Countdown to Reality
1. Ten chapters already! Thank you for continuing this trip to this AU with me!
2. I had a problem for this chapter. I have a question and I can't find the answer...
3. Reading time!
Day 2. Nap time. Countdown 24: 04: 29
"…and there were icebergs everywhere!" Sumire-san explained. "It's not the first time it happens, but it is definitely one of the most impressive jailbreak in history."
Izuku knew it had been a possibility since the beginning, but it was still hard to have it shoved to his face.
"It's not even that far from here. The mayor said he'd intensify police searches everywhere in the city, just in case they made it this far… but the girl is purple, I don't think they can hide in a city. It's likely they'll try to disappear in the mountain."
It would be. It would be if they actually knew about this world.
The problem was there was high chances they did not.
"Izuku? Are you all right?"
"No." He blurted out.
"…oh." She sat down again. "Want to explain why?"
"No."
"I'm listening," She said smiling, and Izuku wished hard for her to disappear in thin air, but of course, she did not. People did not disappear because they were troublesome.
Bakugo was trying to concentrate and continue his reading, even if the textbook sentences probably had nothing more to reveal, when he heard the front door open. For one moment, there was no noises in the apartment. Then, a man's voice rose.
"Some neighbors reported they heard people shouting yesterday evening and this morning in your apartment… as well as other noises. We are just here to check everything is all right. Could you please show me your papers?"
"I…I… my papers? It, they… it's... my wallet." Deku's mother squeaked, sounding like a trapped squirrel.
Oi, Oi, Oi.
This was bad.
He could not get out the room without being seen. He was trapped.
"You live with your son, right? Is he at school?"
"He…he… I think he must be with a friend."
Bakugo very slowly put the textbook on Deku's desk and looked around. He needed to keep his head cool and think.
The futon was still folded by the door. He decided on the spot make the room look as if Deku was the only person occupying it. He opened the closet, making sure the doors were not making any noise and then put it away, hiding any obvious trace of him having been there.
"Thank you. Everything seems good. Some neighbors also mentioned something about your microwave exploding... but I see it looks fine… could you explain what happened and who you were fighting with?"
Inko did not answer.
Fuck. Did she threw the DVD player?
The damn thing had obvious explosion marks on the plastic, nothing she could explain doing without dangerous substances.
"It…it… was some food I left inside. I mean… the food exploded. The plastic lid… not the microwave itself… I have already c-cleaned it. A-and I-I… I had a bad argument with friends. B-but it w-was j-just words, we did not fight or anything."
"Since it's the first time there is a complaint about the noise, we won't give you a fine, but please make sure you don't make too much noise in evenings and mornings. That being said, you may know we are on a high security alert and we are looking for prison escapees. We must check all places with irregular activities. Do you mind if we check your apartment?"
Prison escapees?
It was just his luck. Some idiot motherfucker chose that very day to put the police on edge.
Fuck.
He could wait for the door to open and blast them to hell. He would win, he knew it, it was not even a question. The problem was more about the consequences. What would he do, after that? Re-built the destroyed Midoriya's apartment? Ask gently to the rest of the Japanese police to not sue Deku's mother for hiding Quirked people? Erase the memories of the knocked out policemen?
Attacking frontally was winning a battle, not winning a war, and Bakugo was not making half-victories. He needed to hold his word. He was not going to be arrested. He promised his parents.
If attacking was not a possibility then… he had to clear the room, and fast, but the only other opening beside the door was Deku's window. He tiptoed towards it and stared through the glass.
Deku's room was not exactly on the ground floor, and a fall from this height would be lethal. Deku's room was unfortunately on the wrong side of the apartment complex. On his way in, he had used the kitchen window, which was on the façade with easy to climb balconies, nothing like this straight, flat, slippery facade.
With his Quirk, Bakugo could have disappeared easily, but that was the entire point. He had to get out because he could not use it. That and people would probably notice if he was flying loudly through the city.
"My-my son's room… I am not sure he c-cleaned it…"
"Don't worry, we see all kind of places every day."
He could see a solution.
He did not like it.
Not at all, but fuck, time was obviously ticking a little too fast to dwell on details such as liking or not his only escape route.
Opening the window, he perched himself on the sill. Steps were coming his way... that facade just had windows and air conditioners. They were far. They looked old, unsafe, and under any other circumstances, he would not have considered them as safe footholds. Circumstances be damned, these lousy devices would have to do.
It was still far.
The height was still the very same…. And time was still ticking, footsteps were really getting close.
