Countdown to reality
1. … Thanks for reading… of course!
2. Even more thanks for the reviews, I really do like your theories and comments!
3. Just one other thing! The countdown will not really help you estimating the length of the story… but it is not just a chapter name either… (Is it mysterious? I hope it sounded mysterious!)
4. Annnnd … Have fun!
Day 1. Lunchtime. Countdown: 29:12:25
"Oh Fuck, fuck, fuck!" A loud male voice was repeating above Midoriya Inko, while a hand was stroking her cheek – rather roughly – to wake her up.
She slowly opened her eyes and wished she had not. The ghost, tangible, blond, angry, was just above her.
"Finally! You took your sweet time!" the ghost said.
He got up, letting out a sigh, and searched the kitchen shelves. She sat up, still half in a daze. He grabbed a glass, filled it with tap water and crouched back next to her, handing it to her.
She did not take it.
"I fucking did not touch you! You've got no burns, no bruises, nothing, so stop freaking out and drink up!"
She still did not take it.
The ghost growled out of frustration and put the glass down. Inko darted a glance at the DVD player. It was badly burned, smelling hot plastic and something sweeter she could not identify.
"I won't buy you a new one or whatever," The ghost angrily said. "You were the one planning to fucking destroy it on my skull."
Right. That made sense. Somehow.
"Guess Deku's not home, right?" He asked.
"…D-Deku?" Inko said.
"Yes, Deku, your son!"
"My son's name is not Deku," She stated, trying to clarify at least something in that situation. The ghost seemed even more annoyed by her answer and shoved his hands in his pockets, seething.
He shoved his explosive hands in the pockets of Bakugo Mitsuki favorite hoodie.
Inko eyes widened. A brand new story started to unfold in her mind.
A story being utterly different from the official version.
"Of course it's not! It's a nickname, a nickname! His name was already lame anyway."
Lame? Did he knew she was the one who chose Izuku's name in the first place?
Inko grabbed the glass, and drank it in one gulp, wishing for something much stronger. Slamming it back down, she felt a bit better. Her mind starting to clear up, she gave him a good scanning look.
The teen was certainly not a ghost. He was alive, young, with hair as blond and as spiky as Mitsuki's. The eyes, on the other hand, were nothing like his parents. Instead of dark black, she was facing small red beads.
"K—K—Katsuki-chan?" She whispered.
"What?"
Realization fell on Inko like an ice bucket upon her head. This person was Bakugo Katsuki, supposedly dead for about eleven years.
She lunched herself at the teen, and hugged him tight. He tried to escape, struggling under her grip, but she had a lot of practice with Izuku and did not let go. "Katsuki-chan! You are alive, my god, you are alive! We've believe you were dead for so long, oh my god, oh my god! How is it possible? How were you able to… I'm so glad, oh thank god, I'm so glad!"
Inko felt tears running on her chubby cheeks, and did nothing to stop them.
She was crying over the explosive teen, still struggling to escape her, even if she believed his attempts could have been much worse. She gently let go. He was a teenager, not at all the small toddler she remembered anymore. Teenagers always needed space. Always.
"Of course I'm alive!" He half-shouted, putting some safe distance between them.
"D-Does Izuku knows?"
Katsuki-chan looked away, hesitating. For one brief moment, Inko saw fear on his face. It was brushed away by anger and frustration, yet Inko had noticed.
"I…" He hesitated again. "I…fucking don't know. Say… does the word "U.A." ring a bell?"
It did not. She saw deep disappointment on the boy's face, and fear coming back on his features.
"Deku, he has never talked about U.A. before?" Katsuki-chan asked – almost pleaded – and the only answer Inko could give him was no.
Izuku had never said that word before, and it seemed to be a very big deal for Katsuki.
Whatever that meant.
Midoriya Izuku was not going to share lunch with Sumire-san.
Firstly, he could not remember her first name, (Sae? Saeri? …? No idea.) Secondly, after one morning sitting at a desk, blankly staring at an exam paper talking about events that never took place, he could not bear with this high school anymore.
He went straight for the teacher.
"S-sir. I don't f-feel good" He lied – half-lied – "I-if it's alright with you, I th-think I should head home".
He also handed out the blank exam paper to him, and the teacher brows shot up.
"Midoriya, it's the first time you hand a paper like this…"
"I-I know. I'd like to head back home, sir. I think I've c-caught a s-stomachache. I-I couldn't focus and…"
"It's okay Midoriya. Please go home and rest. Don't forget to bring back a signed absence paper and if you want, you could retake the test on Saturday. Will you be alright on the way back?"
