Chapter 2. Killswitch Engage.
"Are you sure you have everything, dear?" Mother asked, checking over my backpack like she always did just before I put on my mask to go. I nod and click on my mask. Mother sighed and kissed me on the forehead.
"Have a good day, Arashi." She saw me off and I go towards the station to get to school. The commute was silent, the other passengers giving me a wide berth to sit and stand and do other things.
It wasn't my fault I look intimidating. Tall and white haired, cold blue eyes that have no life in them. Not through any fault of my own other than almost destroying an entire school. The bolts dug into me when they felt my rage, calming me down as the train slowed to a stop. I checked the time.
I'd be early.
Going into the classroom, I saw our representative Iida already there. He seemed very active in getting everything in order around here. Not that I was complaining about it. His eyes set onto me with a determined smile.
"Kyukaze, good morning." He said, nodding.
"Good morning, Iida." I stated, "Was your commute well today?"
"Yes, and how was yours?" he wondered, "I'm sure it wasn't difficult for you?"
"It was fine. Had to take the train. My mother dislikes attention now that she's older," I said. Iida seemed even more curious.
"Your mother… is she famous?" he asked, "I'm just wondering."
"Oh, she used to head a conglomerate of businesses before handing it over to my aunt Demiah once she adopted me. Ever since she's given her one hundred and ten percent to raising me," I said.
"How dedicated!" He exclaimed. Making a weird hand motion. I just stared at him with no emotion. I would've laughed but my suit didn't let me. A shooting pain courses through me, the whirring of my suit increases and the blue livery shines.
I flinch hard, my securing bolts twisting into my flesh roughly. I sit there, my hands digging into my desk, the pain unbothered and ruthless. Drilling, drilling, drilling. A spiraling march into my flesh, into my body.
I hate it. That hatred burns in me. I urge myself to calm down, the whirring ending, the glowing dimming. The bolts mercifully leaving my body. I breathe a sigh of relief. I see the others all looking at me in concern.
"Hey… you okay?" Denki asks, "That looks rough."
"It's… it's none of your concern. Just my suit doing its function," I say softly, "Now pay attention."
The others slowly turn around and I strain to stay focused. My eyes on my pencils, my hands loosening. The intensity of my suits' reactions are dependent on the threat level. And it must have perceived my laughter as a high threat.
I try to stay steady, but everyone seems worried. My head swims, my eyes blur. I can't make out what the red white and gold blob is talking about. I try to shake myself out of it… but nothing works.
Slowly, ever so slowly, I fall into darkness. It feels heavy, deep, much needed. And I… I know nothing else. Of course I hazily come to in the arms of the blob from earlier.
"Get his mother on the line!" The blob yells, slowly coming into focus, "He's awake! Stay with us, Young Arashi!" More and more I notice that it's All Might. The comic book esque features, the sunken blue eyes, his arms carrying me.
"Nngh… No… no… don't call my mother…" I mumble, "I… I can't let her see me like this… she doesn't know! She doesn't know about this!" I feel my eyes burning, tears running down my cheeks, they must've turned my suit off.
I see a little old woman hustling right by All Might and Mr. Aizawa's sides.
"Can we get it off him?" All Might asks.
"The screws are dug deep in there, we might have to force it off him!"
"No, this is most delicate! If we force it off it might make it harder for him to move! These screws are all over his body!" The old lady crows. I sort of fade out. But I can still hear things.
"Careful!"
"Gently, All Might!"
"I'm trying!"
Slowly, I fade deeper down.
I wake up surrounded on all sides by white. I wonder… is this heaven? But then… I realize… It's soft and feathery. It tickles my face. And… and it's shaking. I hear a low hiss and I see my mother holding me, my entire body aching like something got pulled out. She runs her hand through my hair.
"Oh my sweet boy… what did they do to you?" she asks, "All this agony… and you hid it from me to… protect me?" she sniffles, "Oh Arashi, don't you dare hide those things from me!" she kisses me on the forehead fiercely.
"Mm… moth- Mother?" I ask.