Bakugo still prepared his hands. He would not miss, he was better than that, but… but anyway, just in case, he still prepared his hands.
He jumped.
For an instant, it felt as it always felt. Flying was a blissful sensation, something magic and incredibly exciting. Then, gravity reminded him of its existence and of the absence of any explosion induced thrust.
It was too far.
It was almost too far.
It was just a little too far… his fingers brushed the air-conditioner, and closed on its rusty edge. The shock would have forced anyone to let go, but he did not. His arms and shoulders were used to take shocks a lot more violent than this. The air conditioner, on the other hand, emitted a very ominous noise.
Shit.
With his other hand, he grabbed the edge, and heaved himself on top of the device, feeling it moving underneath his knees.
Not wanting to test any longer if it was strong enough to support his weigh, he jumped again, and grabbed the next windowsill. His body half-slammed onto the wall and none of his fingertips liked it. But he did not let go. He was Bakugo Katsuki.
Shoulders shaking a little from the effort, he managed to grab his new perch more firmly and to crouch on the new window, safely hidden behind the old and rusty air-conditioners. If the police officers looked outside, they would not see him.
"I am telling you! My son's room is really not clean! Let me just one second to do something!"
"Please step aside."
He heard the door open and a little hiccup escape Inko's lips.
He felt like grinning. He would totally love to see the awe on Deku's mother face. Even without using his Quirk, he could manage anything.
Something caught his attention and he turned around. In the room of the window he had just landed onto, there was an old woman. She was standing by the window and staring directly at him.
Shit, shit, shit
Why had he not thought about this goddamn outcome?!
If she called, if she made any sound, if she opened the window… fuck, if she opened the window, he would fall to his death… or he would have to use his Quirk in broad daylight!
She did nothing.
Her lips moved, saying words, but the sound never arrived to his ears. Bakugo felt his hands sweat so much it was becoming dangerous, and then she flickered, on and off, on, off, and… her whole person disappeared one second, reappeared the next, disappeared again one thousand times in less than a heartbeat, and he was suddenly facing an empty apartment.
His hands almost let go. It was only out of sheer will that he did not lose his footing, and managed to keep a semblance of control over his reeling mind.
What in fuck name had just happened?
His heart was beating faster and faster, and he grabbed the sill hard, feeling his thoughts becoming patched and discontinued. He closed his eyes and it took him everything he had to have it cease.
When he opened his eyes again, the police officers voices were gone and as much as he waited for the old woman reappearance, it did not happen.
Kirishima had, so far, managed to take a shower and get dressed. Tasks which were not as easy as it sounded, since the bathroom was a five-minute walk, the clothes were not exactly his and his legs were still jelly-like. He gave up on doing his hair and finding out where could be his toothbrush, because some things were more urgent than others.
With his mind a lot clearer, he headed towards the first room in the corridor.
His plan was as simple as it could be: Explore the house – hidden passageways included if any – and depending on if he would find Eri or not, escape with her and his parents, or just his parents.
Simple, right?
Right.
He checked if nobody was watching, knocked on the next door – in case someone was inside, the excuse he had prepared was "Sorry, wrong door", which was still better than barging in uninvited – and when he got no answer, he pushed it open. It was a simple room, looking very much like his, and nothing could indicate that a little girl had ever lived there. He closed the door and repeated the process.
Despite not seeing anybody around, Kirishima was listening for footsteps very hard, jumping at the slightest noise, and every time he opened a new door, he was scared to run into a criminal-organization-member skipping daily duties.
Duties must be well respected because he met nobody. He had time to check wardrobes and drawers for children toys and clothes in each room. Despite all his efforts, he could not find a single trace of the little girl, or of any other child or young teen.
He would have done anything to not be alone. For example to have someone like Jirou or Shoji beside him, someone capable of telling if there were people ahead. He would even have loved to be with Kaminari or Ashido, who would be both useless – if not worse than useless – but they would at least support each other.
But there was nobody.
Not even a text from Midoriya.
Kirishima climbed down some stairs and crossed ways with a man. He looked down, trying very hard to look not suspicious, and felt his heart beat so hard it was almost loud. He had never signed for that. He wanted to be a flashy hero, nothing close from that poor excuse of a spy he was working on currently.
Yet his poor-excuse-of-a-spy was not that poor because the man did not pay him any attention. He breathed in and pushed the next door open.
"What are you doing?"
Kirishima froze, almost hardening on the spot – if only he could have – and turned his head very slowly towards the source of the noise at the other end of the corridor. It was Yu-he-was-somehow-deceiving, looking disheveled and angry.
