Chapter 16: Awakening
The first thing Kaminari saw when he awoke was the beaming luminosity from the light fixtures in the ceiling; the walls were mainly white, aside from specific sections that had been painted a brighter shade of blue. Raising his head up from the embrace of his pillow, the blonde teen groggily glanced around the room, straining his eyes until his vision began to focus.
Initially, Denki thought that the room was empty, but his gaze eventually fell upon a sleeping Kyoka who was slumped back against a chair just to his left. Kaminari smiled. Jiro was strangely cute while she slept.
Grunting a bit, Kaminari sat up in the bed, swung his legs to the side, and stood up; stretching his arms into the air with a long yawn, Denki stared down at Kyoka again. Her relaxed face gave her a soft and delicate expression that Kaminari rarely got to see whenever she was awake. It wasn't a bad thing that she didn't show her softer side - in fact, Denki really liked how she was normally - but this particular picture of her sleeping was a once-in-a-blue-moon kind of event.
Feeling parched, the blonde teen walked over to a water fountain that was positioned on the opposite end of the room; grabbing a cup from atop the container, Denki lightly hummed to himself as he pressed against the faucet and waited for the water to fill the cup. Taking a small sip, he savored the thirst-quenching coolness of the water before heading back over to the bed.
Taking a seat on the edge of the bed, Kaminari stared up at the clock that was displayed on the nearest wall; judging by the time, it seems as though he had been asleep for at least an hour - which made sense, because the effects of his quirk seemed to have disappeared.
He took another sip of the water.
'Denki Kaminari advances to the next round.'
The voice of the announcer was the last one he heard before passing out, and it rang on continuously in his head. He had won.
Removing the cup from his lips, Kaminari stared down at the shimmering surface of the water as it rippled and pooled. His hands began to tremble.
He won! He actually won!
Denki bit down on his lip, fighting to keep the tears from leaving his eyes, but this time he wasn't crying because he felt powerless - no, on the contrary. Kaminari had proven his own worth to himself. It was like an awe-inspiring revelation, one that was meant only for him, and the message was simple: he wasn't weak.
Such an empowering realization was enough to make any man or woman cry, and for Denki Kaminari, it was no different - these were tears of joy. Of course, he had often ignored this side of himself; the aspect of himself that was nothing but failure and uselessness. He refused to acknowledge his own shortcomings, his own limitations, his own weaknesses. Even when he began to train during the two week break, he never thought he would improve so much; heck, he thought that there was a possible chance of him becoming weaker somehow. But now, through his victory against Shiozaki, it finally felt like Kaminari was being rewarded for his efforts. It finally felt like something he deserved.
Denki couldn't help but smile again as he wiped away the tears with the back of his free hand.
"Oh, you're awake, Kaminari?" Kyoka said from the chair, rubbing at her sleepy eyes.
"Yep! Good morning, sunshine!" Denki greeted excitedly.
"Uhg! Please, it hasn't even been two hours," Jiro stated after having looked at the clock.
Denki shrugged, "eh, time is relative."
"Whatever," the girl chuckled, "so, how do you feel?"
"Rearin' and ready to go," Kaminari replied with a grin, "luckily, I didn't receive that much damage from my match."
Jiro opened her mouth, like she wanted to say something, but then momentarily glanced down before continuing, "uhh, yeah. Luckily…."
Denki slightly tilted his head thoughtfully at Kyoka's change in demeanor, "are you okay?" he asked, "you look down in the dumps, or something."
"Huh? Oh, no, I'm fine," Jiro said with a dismissive wave of her hand.
"You sure?" he pressed, prompting her to nod her head, "yep, I'm sure!"
"Hm, okay then," he said after shrugging his shoulders.
Bending down to put his shoes back on, Denki slipped his foot into each pair and proceeded to methodically tie them. As he worked, Kyoka walked around to his side of the bed and sat down next to him.
"How about you?" she asked, "are YOU okay?"
Kaminari gave her a puzzled look, "Yeah, why?"
"Oh, it's nothing," Jiro denied, looking elsewhere, "it's just….that was a pretty intense battle between you and Shiozaki," she noted, "it's weird that you didn't receive any wounds."
Kaminari remained silent for a moment, as if considering what she was implying, "uhh, I guess i'm just that good," he said with a smile.
Kyoka didn't acknowledge his humor, "don't you think you would've received some level of damage from that match? I mean, you were forced to go all out with your quirk. You even shut down half of the stadium's electric systems with your last attack."
Denki immediately whirled his head to face Jiro, "I did?" he asked, stunned.
She nodded her head.
"Woah….." he said, staring down at the floor, "...that's…..so…..freakin'...awesome!"
