straw, before he said, "I really thought Ojiro was gonna win that! Sorry Kan, but class 1-A really obliterated the competition!"

Vlad King shook his head and sipped his own beer, a line of alcohol dripping from his fangs. "Shoda did well - that Kaminari kid underestimated him and went flying outta the ring. If Iida hadn't been so fast, Shoda would've gone a lot higher. Bad match up."

"Will Midoriya be alright?" he asked Nemuri as he finished off his third drink.

"Yeah," she said with a shrug, "he'll get healed up and be back to breaking bones by tomorrow. Nothing new. I just hope Bakugou can calm his tits though, as much as I appreciate his youthful energy."

"Why did Iida leave before the ending ceremony?"

Nemuri shook her head. "I'm not sure yet… I wanna know what happened after the obstacle course." She pulled out her phone and checked it over. "The phones went weird… Was it really feedback?"

"No clue," Hizashi said, but didn't even try to fish out his own phone. "It could've been a Quirk, but not every phone was affected. According to the news online, it wasn't just at the Sports Festival either - it was all across the city."

"Everywhere?"

"Not everywhere," he said with a frown. "Some places had nothing happen. They're investigating, but they dunno what caused it yet, yo."

"Just what we needed…" Hizashi exhaled and finished the beer, just as Nemuri's phone started to ring.

She answered instantly and after only a few words on the other line, her face grew pale. "Wait... What?" Nemuri carefully set her drink down as she stood up, her expression twisted with horror. "In Hosu? We'll be there as soon as-... No? But we've known him since-... I understand. When? Okay, I'll tell Mic and Vlad. Thank you." She hung up and didn't waste any time in telling them what'd happened. "Tensei's in hospital..."

Hizashi felt cold. "What…?"

"He was patrolling in Hosu when he got attacked. He's in a serious condition."

Mic stood instantly. "We've gotta go see him, yo!"

"We can't," she said, expression pained. "He's still in serious condition… Only immediate family are allowed to see him at this stage…"

Hizashi tried to curl his fists, but the casts stopped him, so he started gnawing at the plaster. "Get these things off! We're as good as immediate family, yo! It's Tensei! They can't stop us from-"

"They can and they will," she said as she folded her arms. Of course she was just as upset as him… "They think he'll pull through, but… There'll be permanent damage…"

A tense silence followed the statement. Hizashi gritted his teeth together, feeling completely useless. "He should've been here today…"

"He wasn't able to," she said more softly. "Said what he was doing was really important, but… He was looking forward to seeing Iida do his best."

More silence. This time, Kan was the one to break it, but what he said sent an icy chill through them all. "What if Eraserhead was involved?"

Mic was speechless. No, Shouta wouldn't-... He couldn't… He…

"Apprehending? More like 'appre-handing'! You're practically squeezing my ass, and you know, my boyfriend might get kinda jealous~" Hizashi grinned like the fucking Cheshire cat as his voice continued to echo around the directional speakers.

"I don't think he'd-" Tensei was silenced as a boot crunched into the side of his robotic-mask, sending him reeling back. Hizashi's hands were instantly free, and someone was already hauling him to his feet.

"You're incorrigible…" Shouta's voice was a dry mumble as he tried to steady the blond. He looked roughed up, with blood splattered across him, but it was impossible to tell how much was his and how much was…

Hizashi felt sick. Had that stupid night all those years ago caused this? Had Eraserhead hunted Tensei down while everyone else had been watching the Sports Festival?

"They think it was the Hero Killer," Nemuri quickly clarified. "Tensei was trying to hunt him down."

"We can't rule out the possibility," Vlad King murmured, but they were interrupted when the door opened.

Recovery Girl stepped inside while wiping her brow. "I'm all finished healing the injured students," she said, stymying their conversation. "I can remove your bandages and cast now, Mic… Am I interrupting?"

Hizashi swallowed. "Vlad, Midnight: tomorrow we're gonna check it out." They nodded in agreement, and he followed Recovery Girl to the office. Each of his bandages and casts was removed while she ranted about the injuries Midoriya had sustained during the fight, but his mind was far away.

Was Shouta really involved? Had he hurt Tensei? Was he involved with the Hero Killer or was it just a coincidence? What'd happened to the phones? Tomorrow, they'd go to Hosu together and they'd find answers.

Once the bandages and everything was removed, Hizashi Yamada looked at himself in the mirror. A curved scar now sat beneath his right eye, a testament to the lengths he was willing to go through to protect the people he loved.