Two thousand replies to that question ran through his mind in less than a quarter of a piece of a very tiny second, and none seemed to fit. Almost as many plans went through the same process and Kirishima probably chose the most unsafe of all.
To his defense, Eri's life, his parent's life, his own life, a part of the world's lives were on the line, and he could not play-pretend to no end with this Yu-person-chan and lose interminable time. Anyway, he would screw up at some point, so it could be right there and then.
That at least would win precious hours.
"I don't remember." He blurted out.
Yu-something-chan did not react right away. She seemed a bit lost.
"What do you mean?"
"I don't remember any of this." He added gesturing all around him with his arms. "I have no idea who you might be, what this place is and what is happening."
Yu-something-chan's mouth opened wide.
"So since I don't remember, I am looking around." He said, trying to look convincing.
"You are joking right?"
"No."
"What do you mean, no?"
"I mean, no, I am not joking."
"You sure?"
"Yes, I'm sure."
"It's not close to fun, Kiri!"
"Because it's everything, but fun!" he snapped.
Yu-something's face was whitening with each sentence, the intonations of truth sinking in. Kirishima knew pretty well he was playing a fairly dangerous game, but so was play-pretending. He noisily gulped down, and went on with his unsafe plan.
"I don't remember anything before yesterday morning, just general stuff. Who I am, who are my parents, what's my Quirk… stuff like that, but you are not included in the whole package. So who are you? We had dinner yesterday and you were mean, and I believed you were my… anyway, what are we?"
Yu-he-was-trying-to start-getting-answers-from stared awe-struck in the middle of the corridor.
"I am not… included in the package?" She feebly repeated.
"Your name is Yu…? Yu-what?"
She did not answer and let both her arms fell along her body.
"It's the pill."
"What?"
"The pill. That fucking man my father sent, he said you were all right, but he probably did not check for real! I am sure my father told him to do the bare minimum! I hate him, I hate him so fucking much!"
No. This was not his plan. He wanted just to have to stop the play-pretending game, not having her thinking he was a medically induced amnesiac.
"No, it's something different. I swear, I… What? Weren't you telling me you'd tell your father if I was mean to you yesterday? How come you are not on good terms with him?"
"That was an empty threat, knucklehead! I make empty threats all day, and the ones including my father are the emptiest! We barely speak since we had different opinions on my wedding! I am never, ever involved with him!"
"You… you… are a married-woman?"
"No, I am a widow! Fuck, you don't even know that?!"
Kirishima's imagination was going wild. What was he doing with a married-woman? What was he doing spying on a married-woman...since he was twelve?
"What are… wait. A widow?!"
"Oh… for god… I am going to skin that man alive!" She grabbed his arm forcefully and dragged him along. "He will check you properly, and I will have him swallow his damn own pills until it kills him!"
Kirishima did not move, and he was able to stop furious-Yu-something from dragging him anywhere. She was obviously a lot lighter than he was.
"Wait, wait, wait. I… err, I'd rather not… see that doctor again, and I told you, I don't think the pills have to do anything with…"
"Kiri, you are coming. You are not in a position to make wise decisions."
"And… err… I don't know why I should trust you or that doctor. You… are the one who forced me to take that drug and even if it's unlinked to my memory loss I still had a hard time and… err, if I remember well… and err…is he really… making these pills?"
Yu let go of his wrist with a dumbfounded expression. "You… don't trust me?"
"Well…"
"Fuck. Kiri, we've know each other for years! I won't do any harm to you!"
"That's not exactly what I remember from last night conversation… and it's the only thing I know about you."
"EMPTY THREATS! Do I need to make an entire Mea Culpa to you?! I wanted to spy on my father because he is a dick, but I can't skip on the drug because of the men he have here! They always check if I did not hide it anywhere, and I was angry because you did not want to take two… which is dangerous, and you were right to refuse, and I am sorry! I am so sorry! I couldn't know the pill you ate was wrong or something!"
Kirishima took a step back.
"Okay. Let's assume it was empty threats and that I did not understand. Are we… friends?"
"Yes."
"But… err… you are … well …older." He really hoped it was not sounding too offending.
She looked tired, but answered anyway.
"There are not many children here, because people need to have a Quirk to join, and there are less and less children born with quirks these days. When you arrived here three years ago, we had you take correspondence classes and they needed someone to keep an eye on you when your parents were working. I did, since my shitty father is also a misogynist and thinks I'm not good enough to get a real position. You really don't remember?"
"You are…. a babysitter?"
All things considered, he was grateful to be alone. Kaminari would have laughed to no end. Kirishima felt a little red come to his cheeks, but it was at least normal and legal.