He jumped up from the bed and turned to Kyoka, "Then that means it was a super powerful attack, right? W-what should I name it? The big zap? Denki's Destruction? The Kaminari Killer? Ohhhh, Ohhhh! How about 'Charged Chaos'?"
"Denki, i'm serious," she said, standing up fully.
He admired her face for a moment before speaking, "'Denki?' You almost never call me Denki," he noted, "not seriously, anyway."
Kyoka's cheeks were suddenly glowing red with blush, and she immediately turned away, "t-that's just cause you never listen!"
"Oh? Is that blush I see?" the blonde boy teased, leaning in closer to get a better look.
"I-in y-your dreams," Kyoka hissed before pushing past him and heading for the door.
"I'm heading up to watch the next match!" she yelled back before closing the door.
Kaminari grinned after her; she might have been cute while she slept, but she was even cuter when she was embarrassed.
"Well, she's pretty…." came a sudden, spine-chilling voice from behind him.
Denki didn't even have to turn around to know who it was.
"Shigaraki," Kaminari growled, facing the pale-haired villain, "what the hell do you want? And how long have you been standing there?"
"Oh, not too long," Tomura mused as he laid himself down onto the bed until he was staring upwards, "and as for your first question….what do you think I want?"
"You want me to join you," Denki answered confidently, "Well, guess what, it's not gonna happen."
He turned his back on the villain and headed for the door, not wanting to hear anything that the man had to say.
"You're getting stronger, I see," the villain hissed from the bed, "wouldn't you like to know why?"
Denki gripped at the door handle but hesitated to turn it; instead, he waited silently at the threshold, as if contemplating Shigaraki's words.
"I know why," the boy responded, "it's because I worked hard to get stronger."
Tomura sighed, "Yes, yes. You probably believe that whole 'hard work beats talent' bullshit, am I right? Well, sorry to break it to you, but there are other forces at work here than just your cheesy determination."
"Oh yeah, like what?" Denki prodded, although he actually didn't want to hear the answer.
Shigaraki took the time to slide off of the bed and stand up fully; he then walked around the bed and towards an apprehensive Kaminari, "Kid, you ever hear of the term 'Awakening'?"
"Awakening?" Denki repeated inquisitively, "no, why? What is it?"
"It's a very strange phenomena," the man said as he continued to approach the teen, "you see, with the right catalyst, a quirk can evolve or change. This results in one's Quirk gaining a new level of strength and new aspects to its nature that were previously not possible."
"Evolve? I don't understand, what do you mean?" Denki demanded.
"Geez, you're not very bright, are you?" Shigaraki sighed, "in simpler terms: sometimes, in life-or-death situations, people's quirks can become more powerful than they originally were."
Kaminari said nothing, so Tomura continued, "I know that you've added quite a few new abilities to your arsenal - like that super-speed technique you used during the first racing challenge. Or your super-strength adaptation."
"H-how the hell do you even know about that?!" Denki shouted, becoming more anxious as time went on.
"I have my ways," Tomura answered calmly, "I even know things about your quirk that you're unaware of."
Kaminari blinked in surprise, "W-what?..."
"That girl you were just talking to," Shigaraki began, picking at his ear, "she knew this as well, but she decided not to tell you. Very selfish on her part."
"Tell me what?"
Kaminari couldn't tell due to the prosthetic hand, but he practically felt that the villain was smiling underneath that facade of his.
"That as an already added bonus to your super strength and speed, you also have the ability of self-regeneration."
"Self-regeneration?"
"Are you just going to repeat everything I say?" the villain wondered, tilting his head to the side.
"You're lying! Kyoka would never keep that from me. And besides, if I had this ability, then I would've used it."
"Oh, but you already have," the man said slyly, turning back and returning to the bed, "You see, after your matchup with that vine-girl, you received quite the nasty burn. Electricity is a frighteningly terrifying force, even if it's part of a quirk. You see, when large amounts of electricity course through a human body, one of two things happen: Death, or severe bodily burns. Lucky for you, you received the ladder."
Shigaraki eventually came to the foot of the bed and peered down slightly at a writing pad that contained several sheets of paper attached to it.
"How the hell can I trust anything you say?" Denki questioned as he watched the man pick up the pad.
"Oh, you don't have to believe me," Tomura said, tossing the pad over to Denki, "but medical reports don't lie."
Kaminari caught the pad in his hands and gave the pale-haired villain an untrusting glare before looking down at the file; at the top of the document were listed standard information - things like name, age, gender, etc - but as he got closer to the middle section of the page, Kaminari began to read the file more carefully.
Underneath a section titled 'Physical Examination', the nurse had written in loose handwriting the words '3rd degree burns'.
