Countdown to Reality
1. First thing first! Thank you for reading so far!
2. Did I told you I like reading cliffhangers? Well. Now I told you. I really, really, really love them. It makes me curse at the author with plenty of funny words, sure. Usually for a good five minutes. Then my imagination ignites, and I come up with all sorts of plots to solve the situation! (It's called frustration, I guess).
3. Sooooo…. Of course, I also love writing cliffhangers…! Bear with me and sorry about it!
Day 2. A little before Noon. Countdown 24: 06: 44
Midoriya Izuku and Bakugo were still on the stairs of the apartment complex. They had overheard the entire discussion between Kirishima and his mother with growing alarm and astonishment.
Kacchan slowly looked up. Izuku also did, and they stared at each other as if to confirm they had overheard the same conversation.
"He took Quirk erasing drugs?" Kacchan said, sounding completely disgusted. "He has managed that level of shit all by himself in just one day? He is on another level."
Izuku was of course concerned about Kirishima's well-being, but other concerns of equal importance where currently battling in his mind to rank first on his worry-list. Eri for one thing. Overhaul, for another.
"Kirishima?" He called, hoping that his classmate could hear him, but he got no other answer than a weird and strangled noise.
"Is he crying?" Kacchan asked, sounding even more disgusted.
"I… I am not sure….Kirishima?" Izuku tried again, and the noise remained unclear. There was some annoyed and distressed cursing, and Kirishima finally picked up his phone. It instantly became evident that their friend was trying to stop sobs.
"I-" Izuku began, but Kacchan snatched the phone out of his hands before he could choose what to say.
"Kirishima! Get your fucking shit together!" He shouted, and they heard a hiccup. "You are deep in shit, but you are not the center of the world! We've got bigger problems than dealing with fake drug dealers, especially when the real ones are behind bars. When the world will be back to normal, they will find themselves back in their cells, so let them enjoy their temporary playground and stop mopping!"
Izuku could see Kacchan's point. Yet, he felt a little bad for Kirishima being the new target of their friend's anger waves. Couldn't he be a little more considerate? This was Kirishima. Not "the"Frog-girl, or an additional "extra"… if he was not making the effort for him, he was a lost cause.
Not that it seemed to bother Kirishima, but still. From time to time, he could try to make a point without yelling.
"Bakugo…" Kirishima answered, words still a little slow. "..It's… I… what if the world doesn't change back?"
"I AM FUCKING CHANGING IT BACK!"
"…man, that's nice and so manly but… how? You plan on learning how to jump to parallel universes?"
Kirishima also had a fair point, and perhaps the most important of all. Kacchan's eyes narrowed, "I'm just going to do it, damn it!".
"…and what if you can't do it…on time?"
"What do you mean?" Kacchan snarled.
"It's just… this is so real. What happens to people being wounded or dying here? What if… what if they stay that way?"
Second fair and fully valid point for Kirishima. Izuku felt a shiver run down his spin and Kacchan's eyes narrowed even more. His cheek was starting to bruise in a perfectly natural way, proving if needed, that Kirishima's question was a very receivable one.
"That place I'm in, we can assume it's a Shie Hassaikai equivalent of some sort…" Kirishima continued, talking faster, reaching an almost normal speed. "What if they manage to do their final version of the drug here too… and people lose their Quirks or… just die?"
"Just don't ever take pills ever again, shithead!"
Second fair point for Kacchan but… "Last time, they did not ask for permission." Izuku still remarked aloud. "Of course it's not bullets, just pills, but I think it's not that hard to force someone to ingest something they shouldn't. Especially if these people are in prison, and there seem to have an awful lot of them."
Kacchan did not reply and Kirishima neither. If were to happen, the result would be a disaster. People could take the drug, die or lose their Quirks forever, and then wake up in the real world – once it would be back – to discover that their lives had shattered to crumbles.
Kirishima's voice, more strangled than ever, spoke again. "If the world isn't back fast…many people lives could be so messed up. A-And… man, I… my mother… there is this picture she gave m-me… I think a part of our class is in one of the "schools" for harmless Quirks…."
Izuku felt the horror of the situation crush him.
"…there is Jirou and Iida… anything could happen to them…"
Kacchan laughed. It was a real laugh, not something stress-induced. Izuku blinked, not understanding at all what could be funny in their situation.