"I am not anymore! Have you looked at yourself!? You are taller than me now!"
He was spying on his former babysitter. He wondered for half a second if he would ever suspect a younger kid under his watch to actually be spying on himself and the answer was no. He would not. And Yu was not either.
"That's… ok. You were a babysitter three years ago… and now we've moved to face to face dinners?"
"There are no other kids for you to share dinners with. Kiri. Can we get moving? You need that doctor, for real."
"Really? No other kids? Not… not even younger ones?"
"No. None."
He slowly nodded, not knowing if he was relieved or not by this information.
"Okay… and why is that doctor not a regular doctor? Why is he making the pills? Usually, doctors are just doctors. They don't make medication as a part-time job."
"If I answer that one, will you get moving?"
"Err… since I don't really want to see him…"
"Kiri!"
"His lab did make the drug having me fainting and everything."
Yu-something-chan pinched her nose. "We make the pills. Well my father's branch does. That his business. So since I personally asked for a doctor, they did not send a random one with zero knowledge of our pills... and they sent that stupid man, because he is an ass, but he knows his stuff."
Kirishima's brain had tripped on the first part of that information, not quite listening to the rest.
"…who is…who is your father, exactly?" He said, his voice a little cold, his eyes checking the girl in front of him a bit more carefully. Her grey-blue hair and apple-red-eyes. "he… he is an important guy, right?"
"Kiri, this is getting tiring. Just come, they'll fix you and you'll remember…"
His mother had told him Yu-something was an important person… she had told him Yu knew how the drug was made. She was important, but she did not have an important position, so she must be important for another reason… like her father being the real deal.
"Kiri?"
A father she did not like. A dead husband.
And…
The eyes, he knew these eyes. He had seen similar ones so many times, so many times… just younger eyes, a little rounder, but similar eyes.
Oh.
OH.
"Kiri, my god, you are so pale. I am going to kill that man, I swear, and I don't care if he is my father's favorite! He'll have no teeth left by dinner!"
Everything was going a little too fast.
Really too fast.
She took her phone from her pocket, called a number. He did not move. He knew he had most pieces of the puzzle. He just did not want to put them together. He did not want. He wanted to disappear, or to faint, or anything. The world still remained solid and he watched her call the doctor and insult him.
He did not move, stunned, waiting for the call to end. Then, only did he speak.
"Your… your father… is he… is he the… this place's boss?"
Yu-something seemed really upset by his 'memory loss', but she still answered. "Yes, Kiri, and I told you, we don't usually speak. I have many reasons to resent him."
The boss daughter.
Kirishima did not listen to any other word she might have said.
She was the boss daughter.
Much, much more important… it made her Eri's mother.
She was Eri's mother and in this place, she was eating pills made out of her daughter blood on a daily basis.
Fortunately, his stomach was already empty.
Kaminari, sitting on the pavement just by the coffee entrance, brought the phone towards his hear. Yaoyorozu had just told him to 'check the agency, please Kaminari-kun, and note any differences down, it's important', while she was basically trying to think of a way to help Mina and Todoroki. (He could almost hear her voice and as much as he liked her, it was somehow sounding a little annoying).
Kaminari trusted her to come up with a decent something, (a plan-something, if possible), the problem was more about when. Todoroki and Mina had dangerous flashy Quirks capable of making huge damage fast, but he was not confident they were fit for attrition runs. He checked the time. It was at least half a day since they had exploded the prison roof. Half a day of running and hiding.
Nothing they could not handle. ("Yet" being, obviously, a keyword).
Yao-Momo had better think fast, and he, Kaminari, had better have some work don: check the agencies, and make sure they could all get in touch in an easy way.
The phone rigging tone stopped, interrupting his thoughts.
"Hello?" Kaminari was positive that this voice did not belong to Midoriya. His classmate never sounded girly. He gave his phone a weird look, (as if the dumb thing would have displayed a tiny label with his interlocutor personal information).
"Who are you?" The girly-voice asked.
"Who are you?" He rightfully asked back. "Isn't this Midoriya's phone?"
"Oh, it is."
Kaminari was sure Midoriya had not turned into a girl, (or he would not have texted "Kacchan and I are all right"). Which meant Midoriya was close enough to a girl to actually share his cellphone.
(No, he was not a little jealous over his classmate luck with girls. Not at all).
"Sooo… huh, could you please tell him I'd like to talk with him?"
"Well, he in a frenzy google-search on my phone and he has been stuck in a mumbling world for at least five minutes, so I'd say you'll have a wait a little while. So… you are his secret-friend?