"I-I think so."
He had no idea when was Saturday, or which day they actually were. Izuku darted to the exit as fast as is "I-am-sick" act could permit, ignoring his new fake friends' questions and the weird look Sumire-san gave him.
He did not even lost time dropping by the nurse to get the absence paper, and run through the corridors. He was out of the high school one minute later, panting and panicking again.
Now what? He took his phone, tried to call All Might. No answer.
A world without All Might… He tried to call Aizawa, panic building up. The nice robotic voice of the telephone operator told him cheerfully both numbers were not assigned.
Maybe, maybe, he had remembered Aizawa's wrong, but he knew this was not possible in All Might's case. He could recite that number backwards in his sleep.
He tried to call Kacchan's phone, just in case he had found it. The number did not exist either.
He needed to calm down, but calming down was not exactly what he was best at. Izuku took in a deep breath, followed by another. One thing at a time. Kacchan had tried to contact him, so he should worry about him first.
Midoriya Izuku took another deep breath and headed to his friend's house.
Bakugo Masaru stopped working.
His phone was ringing again.
It was the umpteenth time.
The first one to call – several times in a row – had been Inko's son. Izuku. It was not exactly surprising.
Izuku, as everyone else, had been kept in the dark about Katsuki existence. Masaru remembered the day the boy had learnt about the death of his friend. Announcing it had been one of the most difficult minute of Masaru's entire life, and he would never forget the incomprehension in his young eyes.
After the tantrum his son had thrown, the secret would not hold much longer. Izuku was not stupid.
Masaru also knew this was not Katsuki's fault.
Their best theory was that too much isolation could do damage to one's sanity, and lately Katsuki… Katsuki was not doing fine. It was getting worse, every year, every month, almost every day. The frequency of the hallucinatory dreams was steadily increasing. It was happening almost every week since his last birthday.
They could not call a doctor, so maybe telling Midoriya was actually a good thing. Both families knew each other for so long, and they shared similar opinions on the people with quirks, so it would probably be all right… If Izuku understood their secret – he would, no doubt, after the texts Katsuki had sent, it was only a matter of when – then Katsuki could at least see someone from time to time. Someone his age… or it would be their downfall.
Masaru did not want to think about what could go wrong. Not at all.
The second call he had received was from the other number Katsuki had managed to reach. The one he referred as "Shitty Hair" in his incoherent text messages.
"Shitty Hair" was calling again, for the thirteenth time.
Masaru sighed, and decided to put an end to the never-ending calls. He picked up the phone, and spoke before the other person had time to start complaining. "Hello…? Listen, I'm very sorry, my son took my phone this evening and sent random messages to random people, I really apologize for that…"
"You are Bakugo's dad? Right? Bakugo Katsuki's dad?" A young male voice answered from the other side.
Masaru froze.
For ten years, each time Katsuki had used a computer or a phone, Masaru and Mitsuki had been carefully next to him, checking what use he made of it. They had forbid him to take contact with unknown people online, from posting or commenting, and of course, from calling people he knew before his "death".
Nobody should know him. Nobody.
He also should not know phones numbers.
"I-…my son, Bakugo Katsuki?" He stupidly repeated.
"Yes. I am Kirishima Eijiro, a classmate. He said he lost his phone. Could you please let me talk to Bakugo, please? It's kind of urgent."
Classmate. Huh. From the kindergarten?
"…urgent?" He repeated again, feeling sweat accumulate on his forehead.
"Yes. Please, sir."
"… I am sorry I cannot do that. I also truly regret you have to learn it so late… but my son… Katsuki, he died eleven years ago." He said.
There was a moment of utter silence, and Masaru could picture the stupefaction showing on his interlocutor's face, a mix of disbelief and horror he had witnessed too many times.
"… … WHAAAAAAAAT?"
Masaru got the phone away from his hear.
"I am really sorry you have learn it that way."
"…Bakugo's…? Bakugo is…? No… no, no, no, man, he can't… but you said your son played with your phone and I received all those text…"
Masaru had never felt this cold. Katsuki had messed up. To include Midoriya Izuku in their secret was something he could maybe deal with. To include random classmates from kindergarten's era, this was not something he would ever be ready to deal with.
Katsuki was in danger.
"My phone bugged this morning, I told you, I'm sorry!" He shouted, and some of his colleagues looked his way, eyes wide. "Now don't ever call again, I need to work!"
