Chapter Five
Fishing Fathers
Katsu sat in his chair, alone in the cold gray room...
The plate of donuts and glass of tea sat in front of him, which he didn't feel like taking.
He was waiting for the police officer to come back and ask questions anytime soon. He tugged at his wrists, hoping that they would snap in half like he had hoped. He begged for the power and strength he had four days ago to come back and help him escape...
Maybe if he could prove he wasn't quirkless they would listen?
No...no...that's stupid.
Katsu mentally kicked himself, realizing how stupid he sounded. He stopped tugging at the chains, and set his head down on the desk. He looked to the mirror at the side of the desk and bit his lip.
They had to have been on the other side.
"I wanna see Kazumasa..." he whispered.
No response.
"Can...Can I please see Kazumasa?" Katsu asked aloud, hoping someone would hear him...
No response.
Katsu started to breathe deeply, remembering those lessons from health class to stop panic attacks. He counted down from twenty and breathed deeply, his brown hair starting to sweat.
His stomach twisted as he heard the door handle hitch. As the door opened, and the police officer walked in with some papers and a tall woman with ravenette hair pulled back into a bushy ponytail
"Katsu Muteki?"
Katsu nodded.
The Police officer sat down in front of him while the woman looked around the room, making sure the place was secure...
"You hardly touched your food."
He didn't feel like eating.
"A Boy your age must be hungry..." the women piped in, eyes shining with compassion which Katsu didn't understand.
He was in trouble wasn't he?
His shameful exspression said it all, and he tucked his face down to stare at his lap as his wrists pulled forward as the officer sighed and began shuffling some papers in front of him.
"Are these too hard?" The woman turned to the wrist restraints, "Do you want us to loosen them up?"
"N-no..."
"Why...you don't seem very bad," the woman smiled softly, while the officer rolled his eyes and scoffed.
"Do you know what you did?"
Katsu...nodded.
"Can you say it?"
"I want Kazumasa."
"That's not gonna happen Katsu-"
"Why not? I want to see him, I want to apologize, I-"
"Katsu Muteki, can you please say what you did?"
Katsu nodded, and looked down.
But he remained silent.
The woman sighed and turned to the police officer, glaring at him with daggers in her eyes.
One week ago
Kazumasa finished polishing his china sets and set them in their cupboard above the kitchen sink, and looked at his watch.
11:30 in the morning...
He had finished all his chores and tasks for the day.
The pantry was reorganized.
The pesky bat problem in the attic was fixed.
And Tasai was sitting at the kitchen table reading a book about dinosaurs, while Katsu was reading a manga.
Everything was right with the world...
Kazumasa smiled, rubbing his sore knuckles. The marble countertop shined his sore reflection. He remembered how the waters reflected all the same. Whenever he had free time, he always found himself down by the nearby lake, either staring out onto the dock, or rowing himself out there to do nothing but hum old tunes and nap. And as he began to plan the rest of the day, he remembered the two boys sitting by the table.
"Who wants to go fishing?"
Katsu and Tasai both looked up.
"Fishing?"
"Why?"
Kazumasa smiled, "Well, the day is beautiful, and is a perfect day to go sit out on a boat and do nothing..."
Tasai shrugged, "Sounds pointless. Pass."
Katsu nodded, "I don't know how to fish."
Kazumasa smiled gently and leaned against the counter, "Well I can teach you..."
Katsu looked down at his manga and then stared off into space.
He paused.
He had never been fishing before. And it was quite fun to play in the water...maybe this would be the same? No, they'd be in the boat, and he heard his friends tell stories on how they scared away some fish with all their splashing and noise. He was about to refuse when he realized he really had nothing better to do today. Other then play video games, all his stuff needed to be done was finished yesterday. His homework was completed and his room was clean. He could spare a day.
"Sure. I'll come with."
Tasai looked at him strangely, "But you don't know HOW to fish?"
"Well...Kazumasa said he'd teach me!" Katsu piped up cheerfully.
Tasai shrugged, "But that doesn't mean you'll be good."
"Well...well no..." Katsu started to feel dissuaded, considering staying home.
Kazumasa sat down beside them with a welcoming smile, "I'd be happy if you were to come Katsu...you too Tasai."
As Katsu filled himself up with joy again, Tasai looked up in shock, "Me? W...why me?"
"Well...no one really takes you anywhere, so why not I do it?"
It was true, Tasai never really left the house other then for school or their father's tower. Tasai began to purse his lips in thinking, starting to overthink, and it came to something Katsu said not a minute before, "But I don't know how to fish!"
When silence was his response, he blinked.
"You'll teach me too?"
"Well sure, if you two boys need it."
Katsu (while feeling frustrated that Tasai had to come with) still felt excited, "Yeah! I'll come with you!"
Tasai, while nervous, nodded too.
"Yeah...yay."
Tasai screamed as the boat rocked. He clung to Kasumasa's sleeve in fear while Katsu looked over the edge.
They were right in the middle of the lake, and Kazumasa had borrowed a rowboat for the Muteki's to use while they fished in the middle of nowhere.