"If they are still in there, I wish that school good fucking luck! They are just extra, but they are not exactly harmless. They can deal with that level of shit just nicely. I wish I could watch it."
Third fair point for Kacchan.
"Listen, shithead! This place is all wrong but we've got two big, incredible advantages. First, people who could try to mess with us are mostly Quirkless. They usually deal with cowards who hid their shitty Quirks their entire lives. They are not prepared to face future pro-heroes. So if you face shit, hit them hard, hit them first, and fucking win! If they do have Quirks, remember they can't train as we do, so hit harder, faster, and destroy them!"
"…you did hear the part where I don't have my Quirk anymore…right?" Kirishima pointed out.
"Yeah?! So what?! You think Round Face uses a lot of zero-gravity when she punches?! If you cannot defend your own skin the moment your Quirk gets weaker, ask Aizawa for an appointment with a career counselor! Use your brain cells! You still train every day and you still know how to beat the crap out of fuckers, Quirk or not!"
Fourth fair point for Kacchan.
"Secondly, did you check a calendar, shithead? We are May 28."
"Ojiro's birthday," Izuku interrupted.
"Put your brain to better use too, Deku! What's the point of remembering that useless shit?! We are May 28, and what's important is not some extra throwing a party we won't go to, but the fact that May 28 is in the fucking past. This world is different, but people and places are mostly the same. We can't tell what is going to happen, but we can probably anticipate."
Fifth fair point. Izuku decided to stop counting.
"The drug your mother speaks about, shitty hair, if it is related to the bastard you annihilated, it won't be ready before months. So you got all your time to get the fuck out of that hell, and in case you need to still stop that shit from happening, you also already know where to look and what to look for."
Kirishima took a deep breath. Izuku knew he was not crying anymore. Kacchan was not gentle, he never was, but he cared, in his own twisted way.
"Thank you, bro."
"Whatever, I'm just saying what both you slowpokes can't understand fast enough," he answered, shoving back the phone in Izuku's hands, as if he had finished the part of the conversation that requested his input.
"Man, I…" Kirishima inhaled deeply again. "…what should I do now? I don't think I should stay in there but… I mean… I can't disappear on my parents either… that would probably put them in danger too… and if that organization makes its drug in the same way that they d…"
Kirishima stopped in the middle of his sentence. There was a thud, as if he had dropped his phone and then, a heavy coughing noise.
"Kirishima?!" Izuku panicked, suddenly very aware that they had no idea where Kirishima actually was and how sick he could be. If he just hung on them, they would have to wait for news and would have no means of helping him. "Kirishima?! Are you okay?"
Kacchan nervously tapped his feet down, and they heard Kirishima mumble something about not knowing where his phone had fallen.
"Kirishima?!"
"… sorry." He finally answered. "...I am fine. I just… it's just I realized I ate that drug, and it's likely made of something like Eri's blood… and my stomach did not like it...shit, th-that's so gross..."
Izuku felt anger and fear rising at the thought that Eri could be back in that lab, somewhere he could not reach.
"Midoriya… Eri, she was at U.A., like us… do you think there is a chance she'd remember what the truth is like…? Because if she does… if she does and is currently facing Chisaki again…"
Kirishima did not finish that sentence either and Izuku felt grateful for it. He could not bear with the picture of Eri waking up once again in that lab and facing that terrible villain. That would just mess her up.
Maybe it already did.
"It's probably better if she is just clueless." Kacchan observed, "If she loses her shit and goes all out, that little bitch could also wreck a lot of people lives. From what I gathered, she doesn't know how to spell "control"."
"…man, I don't even want to think about it. I… where I am looks different from when we went, but I'll still try to check she is around… as soon as I'll stop seeing twice my phone, I'll do that… and if she isn't, I'll try to convince my parents we can't stay. We can't. I don't know half the things I should. Someone will suspect something sooner or later and if they understand that my family are traitors…"
"You see double?" Izuku worried.
"…err… not that much but…yeah. But don't worry, there is less fog in my room now. That was really annoying."
