Chapter 3 : Admission

.

A soft hum surrounded the room, only being partially broken by a quiet, irregular beeping that seemed to come from Denki's right side. The room felt warm and slightly stuffy, the air stagnant; the fan above Denki seemed to had stopped its tired whirring long ago now and only occasionally left out quiet creaks.

Through the haze of dreamless sleep, Denki could feel himself waking up - his body slowly warming up and energy pooling in his every pore. Yet he didn't want to move and acknowledge the soon-to-be uncomfortable buzzing - he wanted to stay in this little cocoon for a while longer. He settled deeper into the uncomfortable bed, burrowing himself under the covers and willing his body to fall asleep; it didn't cooperate with him though and he could feel buzz getting more insistent by the minute.

Denki sighed and pushed himself upwards, the thin covers pooling across his legs as he looked around. The small hospital room was deserted and all the lights were off and the only door was closed. There was a small desk in the corner, filled haphazardly with papers and Denki could swear he could see his name on them - he didn't particularly care though, it was of no importance to him. There was a large window to the right of him, partially blocked by the machine, and the sky outside it was illuminated by rich oranges, yellows, and reds that cast a golden glow into the room, making everything slightly tinted yellow - giving it a surreal, hazy look.

Denki slowly stood up from the bed and stretched, releasing small sparks of electricity from his body and finally calming down the incessant buzzing somewhat, allowing him to fully relax and look around. He was dressed simply in a white hospital gown and the floor beneath his bare feet was cold despite the heat of the room; looking around, he could spot his bag on the left of the bed, with his clothes and shoes sitting next to it. He padded across the cold tiles towards it and grasped the worn backpack, checking its contents - nothing was amiss and Denki breathed a sigh of relief - before pulling on the slightly dirty clothes. Once he was done, he looked across the room for the final time and walked out.

The air outside the room was different, colder, and Denki found himself shivering slightly. He soon realized he did not know where he was and once more looked around, soon spotting a glowing, green EXIT sign. It was the only source of light in the empty building and Denki felt slightly uncomfortable as he made his way across the school - it didn't feel right at all. Every sound and step was magnified by the empty hallways and Denki found himself hating the silence. He could do nothing against it though and he simply picked up the pace, wishing to get home faster even though knowing nothing good would wait for him there.

.

The ride on the metro was spent in silence, his phone had died and practically no one was using the services at this time of day. Rush hour had long passed and the few stragglers that were in the carriages didn't give Denki a second glance despite his disheveled appearance. He zoned out, causing him to miss his stop and subsequent cross-over.

It was late by the time he got home and the streets outside his house were quiet. The chill of the night had settled into Denki's bones by the time he got to his front door and he could feel his fingers go numb. He fumbled with his key for a few seconds before finally jamming it in and unlocking the door into the rather quaint two-story house. The hallway lights were off and the whole place was silent - no one was home.

Denki took his shoes off and carefully placed them onto the shoes rack before making his way into the living room and connected kitchen - there was a weak, flickering lamp above the dining table that would soon die that basked the two rooms in a weak, slightly blue metallic hue. Denki made his way into the kitchen and opened the fridge, checking if there was any food - there was none, just like Denki expected, and he sighed, turning away and heading upstairs. He softly unlocked his door and stepped into his room.

Denki didn't bother turning on the light and just simply sat down on his bed, dropping his bag at the foot of it and staring blankly at the bare walls. Memories from the exam flooded into him - both the practical and written parts and Denki could feel his heart rate pick up as anxiety flooded through his body. He closed his eyes and breathed through it, jolting his index finger once and sending a zap of targetted electricity to his brain. What is done is done, he thought to himself, I cannot change anything now.

Yet that restless anxiety would not settle, it wormed its way deep into him, constricting his organs and whispering into his ears.

Denki fell back into his bed with a sigh as whispers of "what would your father think?" overwhelmed his brain.

He knew the answer to that question of course, but a small childish part of him craved his father's attention despite the pain that that man had caused him.

Denki scoffed at himself, he was older now - disillusioned.

Yet the thoughts continued.

.

Morning came slowly, the sunrise bleeding into the barren room almost lazily through the half-drawn windows and streaking the room with yellow and orange lines.

Denki did not sleep. It had not come to him so he simply laid there, waiting for the sunrise to come. He waited through the full night, maybe dozing off for a couple of minutes a few times. When morning came, he changed his clothes and made his way downstairs into the still empty house and out for a jog.

The air was crisp on his skin, the slightly too cold April weather biting into his exposed legs and arms but Denki relished in it. Lacing up his worn trainers on the front porch, he pushed off it into a run as soon as he was done with a genuine smile on his face. Running always excited and calmed him down in the strangest of ways - the rush of dopamine was like no other and he loved and craved it like an addict. If given the choice, he would pick spending his whole life running with nothing but the thumping of his footsteps for company in a heartbeat.

The sun was fully in the sky when he came back home and Denki was unsure of how much time had passed since he went out - a couple of hours if he would guess. He carefully unlocked his front door and immediately noticed a sort of energy - a tension almost - in the house. The house seemed colder than when he left it in the morning, the air seemed charged and there was a buzzing that seemed to permeate into every particle - it seemed oppressive and foreign. Denki scrunched up his eyes and heavily breathed out of his nose. His father was home.