Katsu bent down to touch the water, and smiled, never really been this far in a body of water.
"Now then...first we lower the anchor...Tasai?"
Tasai nodded, "Yeah, we should lower the anchor!"
"Can you do it?"
"Can I what?"
"Lower the anchor."
Tasai paled as if he had just been threatened. He bit his lip and scratched his cheek, "Uh...how?"
"We could throw you to the bottom and have you hold us down," Katsu joked.
"NO PLEASE!" Tasai shouted fearfully.
Katsu stopped smiling, "Wait...are you afraid of the water?"
Tasai shook his head, "N-NO! I'm not afraid!"
Katsu smiled, "So I can push you in?"
"NO PLEASE!" Tasai hid behind Kazumasa.
Kazumasa gave Katsu a stern look and turned to face Tasai, "Tasai...all you have to do is drop that hook at the front of the boat...don't worry, you will not fall in."
"But what if I do?" Tasai asked.
Kazumasa smiled, "Well then I'll save you."
Tasai looked to the front of the boat and slowly shuffled towards it. He started lowering the anchor slowly, "Like this?"
"That's it, you got it."
"Good job Tasai!"
Tasai felt pride in his cheeks as he lowered it all the way down.
He felt the anchor chain vibrate and he let go in an instant.
"What was that?"
Kazumasa smiled, setting up their fishing poles.
"That means you hit the floor, Tasai."
Tasai nodded and stepped back as Katsu looked at then fishing poles, "Can I have the red one?"
"Sure...Tasai, you mind taking the purple?"
"I'll take it..."
Katsu and Tasai grabbed their fishing poles, and moved to the side of the boat.
"What if the boat tips over cause we are all on the same side?" Tasai asked, and Kazumasa chuckled, starting to move to the other side.
"Okay, I will stand on this side..."
Katsu held his pole up like he held a bokken, and Kazumasa grabbed a small fishing case, "First...we need some bait. I'm gonna go with cheese."
"Cheese?" Katsu and Tasai asked in unison.
"Smellier the better," Kazumasa smiled, his callused hands gripping the cheese and sticking it on the hook, "Now we wait."
"We wait?" Katsu asked, flopping down in annoyance, "How long."
"Dunno...the fish might not want cheese."
Tasai gripped his pole loosely, feeling lead on and lied to, "So why bother with cheese?"
"Think of it as a test, Tasai, you take those, yes?"
"I ace them."
"Well...this is a test for the fish," Kazumasa smiled, "And if it fails...we know these fish don't like cheese."
Katsu chuckled and looked down at the pond.
"So...how long does it take for them to make up their mind about the cheese?"
"Patience Katsu, there is nothing wrong with getting to the point, but patience helps...you could learn that from your brother, as he can learn from your boldness," Kazumasa said warmly, making sure to stay comforting to the young boy.
If it was anyone else telling him to learn from Tasai, Katsu would have thrown a fit...but Kazumasa seemed to say it in a way that complimented both of them. Katsu didn't know whether to feel angry at being compared again, or prideful for his traits...
Tasai understood too, tilting his head, "So...we learn from each other?"
Kazumasa nodded, gently stroking his beard as he began to sit down on the boat's seat-bench, "Yes...as iron sharpens iron...so too man sharpens man..."
Katsu looked to Tasai and Tasai looked back at Katsu, "So..."
"The two of you can learn a lot from each other..."
"But...dad always says that Katsu is a bad apple?" Tasai asked, and Katsu felt himself get angry at his father once again.
But while he pouted, Kazumasa spoke sternly, "Your father is a very brash man...he doesn't think ahead or think about change...your father believes that people don't really change...they just become more of who they really are...good becomes better. Bad becomes worse..."
Katsu noticeably calmed down, and Tasai looked back out on the water, "And...what do you believe?"
Kazumasa was silent...
Tasai AND Katsu stopped paying attention to the water and looked to Kazumasa's back, the older man turning around to face the two of them.
"I believe that people...change people. Like...if Deku had never met All Might...then would he be the hero he is now?"
Katsu nodded, it was common knowledge that Izuku Midoriya met All Might on the rooftops near Shizuoku Prefecture.
"If people change people...does that mean everyone can be a hero or villain..." Kastu asked, curious and frightened of the answer.
Kazumasa opened his mouth to speak.
"I-"
The pole yanked from Katsu's arms and flew into the water, as everyone watched as it floated across the water and moved.
Before Kazumasa could sigh, Katsu had stood up and leapt into the water, diving after it.
Tasai screamed, "KATSU!"
Katsu swam out to the pole and grabbed it, trying to drag it back to the boat only for whatever it was attached to, to start swimming out and fast.
The poor Muteki was dragged across the water in terror as he tried to scream for help and fight the monster.
"KATSU!" Kazumasa yelled, "LET GO!"
Katsu either didn't hear, or refused to, as his grip tightened.
Kazumasa began to grab the oars and before he could start moving, Tasai had screamed in fear and determination.
And dove right in.
NOW Kazumasa was panicking, and stood up to save Tasai. The kid had already swam out to meet his brother and grab the pole with his two hands.