Izuku's eyes met Bakugo's. That was worrying. "Let's keep in touch, Kirishima. Send us your address, and keep sending messages. We could also come and…"
"Well…No offence, but both of your Quirks are obviously in the "dangerous" category, Midoriya. If… if I have a problem or something, I'll tell you, but as long as I can manage, it's better if we don't bring attention to ourselves."
Izuku tried to keep his worry under control. "… my mother will not be happy, but if you need to, you can come to my place as well. I will text you my address… and Kacchan's too."
"Thanks."
"Are you sure you don't need any help? We could..."
"It's okay man. I promise I'll tell you straight away if I run into trouble. I will… check on Eri and text you."
"Thank you Kirishima, and really… if you think it's preferable to leave, don't take chances, leave."
"I…I okay."
He hanged up and Izuku pocketed the phone, trying to calm his soaring anxiety. The silence was only interrupted by the distant noise of cars, washing machines and a wailing baby. He slipped a glance at his friend and Kacchan did not really notice. He was again deep in thoughts, eyelids blinking a little too fast.
The way he was staring into nothingness felt unnatural and very unlike him. Kacchan was always ultra-aware of his surroundings, and was not the kind to doze off and daydream.
"Are you oka…" Izuku stopped himself the moment the words left his lips, strongly wishing he could take them back, but it was already too late.
"DO I LOOK UN-OKAY TO YOU, DEKU?!"
"No… I mean…"
"You don't mean shit, so shut up!"
He moved from the stairs, and Izuku almost believed he would try to go downstairs again, but he did not. He simply stood there, unmoving. Izuku tried to remember if he had ever seen him think so intensely before and could not find another instance of that behavior. Maybe he was just doing fine, but there were definitely things on his mind, and Izuku was not sure he had shared all the details.
"Kacchan…"
"Deku, I swear, if you ever get a throat injury and can't speak anymore, I'll give money to all Japan shrines for that blessing."
"We need to work together on this, Kacchan. If you know someth…"
"I DON'T!" He yelled. "If I had some great revelation about this damn place, I'd fucking tell you so you'd shut up! So stop thinking you know better than I do what's in my head!"
He whirled around, climbing back the stairs to the apartment and harshly opened the door. Izuku instantly left the stairs in tow, catching the door before it closed.
"Kacchan…"
"Don't follow me!"
Izuku made a face, not wanting to point out that it actually was his house. Kacchan still seemed to understand the remark and his eyes lit with blazing irritation once more.
"DEKU…"
"Izuku?"
They both quieted instantly and looked down the stairs. A girl their age was standing there, wearing her school uniform and having a bag full of books hanged on her shoulder.
"Who's that?" Kacchan asked, passing his head through the door.
Izuku felt his stomach do a summersault.
That was Sumire-san, his new fake friend, climbing the stairs towards them, and trying to have a better look at Kacchan's half-hidden frame.
"That's… trouble."
"And 5%!"
Half the café stared at Kaminari. Not that he cared. His phone was taking an awfully long time to charge and his energy drink had been empty for ages when the battery level deigned to reach the minimal power required to start.
The little device asked for a password.
Shit.
Kaminari bumped his head on the table, almost sending his can fly. Okay. He had three tries. With a little luck, the password was the same as before.
1234
It failed.
Kaminari bumped his head on the table a second time, and the waiter started to stare.
0000
It failed.
Kaminari bumped his head a third time, and the clients shared a few concerned stares.
"Please work, please work, please work." He prayed, inputting his birthday.
His phone hesitated, and then, unlocked.
"YES!" He shouted, almost jumping from his sit. At least, something positive in the day. Sitting back down, he checked the numerous messages pilling up. He sorted them, ignoring all the ones he got from middle school friends asking why he was not in class and jumped to interesting ones.
Midoriya's name popped in the middle of them, and Kaminari felt his heart skip a beat.
Midoriya would remember, Midoriya would remember and he would be safe, Midoriya would remember, would be safe…
He clicked on the name, hands sweaty and shaky, and felt a first wave of relief wash over him. He had accepted his friend request, sent several messages and tried to call him in the morning.
Kaminari's finger shook as he opened the first one, sent the night before.
From: Midoriya Izuku
Kaminari, I hope you are doing fine. I tried to call you, but I guess it's a little late. Please call or text me back as soon as you are awake. I guess you remember U.A. or you wouldn't try to reach me. If that's the case, I want to tell you that Kacchan and I are all right.