He hanged up, sweat covering his brow, hands shaking violently. Kirishima Eijiro called him back, not wasting a single second.
He was about to switch the device off when his wife's name appeared in turn on the screen. Ignoring Katsuki's classmate, he answered her instead and was welcomed by hysteric cries.
"…Katsuki, Katsuki's not home!" She screamed.
It felt as if the air around him was suddenly scarce and thick, as if the temperature had dropped to freezing degrees, as if someone was squeezing his heart with ice-cold hands.
Masaru dropped the phone on the office floor.
Oh.
His wife's muffled cries were distant, but each sound, each breath hurt like nothing had ever hurt before.
No, this was not happening.
He was not losing his son.
Yaoyorozu took one of her numerous handbags, her fake ID, her newly made notepad and asked the servants if it was okay for her to head out.
She had learned she was homeschooled, and she had a very precise timetable to respect. Among the regular topics, it also included dance, music, art and several languages classes. The latest was a bit of a concern. There was Advanced German in the list and Yaoyorozu had never learned German before.
For now, though, she was free to manage her existence as she desired and she surprisingly had no classes for the day. The servants told her it was of course all right for her to go out, as long as she was back for dinner.
Yaoyorozu ordered one of her family privet car and asked her driver to take her to Jirou's house. She only knew this address out of all her classmates'.
While seated on the backseat, she started to google each of the people she knew from the real world, trying to find out what had had happened to them or their families.
She found Bakugo's mum. She had many followers, and had traveled the world with her husband. She also found Uraraka's dad – his works company to be precise –, as well as Aoyama's parents.
Aoyama family also seemed to hold a cheese business, with a few shops in town (for which there was an address and advertisements). She found out her classmate had a very active life on social media. This version of Aoyama, though, lived abroad, somewhere in Europe.
She immediately asked friend requests and sent subtle messages, nothing blatantly speaking about her coming from another reality.
"Miss? We are in the street you asked for."
"Good. Wait for me here."
One minute later, she was at Jirou's front door, checking the name on the mailbox. She felt something heavy and icy drop in her stomach. Jirou was not living there any longer.
This was clearly the house of someone else. Checking the internet for clues, she found nothing about her friend. Internet could always tell at least one or two things about everybody, and yet, it was as if she never existed.
Not good.
Yaoyorozu immediately went back to the car and slammed the door behind her.
"Miss?"
She took a pencil from her handbag and the small notepad. She began a list of her classmates' names and put numerous – painful – question marks in front of Jirou's name.
"Can you take me to this address next?" She asked the driver, handing out the address of her hero school. The driver did not comment any further and Yaoyorozu focused back on the information that was available to her.
She was about to write heroes real names, looking for any information about them, when she received a friend request. Her heart hammering like crazy, she checked it.
Kaminari Denki
She began to write, not wasting a split second. Then she stopped.
She could not make the message too subtle. Not with Kaminari.
Day 1. Early Afternoon. Countdown: 29:10:49
Mitsuki Bakugo was seating in the middle of the living room, directly on the floor. She had sent flying all the pictures and glass was everywhere. She could not move, energy had left her body and she felt tears running on her face.
It was too painful.
Her baby was somewhere, alone, and anything could happen to him. He had never gone outside the house, and there was no way he would be able to navigate himself in the city. He would get lost, he would run into trouble, and he would be discovered.
She was going to get sick.
They would discover her baby… and they would take him away. There was no way they would not. Katsuki was dangerous. Everything he touched with his bare palms transformed into a time bomb. The government was not taking these powers lightly.
She would never see him again.
She remembered that day, that horrible day, when Katsuki had sparked his hands for the first time. He had such a cute, amazed smile. He was so proud… she had felt so horrified, so cold, so terrified. The next day, for Katsuki's birthday, she had done the most terrible thing a mother could do.
She remembered pushing her baby under a car.
The memory almost hurt physically and a tiny part of her knew this could not be true. She was not even able to picture the scene, and would have been incapable of telling how she had actually done it. The entire event was like a black void, something she could not explore, something she could not have done, something she could never accept… yet, she tried to kill him.
It happened, when it could never have happened.
Katsuki had not died. Of course, he had not. He was incredible. The car almost exploded, the road was destroyed, and the driver knocked out. Her tiny baby was hurt, blood was everywhere, but he was alive.
When Masaru had learnt what she had done, he had screamed, and screamed, and screamed… like she had never heard him scream before. Then, they took the decision to hide their son, to blame the driver, and they faked his death. The driver got jail sentence, and Katsuki got a nice little tombstone in the cemetery.