"PULL!"
The two fought and tugged roughly and after a while, Kazumasa had eventually rowed up to beside the two of them, and grabbed both of them with his arms. He hoisted them into the boat and grabbed the pole.
With one yank, the fish had flown out of the water and flopped onto the boat, while Tasai and Katsu reacted harshly, screaming in shock.
"GET IT AWAY!" Tasai screamed while Katsu took the fishing pole and whacked it.
"Stop it, stop it!" Kazumasa grabbed the fish by the mouth and hauled it up. He smiled and whistled, "It's a Koi fish..."
Tasai looked up in wonder, "Woah..."
Katsu blinked, "Can we eat it?"
"NO!" Tasai screamed, shaking his head, "I don't want to kill it!"
Kazumasa smiled, "It could be good food."
"And fish is good!" Katsu piped in.
Tasai begged, "Please don't kill him! Can I keep it? Please?!"
"Really? It's a fish!" Katsu protested.
Tasai shook his head, "Everything deserves compassion! Please?"
Kazumasa...smiled and nodded.
"Okay...you can keep it. But the next fish we catch, we're cooking for dinner."
"Okay!" Tasai smiled as he gently set the fish in the bucket of water they brought.
Katsu rolled his eyes.
But...
He couldn't help but smile.
Inside the Muteki Estate, Katsu's smile only got wider as he ate the flaky meat that Kazumasa and Tasai helped prepare.
Tasai was busy looking at the Koi Fish in the pond outside, watching the colorful creature swimming around, chuckling as it splashed around, "I'm gonna call you...fishy!"
"Fishy?" Katsu laughed, stepping outside with Kazumasa, holding a plate of fish.
"Yeah! Fishy is a fish, so why not?"
Katsu chuckled, and Kazumasa lifted a picece of meat with his chopsticks, "Well Fishy's brothers are delicious."
Tasai and Katsu laughed while Kazumasa served the mats filled with fish and spices.
"Eat up," Kazumasa smiled, "And then some...maybe tomorrow we'll go on a real fishing trip...deep sea fishing."
Katsu and Tasai BOTH shook their heads.
"Please...no!"
"I DON'T WANNA GO IN THE WATER AGAIN!"
Kazumasa chuckled, "Alright then...but you two did enjoy yourselves right?"
Katsu paused and turned to his brother...they hadn't argued at all today...and Tasai jumped into the water to save him...
He nodded.
"Yeah...I did..."
Tasai had hardly thought before he opened his mouth, "It was okay...I liked catching fishy..."
Katsu nodded.
Kazumasa smiled and sat down on the mat, looking at the both of them with care and affection, "Listen here you two...and listen well."
Katsu propped himself on his elbows while Tasai leaned back and used his arms to prop himself up.
"When I was a young man, still new to the whole catering and housekeeping business," Kazumasa smiled, "I met your mother...who was still pregnant with you, Tasai."
Tasai smiled as the story continued, "I quickly came under the Muteki service, and I must say...your father had a knack of praying every day."
Katsu tilted his head.
"He prayed for daughters," he smiled, "All he would pray about, 'Please Kami, a daughter! Anything but another me. Anything but another hotheaded idiot who's heart was always in the right place...anything but another smart young man with no understanding of the world...'. That's all he'd pray about."
"So...he didn't want us?" Katsu asked, feeling his heart sink.
Tasai seemed to have been affected too, "I...I thought..."
"THEN you two surprised him," Kazumasa continued the story, "Then Tasai ended up with a beautiful quirk that would make is so he'd understand everything...then Katsu popped in with a kindness and affinity to help others..."
The two kids smiled at each other.
Kazumasa rubbed the wrinkles on his face, tired.
"You want to head inside?" Katsu asked with compassion in his voice.
"I'm an old man...but I can handle some sleepless hours," he smiled.
Tasai smiled, "You're not THAT old...you're old, yeah, but not THAT old."
Kazumasa chuckled before eating another side of fish.
"I'm gonna be a name carved in stone before anyone knows it...a name on a rock no one will ever want to visit. That's what happens to all of us, you two. Your mother...yourselves...even your father."
Katsu blinked.
"I know you two think you're strong enough to handle it alone...and in some ways you may be right...but above all...you have to take care of each other...that's what brothers do."
Tasai lowered his head, "I don't think we can do that."
Kazumasa smiled, "I thought so to, until you jumped into that water to rescue your brother."
Tasai blushed and hid his face while Katsu slowly smiled at him.
"You two are all that will be left behind of the Muteki family...like your children will be for you."
The Older Gentleman stoked the fire, and smiled at the two prodigies in front of him.
"Family...it's all anyone of us have...It's all we need...it's a burden and a blessing...a curse...and a legacy. It's all we leave behind. That and our..."
Kazumasa looked at the skeleton of the fish.
"Bones."
He smiled again and looked at Katsu and Tasai, "Be brothers...before it's too late."
Katsu and Tasai looked at each other.
"I can do that," Katsu admitted.
"I...think I can," Tasai replied.
Kazumasa smiled.
"Then...you two will do great things."
And that's chapter five
Adios