Kaminari was taken aback; at this point, he didn't know what to say, the proof was right in front of him.
"But I was unconscious…." Denki muttered, staring down at file.
"Yes, that's what's so amazing about this ability," Shigaraki said, "it's self-activating. The electricity that's stored in your body activates your cells to regenerate at an alarming rate."
Kaminari flipped through the rest of the pages but didn't find anything of interest; he then placed the file back down over on a nearby desk.
"You see, Kaminari, you're quirk is evolving quite rapidly," Tomura said, "and this means that your potential is increasing as well."
Denki remained silent for a few moments, "Why…...are you telling me this?"
This time, Shigaraki grinned for sure.
"Because one day, you'll realize how right I was. One day you'll see that all those people who consider themselves heroes are no more than mounds of dirt - lowly creatures whose hypocrisy is their only characteristic. One day you'll see…..that you hate them too. And when that day comes, I'll be waiting."
Kaminari gulped and his gaze remained steady; there was nothing particularly dangerous about Shigaraki at this moment, but the words he spoke were enough to make the young boy stiffen in unbridled terror.
Boom, boom!
Suddenly, there was a knock that came from the front door; Kaminari turned around, startled.
"Yes? Who is it?" he called out.
"It's the nurse, Kaminari," a female voice from the other side said, "I'm just here to check up on you."
Nervously, Denki turned around - he had to keep this woman from entering, otherwise Shigaraki would-
Kaminari turned around to see an empty medical room; the space where Tomura had been standing not seconds before was now completely unoccupied - it was like he just disappeared into thin air.
Denki just remained frozen in place as though he had seen a ghost, and he didn't realize that the nurse was still knocking at the door until a few seconds later. Quickly, he shook himself into a state of alertness before then reaching for the door handle. As he opened the barrier, still mindful of what had just transpired, Kaminari looked out into the hallway at the nurse.
"Oh, Kaminari, are you alright?" she asked worriedly, "you're sweating."
Pressing the back of his hand to his forehead, Denki was surprised to see that the nurse was correct; his wrist was now covered in sweat that glistened in the light.
"Oh yeah. Sorry about that," he replied, thinking of what to say, "I was just doing some quick pushups to get my body back in action," he smiled.
"Well, you shouldn't push yourself too hard," the medic warned, "you just got back from a grueling match, so make sure to take it a bit easier next time."
"Can do!" Kaminari acknowledged with a salute, to which the nurse giggled a bit.
"Thanks for treating me," he said as he exited the room.
He was about to leave when something came into his mind; glancing back up, he addressed the woman once more.
"I must've been in some really bad shape," he said, checking her face for any reaction.
"Oh, goodness, yes!" she exclaimed, "you had burns all over your body when you first entered."
Denki nodded his head, "Yeah, I heard. I'm guessing my 'regeneration' ability did its job, eh?"
"Why, yes. It's always a pleasure to see a regeneration-type quirk, and yours was fairly fast-acting."
"Thanks. Uhhh….I'm guessing you told Kyoka about my regeneration," Kaminari prodded.
"Kyoka?"
"Oh, she's the dark-haired girl who was here when I woke up," he explained.
"Ah, her. Well, yes, I told her about your condition before you entered the medical room," the nurse stated, "she actually seemed a bit shocked by the news."
Kaminari looked down solemnly for a moment, "I see. Thank you, ma'am."
"You're welcome. You have a good day now," she replied before walking into the room and allowing the door to shut.
Denki stood out in the hallway for a few moments, trying to get a grasp of the situation.
"Kyoka..." he said through strained eyes, "why didn't you tell me?"
If Jiro was told of his initial condition, then she also would've been aware of his regenerative ability. Why didn't she say anything then? Why did she leave him in the dark about this? Did she think he was already aware of it and just thought it best to leave it alone?
Well, whatever the reason was, one thing was proven true by what the nurse had said: Shigaraki was right. It was a realization that Denki hated to admit, but it was true. It even made Denki wonder - was everything else that the villain said true as well?
Kaminari glanced down at his hand and watched as he curled it into a fist.
"Awakening," he muttered to himself, "am I really….awakening?"
End of Chapter 16
Author's Note: Hey guys, this particular chapter may be a bit shorter than what you may be used to, but it contains a shit-ton of information that's pretty important to the story. Obviously, it's a treat for Tomura fan-boys whenever the villain shows up, and I have to admit that I'm starting to really like writing dialogue for him as well. Hopefully this chapter had alot of interesting stuff to add to the story, and I hope to be able to add more as time goes on.
If you enjoyed this chapter, please leave a comment letting me know what you think about the story so far. Thanks! Bye!