Kaminari felt his heart skip another, bigger, harder beat.
"Kacchan and I are all right."
Bakugo was all right.
Not dead.
All right. He was just all right.
Needless to say, (but he really needed to say it anyway), being all right was a lot better than being dead.
He took a few seconds to gather himself (Which did not include wiping small tears from his eyes and breathing a few times deeply) and continued going through Midoriya's messages from the evening.
I also got Kirishima on the phone earlier. Kacchan and I are a little worried. He spoke about a criminal organization, but I am not sure what he meant. If you got any more news from him, please let us know.
"A what?" Kaminari said out loud, not quite believing Midoriya had not misspelled a few words in that sentence. Yet, not so many words could be confused with "Criminal organization" and Midoriya rarely misspelled anything.
Was Kirishima-B supposed to be a Villain? This was nonsense and Kirishima-A could not even pretend to be one. He went back to the texts.
Have you heard of other people? Classmates? Teachers? Do you remember anything happening? My memory ends before training and Kacchan's after dinner, but we really don't know what could have happened after that.
The next message had been sent really early in the morning, and despite the phone affirming this was Midoriya, it was obviously not.
From: Midoriya Izuku
DUNCE FACE IF YOU DON'T ANSWER I WILL BLAST YOU OUT OF THE ATMOSPHERE
What is so urgent you can't grab the damn thing and text Deku back
You are so fucking dead
.
Kaminari never thought he would feel this elated to receive death threats. Where others would have read very aggressive and mean sentences (Okay, completely hostiles and out of line sentences), he read worried and concerned ones. (He was becoming fluent in Bakugo-language lately).
He almost called them straight away, but stopped himself. He could not do that with so many people around (He was not that stupid), so he called the waiter, requesting the bill, and checked Yao-Momo's messages meanwhile.
From: Yaoyorozu Momo
Kaminari-kun, did you manage to check the agencies I have put on your schedule?
Did you find anything? Anyone?
.
He was not about to tell her he hadn't even started checking the heroes agencies addresses she had sent… but he had technically found the whereabouts of five people: Todoroki, Mina, Kirishima, Bakugo and Midoriya.
It was like having a good mark without even taking an exam.
He started to write back to her.
From: Kaminari Denki
Yao-Momo I have two good news, one half-good and two really really bad ones
Which one do you want first?
Yaoyorozu Momo asked for a second serving. Then a third. Then the servants exchanged stares, and she asked a fourth wondering if her counterpart was eating as much as she did.
Another detail. The tea. The brand was correct, the dosage was perfect, the heat was adequate, the cup was appropriate. It still tasted different.
Nothing dramatic, but still. Another mistake. She was seeing them everywhere, and she was starting to wonder when she would actually run into something dramatic.
She took her additional desert to her room, checked her timetable – she had English in one hour, followed dance – and then switched the TV on, as Kaminari told her to do.
In a matter of seconds, she was staring at enough ice to supply a thousand restaurants for a good year with ice cubes. Her spoonful of strawberries with Chantilly-topping almost fell on her lap.
Todoroki overdid himself. It meant two things: First, Todoroki was obviously capable of taking good care of his own situation by himself, and second it meant he had painted an unmissable target on his own back.
She was not feeling hungry anymore, but she still ate, slowly, spoon after spoon, texting Kaminari from time to time, and looking up at the TV. She felt cold and her mind was making loops. She wanted to something, anything, but she was just one girl… just one girl with a brain, a Quirk and provisional-hero license. Well… she technically did not even had that last one anymore…
She held her arm out, and despite all laws and regulations being very clear in either universes on the matter of making false official documents, she still fabricated a copy of her license.
It helped and did not at the same time.
It helped because it felt reassuring to have the little piece of plastic stating she was a true hero.
It did not because it was crushing her to have the tangible proof she was a true hero. Heroes had responsibilities, and as a person enjoying the best personal situation possible, she felt tremendously responsible.
Her eyes fall on her fake hero license and her breath caught in her throat.
She had already made official documents, it was not the first time! She grabbed her handbag, opened her wallet. She, the other she, she had made official documents!