His what?
"Your name is Kaminari, right?" She continued. "I'm sorry I upset you earlier."
Kaminari looked at his phone a second time, not quite understanding. "Uh… we haven't met… I think." He said.
"Oh? Kacchan is not your nickname? You know, Kaminari-chan, Ka-chan or something?"
There was a rumbling noise on the other side, and Kaminari clearly heard Midoriya say 'how do you know my friend's name is Kacchan?' In a high pitch voice, and the girl answering she knew because he actually mumbled it like six times. Typical Midoriya. Then there was a 'give me back my phone' followed by a 'How many secret lovers do you have?' Which resulted in a mix of girly laughs and a Midoriya strangled sound.
"They are just friends!"
"How many secret people should I expect by the end of the day?"
"I-I- I'm not hiding anybody!"
"Well, how come there are two '–chan' people in your life that I don't know about on the same day? You suck at lying, quit that."
"I am not a –chan person…" Kaminari remarked aloud, but apparently, he was nobody's priority because the argument continued uninterrupted.
"..I- I was not lying… and… that's just someone I know… can you not make a big deal of that and just give me back my phone?"
"You are the one taking everything so seriously today. Not me. Even news seem to be a big deal now. You should relax before you explode or something."
"…relax?" Midoriya said hysterically.
The girl huffed, and obviously handed out the phone to his owner. Midoriya did not say something straight away, though, as if he had good reason not to say everything weighing on his mind in front of that other person, so Kaminari opened the ball.
"So… Midoriya, you saw the news too?"
"Hum."
"I told Yaoyorozu too. She told me she'd work on something."
"Yaoyorozu?" Midoriya half-shouted, and the girl voice, a little faraway said… 'Is that a third name I've never heard before...hum?!'.
"She is just fine!" Kaminari exclaimed, deciding to ignore the other voice asking too many questions out of Midoriya. "Lively and all. She gave me work to do. Like to check hero's agencies to see if someone is there, and she told me to ask you for Bakugo and Kirishima phone numbers, to make a chat group or something."
"Oh. That's sounds like fine, I guess." Midoriya said, speaking loudly above the girl questions. "I'll give you the numbers… but don't ask Kacchan his".
"Why?"
"Just trust me on this. So huh… about the.. news. Yaoyorozu. What does she think?"
Kaminari played nervously with his shoelaces.
"I'm not sure. She texted me she'll come up with something, but I really don't know how we could contact them… and we have to be careful. I mean… I am Quirkless but huh. Better not trying proving that." He explained, doing his best to not say anything too compromising in case the girl could hear him.
"You… are?"
"Not for real. But my papers and Yaoyorozu's say we are." There was a moment of silence from Midoriya, as if he had not expected it. "Midoriya… your papers say you also are, right?"
"Huh…? Of c-course. I… am." He admitted, and the tone was sour and bitter. "But… huh. Sumire-san? Please. I really need to talk to him. Could you... stop eavesdropping?."
Kaminari clearly heard her say 'I can only hear your end of the conversation. It's only half-dropping'.
"But can you stop doing half of that? I... I promise I'll... explain."
"Hum. Give me your wallet. I'll pay."
"I did not take it."
"…such a gentleman. You'll pay next time."
Kaminari would have loved to have other details on what they were doing, but as soon as the girl was obviously away, he totally forgot about her.
"My papers are fine," Midoriya said quickly. "But not Kacchan's. His parent faked his death when they learnt about his Quirk… and Kirishima… I am not sure what his looks like. He is in a criminal organization and they apparently make quirk erasing drugs."
"So you did not misspell."
"Pardon?"
"Nothing. Kirishima. He is fine too, right?" Kaminari asked and Midoriya hesitated.
"… he took drugs. He is really Quirkless... for a few days at worst. Wait…my mom just texted me…. Oh fuck."
Kaminari did not know what was the more worrisome. Kirishima taking drugs or Midoriya saying swear words.
"… the police is at my place! And Kacchan is in there! And… she can't find him? Kaminari. I'll call you back."
"Wait…!"
Too late. Midoriya was mumbling to himself and even before he actually hanged up, Kaminari knew it was too late to actually get anything out of him.
2. As I told you, I got an issue while writing this chapter. I have reread the manga and watched again each anime episode where we see Midoriya's apartment and I can't find a window in his room.
If he doesn't have one... let's just say he does, because it's not super healthy to not have one. (And I needed one).
If he does and you find on which wall it could be, please tell me, I am super interested.