He quietly took off his shoes and placed them onto the shoe rack before making his way into the living room. He stopped at the entrance of it and stared at the tall man that was sitting on the couch. The man was almost a spitting image on Denki with the only difference being their hair - his father's was shorter and more well-groomed than Denki's.

The man looked up from his computer as Denki entered the room and fixed the boy with a cold glare.

"Well?" The man intoned, bringing his hands together. "Did you get in?"

Denki bit his lip and looked down, shrugging.

"It is a yes or no question, boy. Answer me." The man tilted his head to the side, closing his computer slightly.

"I do not know, father. They said that they would send the results after a couple of days." Denki replied, his eyes dancing around the man.

"So? That is not an excuse to not know if you were better or not." His father raised a mocking eyebrow at him. "Were you?"

"Yes, I was. I got in, I swear. I promise you I did. I swear!"

"Good. You know what happens when you lie to me, right Denki?" Denki nodded at the words, eyes still unfocused. "Dismissed now. Go study those books that I assigned."

Denki nodded again and walked calmly upstairs and into his room. When the door was closed behind him he finally allowed himself to break his composure; his hands started to tremble and he quickly clamped both of his hands over his mouth as his breathing started to get faster. He collapsed onto his knees and tipped forwards, his head hitting the carpeted bedroom floor. He did not know why he decided he should panic now - well, he did know, the ingrained childhood fear of his father made him this way - it was a relatively normal interaction and the man did not even make any threatening movements. The fear still resided in Denki to this day though - he knew what his father was capable of and he knew what would happen if he strayed out of line; it was terrifying to think about what would happen if he did not get in - he was relatively sure he would but the nagging voice in his head told him he was wrong and that he was a liar.

He hated that voice. He despised it. Yet for as long as he was his father's son, the voice would not leave. It was chained to him like he was chained to his father, not to leave unless one of them died.

Denki stayed in that position until his breathing had calmed down and until his thoughts settled. He lightly shook his head and stood up, sending jolts of electricity to his brain to get him to focus. He had assignments to do and content to study.

.

The days passed monotonously for Denki but it was the only life he'd ever known so he didn't complain and just followed his father's wishes. He woke up, went for a jog, and then studied before passing out and repeating over and over, with minimal breaks for food and rest.

On the fifth day of this routine Denki woke up and went for a run before sitting down to study yet another textbook. Granted, he rather enjoyed the process but yet he still found it tedious and hard - he had no one to explain the difficult parts to him so he had to resort to the Internet, and learning university-grade physics from YouTube was not the easiest task.

Denki sighed and pushed his glasses up from the bridge of his nose, throwing his head back and relaxing into his uncomfortable, hard chair. He just did not get this one problem. It was a mathematical exam paper question that required him to do some tricky integration and he just did not know how the mark scheme got the answer that it did - he had been stuck on this one question for the better half of an hour and he could feel himself getting more and more frustrated by the minute.

Suddenly, a loud yell of his name broke his frustrated musings and he instantly shot up, all frustration gone and replaced with apprehensive fear. His father never called for him and the anxiety that was always within him constricted his throat.

He stood up on slightly shaking legs and mechanically walked out of his room and down the stairs where he could see his father. His father stood in the centre of the living room, holding a large white envelope. Denki carefully walked over to him and his father thrust him the envelope. Denki looked it over quickly - it had the UA seal on it.

Denki swallowed harshly, heart beating furiously in his chest - there was nothing more he wanted to do than just run away and never look back.

"Well?" His father inquired. "Open it. You have nothing to fear, right? You told me you got in."

Denki nodded shakily and ripped open the envelope. A small, black projector tumbled out and into his fathers waiting hand and the man above him inspected it before turning it on. The room suddenly was filled with a loud mechanical whirring and soon, a holographic image of smiling All Might was projected in front of the pair.

"Hello! This is a projection! I am here to deliver the news! Young Kaminari, you have done exceptionally well on the written part - good job young man! Your performance on the practical part of the exam was also very good - you have scored 39 on the offensive portion of the exam. This score would not qualify you." At this, Denki could feel his fathers mood sour and the man fixed Denki with an enraged look, his father opened his mouth but he was interrupted by the projection. "However! Do not fear! There was an additional part to the exam - rescue points! And you, young man, have earned quite a lot of them by that stunt you pulled on the zero pointer. It was decided that you would get an additional 25 points - a total which brought you to 64 and a final place as 6th on the leaderboard! Well done, young Kaminari, and I expect to see you at the beginning of the school year!"

At that, the hologram faded away and Denki was left in an almost trance-like terrified state. His gaze was fixed on his father beside him, waiting for a reaction and praying that it was enough.

"Good job son," his father said, opening up his arms and hugging Denki, "I am proud."

Although the hug felt more like rough vines that scratched and scarred Denki's skin and constricted his lungs, he melted into it, frantically hugging his father back.

The vines had never quite felt so pleasant.

(7.6.2021)