She reached for her ID, her fake ID, and looked up at the TV. The speaker was giving a description of Ashido-san.
She sprang into action.
She locked the door, sat back on the floor, took her shirt off, her bra off, and focused. If she had made this, she would be able to make others for her friends. She just needed a little practice!
It was not a plan, not really. She knew that deep down, but it was not nothing.
An ID card, chip and all, appeared out of her stomach.
"Oi, Trouble!" Kacchan exclaimed, as if it was her name, "What the fuck are you…"
Izuku jumped into action before he could add anything more and slammed the door in his face.
Obviously, his friend had not expected it. A loud gasp of surprise and pain escaped him the moment the door collided with his foot and face.
The doorframe also did a loud and ominous noise. Maybe a little of his One for All strength had leaked with the panic… just maybe.
"DEKU!" He heard from the other side of the door, as Kacchan lost no time and frantically pressed on the handle. Izuku grabbed it and put all his strength into keeping the door shut.
"I…Izuku?" Sumire-san repeated, staring at the scene they were making with pan-sized eyes.
It was still better than her seeing Kacchan's red eyes and running to the police the moment she would be out of sight.
"H—Hi S-Sumire-san!" He greeted, trying to look natural while holding the banging and screaming door. Thankfully, Kacchan had a self-preservation sense good enough to not blast it open.
"What are you doing?" She rightfully questioned.
"I… huh."
Great answer. He would have told her something more intelligent if Kacchan's roaring voice had not proclaimed he was going to break his glassy little bones to very tiny shards, cutting short any not-yelled sentence.
"Who is that?" Sumire-san asked.
"…a… friend?"
"WE ARE NOT FRIENDS, DEKU! OPEN THAT FUCKING DOOR, I'LL KILL YOU!"
"I know all your friends, Izuku." Sumire-san stated.
"...ah… you do?...a… a childhood friend?" He stuttered, feeling the handle was somehow not liking all the pushing and pulling and was starting to make noises handles were not supposed to make.
"…Izuku. We've known each other since we were three. You don't have any other childhood friends."
"W-we….oh, shi… I mean, that's… great. So huh… what are you d-doing here?"
She crossed her arms and rose an eyebrow. "You know you look awfully suspicious?"
"I…m-me? W-why…? I mean, I-I can see w-why but it's n-not suspicious, it's just… I am well, you see…"
"Yeah I see. Makes me think either you both were doing something illegal or it is a relationship you don't want me to know about. I am open minded in both cases… so what is it? You are not the kind skip school to smoke weird stuff, so… is this a lover quarrel?"
Izuku let go of the handle and Kacchan obviously froze on the other side.
"Ohhhh…. Don't move, your face is so great, I just want to take a picture!" She exclaimed, and thankfully, Kacchan did not push the door open, because Izuku would not have had the reflex to prevent him from doing so.
He was apparently still processing the sentence.
"No it's not like this! And we weren't doing anything illegal either! W-we…just have arguments all the time and…"
"That's what lovers quarrels are like, usually. Having arguments. All the time."
"WHAT THE FUCK DID YOU SAY?!"
The processing time had apparently run out. Before Izuku could have launch himself at the handle, Kacchan opened the door, ready to massacre her without a second thought.
"Ka…" Izuku began, his mouth snapping shut the instant he realized that Sumire-san had been there since kindergarten and probably knew who was Bakugo Katsuki. Sheer panic rushed through his veins, and Kacchan stopped, as if realization just occurred to him at the same time.
She tilted her head to the side, to get a glance at Kacchan, but his sense of self-preservation finally seemed to kick in a little harder. Despite all threats, he stayed inside the apartment, out of sight, breathing in and out.
"H-huh Hello. It's called teasing, just teasing," Sumire-san apologized, getting closer.
"Fuck. You both are not even worth my time." He swore, turning around and going back further inside.
Izuku took the initiative to close the door again and to stand in front of it. The girl was still looking suspiciously at him, and from the apartment, they heard his mother inquire about what happened and Kacchan answering it was not her damn business.
"…hum, so Izuku. I skipped school too, since your weren't there. I wanted to check on you, the teacher told us you were sick. You… huh, kind of left in a rush and we were really worried, you haven't answered anyone's texts since yesterday… Yamada-kun joked about you being dead or something… and I was not really worried… but you know… we never know."