She was reliving these days. The fear, the consuming fear, the hate towards the world, the government, her son's hands. The hate she had for herself was the worst of all.
She hated herself for having brought him to the world with such bad luck.
For having almost killed him.
For being in such a denial about it, for not admitting this event was real, for not accepting any of it.
For having left the house in the morning instead of standing guard.
The doorbell rang. Mitsuki raised her head. There was a small shadow coming through the windows. A child or a teen shadow.
Katsuki!
She rose to her feet in a second, rushed to the door, fumbled with the key, and opened the door wide.
"H-Hi, Mrs Bakugo." Said Midoriya Izuku.
She fell on her knees, the energy leaving her entirely. Before hurting the floor, though, strong arms caught her.
Ones that were not as weak as Izuku's should have been.
Deku's mom was pale as death. She was staring as if he was some sort of spirit coming from a distant past. Which he was, sort of. At least, she now seemed to have acknowledged him as a living being.
She had closed all curtains, and asked him to take off his shoes. Then, she had prepared tea for him and a large cup of sake for herself. She drank it in one swift gulp and her cheeks slowly regained some color.
He had rarely felt so uncomfortable. She was making an effort to refrain from asking too much questions but she was doing a bad job at it.
How did your parents managed to fake your death? Was it okay, all those years? Did you receive education? How did you feel about it? Why would you go outside, taking such an immense risk?
He had too little answers to provide, and she was asking too many questions. He refused to answer, keeping his mouth tightly shut in fear to tell her something unnecessary. He did not want another person to believe he was crazy.
"Katsuki-chan," She called gently, pouring more sake in her empty cup. "Don't worry. You don't need to tell me what you don't want to tell me. Just remember, whatever your story is, I will be on your side. Is there anything I can do for you while we wait for Izuku?"
She irked him. The absence of answers was having an effect he had not anticipated, and there was pity building up in her eyes. She was too fucking sweet, and she looked at him as if he was the most fragile thing in the world, instead of a future pro-hero.
He glared back the hardest he could.
"…Or you could watch TV, while I… I clean the mess." She proposed, looking at the scorched DVD player.
"I'll do that," he agreed, jumping on the occasion to put an end to this awkward discussion.
Inko nodded, and then hesitated. "Katsuki-chan… I… I am not that familiar with Quirks in general… there is no reason for it to explode any further than that, right?"
"No," he said. "The nitroglycerin is just on my hands, and it already all exploded."
Deku's mum complexion changed back to the death-like color.
"N-Nitro…nitroglycerin? Katsuki-chan, you have a… nitroglycerin Quirk?"
"Yes. Got a fucking problem with that?"
She sat back, and poured herself even more sake, until it spilled on the table.
"Why… why did you take the risk to come her? K-Katsuki-chan…? D-did, did someone see you?"
He shrugged.
"Katsuki. Did you parents explained to you what happen to people like you? I mean, did they tell you the details?"
He did not answer. Again.
"Sit back down", she ordered.
Hello, this is Yaoyorozu Momo. : )
Do you remember us going to the same school?
...
From: Kaminari Denki
Of course I do
Im not that stupid
Are you the real Yao-Momo too?
From: Yaoyorozu Momo
I am the Momo from U.A
From: Kaminari Denki
THANKKK GODDDDDDDD
I am going crazy momo
I am stuck at home
My mom got angry cause my hair s not black
She thinks I'm playing a joke on her
From: Yaoyorozu Momo
…
From: Kaminari Denki
Are you all right?
Did you see the news?
Are we the only real ones?
...
..
.
Momo?
...
..
.
MOMO?
...
..
.
Momo please answer
...
..
.
I beg you mighty Yao-Momo
...
..
.
From Yaoyorozu Momo
I am fine, Kaminari-Kun.
I've got an ID and can go around.
...
I can't text as fast as you do
From: Kaminari Denki
Did you hear from anybody else?
From Momo Yaoyorozu
No
You are the first one
From: Kaminari Denki
Did you check Todoroki
On the internet
From Momo Yaoyorozu
No, why?
From: Kaminari Denki
Check it
NOW
Izuku was in hero mode.
He had Kacchan's mother sit down on the couch, and he brought her something to drink and eat. She was having a panic attack, so he sat in front of her, and holding her hand, had her take slow, deliberate breathes.
After ten good minutes of calm and patient encouragement, she was breathing almost normally and the amount of tears had decreased greatly.