"Yes. It's me, dear. It's okay now. It's out of you… you- you can smile… you can laugh… you can feel all the things I do..." she sniffles, "And… and it's all thanks to UA that… that you can…"
She hugs me again, the dull ache slowly fading. I look around and see myself in an infirmary, the dark gray suit with bloody bolts cooling in the corner. The old lady bobbed around, her busy shuffling and soft humming kind of keeping me calm.
Mother looks at her, "Miss Shuzenji, thank you so much," she says.
"Oh, it's nothing, Yue! Of course when you went here you'd always help me out, so consider us even!" the woman exclaims, "Well… the thing is with Arashi, he may need to take a breather before he rejoins his class."
I raise my head a little, "No I'm fine," I deny, "I can move." I lift my hand and squeeze it. Or try to. Weakly, I lay back down. Of course this would occur to me. I had that surgically fused to me by nodes in my arms, legs, and back.
Mr. Aizawa came in, still looking blase as ever, but his gaze told me that he was worried quite a bit. He looks at my bandaged body and then at my mother.
"Did you know about this?" he asks, glaring at her with his eyes turning yellow, Mother glares back, her eyes would normally be blazing crimson but all he got was an intense glare.
"No. I didn't. If I did then I would've stopped it. I didn't know the suit could kill him."
"Wait… wait, it could what?!" I ask.
"Shh, darling, the adults are-"
"No.' I say, "I should have a say in this." I glare at the remains of my suit, "If it was a deathtrap then it's good I have it out." Mr. Aizawa nods and Mother does too. She smiles and smooths my hair.
"Kyukaze, can you trust yourself to control your quirk?" Mr. Aizawa asks.
"I… I can try, sir." I admit, "No promises… but promise me that you'll erase it if it goes wrong."
He nods, a smile spreading on my face, half expecting to wake up still in that thing. That's when another person came in with some odd construction gear on him. He looks up at Mr. Aizawa. Hes stooped and small. His gauntlets look like backhoes and his helmet looks like an excavator.
"Hey, Eraser." He greets.
"Power Loader, did you-" Mr. Aizawa is cut off by a bolt of pink rushing by him, grabbing my old suit.
"Oooooh! So this is the baby!" An excited voice exclaimed, belonging to an excited girl with golden eyes with crosshairs in them with steampunk like goggles on her head. She checks it over, her eyes concentrating.
"Hmmm… Mmmm… Oh!" She exclaims, "Yeah! Here's the issue!" She holds a bolt that was once in my neck, "Seems like this little beauty had a… killswitch?"
Everyone there grows silent, and I look down at my hands. The girl looks at me, "Why would they wanna kill you?" she wonders. I take a deep breath. Mother opens her mouth but doesn't say much.
"I… I don't like talking about it…" I mumble softly.
Mother nods, "He's… been through a lot. And the Shiketsu Incident was when he got the suit, I didn't see him for months." she grabs my hand gently, "Then he comes back with that… thing."
I look at the girl, "Destroy it. I'm beyond it now,"
"Okie doke!" She exclaims, "I can make a new one without the stabby bits!"
I smile, "Thank you very much, I am grateful," I nod my head and try to get to my feet, the aching gone. Mother winds her arm around my shoulders, her hand resting gently on my shoulder.
I slowly take one step forward and keep going.
After that scare, the class gave me a bit of a start coming in the next day. Not everything is that bad. My uniform fits, but their reactions to seeing my face are odd. They seem to stare a little too long.
I look away, nervousness filling me and making me a little embarrassed too. My cheeks flare into a bright red blush and I try not to show it. My eyes close and I compose myself but before I can give them an answer a floating uniform blurts out.
"Oh my god, he's HOT!"
My cheeks flare again, "Hot?" I ask, "I am… I'm not… running a fever…" I mumble. The uniform giggles and I hustle over to my seat next to Kaminari. He smiles and fist bumps me.
"So? How's it feel? he asks, "To be honest, your suit was really scary looking at first."
"Well… I do like how I can feel the air conditioning." I say, "Sorry for passing out on everyone and delaying the Battle Training," I smile and bow a little. Just before I settled back in, the door slammed aside.
"I AM HERE, TO REDO THE BATTLE TRAINING!" All Might announces.