"Oh. That's… huh. Nice."
So much for making intelligent sentences.
"Sooo… do you have time for that lunch?" She asked, suddenly smiling. "You can invite your bratty friend if you want, I will mind, but just at the beginning."
Kacchan did not hear that, thankfully.
"I don't have that much time…" He started, trying to find the best way to refuse without hurting her feelings, but apparently, it was not straightforward enough.
"Great! We'll make this quick!" She answered, grabbing his wrist.
Izuku's face grew red, – holding hands with a girl was an event, even if technically, it was just his wrist – and before he knew how, he was in front of a restaurant door, with a fake childhood-friend.
Sumire-san was eating a salad without any appetite and Izuku was trying to eat his sandwich without choking on it.
"So… you are not sick?" She asked.
For one second or two, he chewed on the bread to give himself time to prepare a plausible answer. The restaurant she had invited him to was a very small one, a street away from his apartment. The customer were scarce, and music was playing in the kitchen.
"Sumire-san, we've known each other for quite some time, isn't it?" He prudently asked, putting his sandwich down.
"We do," she confirmed. "It must be about twelve years."
"…and yet, I haven't mentioned this friend to you ever before." He said, trying to think of a good reason for that.
Sumire-san mixed her salad with a chopstick, almost nervously. "… we usually don't have secrets for each other," She whispered, her voice sounding sad and hurt, as if he had done something betraying her trust.
Izuku took another bite in his chicken sandwich and Sumire-san put her chopsticks down, as if she was not hungry anymore.
He did not know her. He had never known her. He would probably never know her after that. Yet, seeing her hurt felt wrong. She was just another person, someone who never asked to feel betrayed, who never asked to have her friend forgetting about her, who never asked any of this.
He did not want to hurt her.
He wanted to make this right, because being hurt could take so many forms, and Kirishima had a point. They had no idea what consequences being hurt in this place could have in the real world.
He was too bad at lying to make up an entire story. So there only one thing to do to keep Kacchan and this girl safe: stick to the truth.
"Sumire-san, Kacchan and I… our story is not simple, and I usually don't talk about it." He began, and nothing could be truer.
He had never told his own mother about how Kacchan bullied him for years. He had never mentioned the details to All Might. He had never spoken about his middle school years with the U.A. students.
"We met a long time ago, but we always had a… difficult relationship, and even if it is slowly growing into something better, it's still fragile. If I were to tell people about the things I keep quiet about, what little respect and trust we have for each other, it would crumble to pieces." He explained, envisioning how easily he could utterly destroy Kacchan's future and trust if he were to mention the bullying to the right people. It was a little scary, frankly.
Sumire-san listened, and he hoped his words would reach her, because it was the best he could do.
"I don't want that to happen. I want the relationship we have to continue growing stronger and better, until it is strong enough to endure hardships. Sumire-san, the reason I n-never mentioned him, it is not because you are n-not my f-friend, it is not because I want to k-keep you away, or because I don't trust you… I-It is because, one day maybe we will speak about our full story, but it's too early, it's really too early to tell anybody."
He bowed his head to her.
"I am sorry if I have hurt your feelings by not mentioning him before, I am really sorry, Sumire-san."
"Izuku…" She slowly said her voice still sad, "…I don't really understand what you've said… but… this friend you have… I don't… I am not prying, but I need to know… have you two been fighting?"
He raised his head, surprised by her question.
"We did. Numerous times." He admitted.
"... and what did he do to... for you to go as far as to hit him in the face?"
Before he could ask what she meant, he understood what she was actually talking about. Kacchan still had a bad bruise on his cheek. Shit. How did she saw that? Did she also see his face clearly enough? Did she understand?
"…huh, h-he did not do anything to me, a-and that was not me. W-we have a difficult relationship, but we don't fight... well we haven't for a few months and...That's… let's say that's most probably p-part of the reason why he is on edge like this… he is always on edge, and he is dead angry all the time, but he is rarely mean like he was this morning, and there is a lot on his plate, and I can't blame him… I won't go into details, Sumire-san, but he came to my home yesterday, and he had a really bad argument with his parents, so bad he refused to go back home, and that's also part of why I did not went to school this morning, and… why are you smiling?"