"You are doing so well, Mrs. Bakugo." Izuku congratulated her, displaying the best smile he could for her. "I can stay here with you for a little while, but it would be best if you weren't alone after that. Maybe… maybe we should call your husband, don't you think?"
She sobbed.
"I…I already called him"
"Oh, that's good. You did very well. Is he coming?"
"I…I…think."
"Even better." He told her.
There was a moment of silence, and Izuku looked around the room. Mrs. Bakugo had thrown havoc in the living room. Pictures were on the floor, tissues were all around and a T-shirt that was most likely to be Kacchan's laid in the middle.
"Can…can you give it to me?" She whispered, following his gaze.
"The T-shirt…? Huh… ok."
He grabbed it and handed it to her. She squeezed it and pressed it against her chest, sobs coming back. Izuku felt a little embarrassed. He looked at the pictures on the floor. Pictures where Kacchan was missing.
Except for one, the only one she had not destroyed. Black frame. Incense sticks in front. Dried flowers around the smiling face of a toddler Izuku could only recognize.
"Mrs. Bakugo…" He whispered, "Where is Kacchan?"
She had a hiccup. Her face contorted as if she was in pain, and Izuku felt his own heart beat faster, fearing the worst.
"Mrs. Bakugo. Please. You need to tell me where he is."
"I-Izuku. Y-you k-know he has b-been d-dead f-for e-eleven y-years..." She sobbed.
Dead for a decade? Izuku was not even close to believe it.
"Mrs. Bakugo. This is one of his shirts. He would not wear something this size if he had died eleven years ago. He also tried to call me earlier today. I just want to help. Please tell me the truth."
"I… I… don't know. He is… this night he… nightmare. In the morning… I bought food at the store… came back… he was… he was… g-g-gone."
"I will find him, I promise. He will be all right. He is the strongest and smartest person I know. You don't need to worry."
Mitsuki sobbed more, and Izuku took her hand. He was dead sick with worry too, but he could not let it show. Images from Kamino ward were flashing in front of his eyes, and he wanted to look after Kacchan right away… time was precious.
"Did he… leave a note or anything?"
"No…"
"Apart from me, do you know if he tried to call somebody else?"
"He… he… Masaru told me… he called people who… he has nightmares you know. Because… isolation we think. H-he call people who… who does not exist from time to time… y-yesterday, he also c-called y-you, and w-we were s-so s-scared… I am s-sorry… scared y-you would tell on us. An o-other call connected…"
"Do you know who it is?"
"No… M-Masaru was so a-angry. S-said K-Katsuki texted so many i-insults. He… Fucking brat" she spat. "…called a stranger names."
"Which names?"
"…shitty hair?"
Yaoyorozu googled "Todoroki". Immediately, the internet provided her with several old press articles from a few years back. She clicked on the first one.
Entire Quirked family discovered!
Some of our readers may have heard the Todoroki name before. The family was well known locally for being one of most ancient family, whose bloodline could be retraced up to two hundred years.
This bloodline is now tainted by a despicable history.
This Friday, the police received information that the entire family had highly dangerous Quirks and decided to investigate. After further verification, all toes-tests were revealed false.
The arrest followed on Saturday. Two special units were dispatched around the house and the assault was given at 5 a.m. Among the police force, there were several casualties, as the family was indeed possessing such quirks. Three police officers suffered from severe burns and are still hospitalized. Their conditions are all critical. Ten other agents have suffered minor injuries and we deplore the death of Watanabe Eiji, who was burned alive by the eldest son of the Todoroki family.
The eldest son of the family was also killed during the operation. All other members have been arrested. After examination, it was agreed they could not be given the privilege to attend the Quirked schools and were separated to different incarceration centers.
The children were attending local schools before their arrest, and the parents had managed to get hired in regular companies. The police has revealed that several students had reported on different occasions that their classmates were "weird". Teachers were interrogated on the matter…
Yaoyorozu stared at the picture, stopping her reading.
Her hands were shaking.
In front of their destroyed house, the entire Todoroki family was being arrested. Even if the children faces were blurred, even if they all had dyed their hair, even if the picture was from three years back, she still recognized Shoto.
His face was already burned, his hands were in shackles, and there was so much ashes on his clothes, and this, just in front of him, this was a corpse, this was his brother corpse he was staring at and he was barely twelve and…
… and she opened the window, getting sick.
From Denki Kaminari
That s some heavy shit
Momo. Be careful,
ok?
...
..
.
Momo?
..
.