Sumire-san had a half-smile, half-sad kind of expression. She put a shoulder down the table and leaned on it.
"I'm smiling because at least you are back to your normal-mumbling self." She told him. "You looked so serious before, but this… this is so much more like the Izuku I've known since forever."
Izuku blushed. Wow, having fake-girl-childhood friend was actually super nice.
"I-I…I'm sorry about the mumbling, I'm working on it."
"You don't need to. I like it."
Izuku felt his face change colors, going into redder hues. Sumire-san rolled her eyes a little and took her chopsticks back.
"One day, you'll tell me all this is about." Probably not, but Izuku smiled. The girl opened her bag, and handed him out a small stack of papers. "That's yesterday homework. Are you coming tomorrow?"
"…I…thanks… I… I'm not sure yet."
"Text me, okay? And answer the others, unless you want more visits, Izuku. Sato is a pain in the ass, he asks about you every second."
"I-I-I will do that."
She closed her bag and put it on her shoulder. "I must go back to school, skipping is funny, but I don't have any secret-friend appointment in the afternoon."
"O…Okay. Take care."
"You too. And even if you are the nicest boy on earth who likes every single jackass in the universe, please do me a favor, and if you see one of the escapees, don't shelter them. Call the police."
Izuku frowned, not understanding.
"What are you talking about?"
"You did not heard about the jailbreak?"
"What jailbreak?"
"Let me show you…" She said, turning her phone towards him. "This jailbreak."
Izuku felt all colors leave his face.
Midoriya Inko thought she knew how to deal with teenagers.
Until then, she even thought people were making a case of something that was not so complicated. She believed there were two keys to deal with them, and that once you knew how to use them, it was not a challenge.
Key number one: Teenagers were children. As children, teenagers being silent were actually teenagers doing something they should not. As a mother it was tremendously important to be worried about silence, and any kind of silence.
Key number two: Teenagers were adults. As adults, teenager had very valid opinions, could take decisions just fine, and talk there way trough life. As a fellow adult, it was also very important to care about what they were saying, about anything they were saying.
Katsuki-chan was a good example.
He could be silent during an entire conversion, hiding things Inko was truly worried about, and he could as well talk and make himself heard just fine.
The problem was balance.
There was balance in Izuku. Her son would keep quiet about numerous things, but if she exerted the right amount of mother-power, he would talk about it, and he would talk adult-to-adult.
There was zero balance in Katsuki.
"Hum… Katsuki-chan… it's been almost an hour since Izuku left… can't you tell me where he went?" She tried again.
He was sitting in the kitchen, still pocking angrily at her son's history textbook, going through the same pages over and over again.
"Don't know, I told you. I'm not his damn chaperon."
"You had an argument…?" She asked, hoping he would open up and answer.
He turned a page. Great. No progress, he was ignoring her again.
"Katsuki-chan…"
"Fuck, drop the 'chan' thing!" He yelled without warning, shutting the book violently. "I'm not four anymore and for god sake, we argue all the time! Isn't it obvious, already?!"
Inko tried very hard to speak adult to adult.
"Yesterday, I was still believing you were dead, Katsuki-kun. So, unfortunately, many things are not obvious for me yet. I don't want to meddle with your secrets, but you left the kitchen looking as if you were sick, then I heard voices raise from the outside, you banged at the door, and now my son is not coming back. You don't owe me anything, but a little explanation would be much appreciated."
"I was not sick, I rose my voice at him because that motherfucker is insufferable, I hit that door because he slammed it in my face, and I don't fucking know where he went because I don't care."
Right. Zero balance. He was a challenge. And rude.
"Katsuki-Kun…"
There was a knock on the door. Inko slowly turned around. She was not expecting anybody. Izuku probably had the keys to come back, and the Bakugo had already called her to explain they would drop by in the evening to collect their son. It was too early.
The neighbors, maybe?
"Katsuki-kun, stay silent."
He grabbed the book, and shrugging, left for Izuku's room, whose door he slammed loudly behind him.
Teenager. Right.
Inko went to the door, opened slightly the curtains, and felt her blood freeze in her veins.
"Police, please open." One of the men said on the other side of the door, looking at her through the gap she just made with the curtains.