Countdown to reality
1. This story is like a puzzle. I have the big picture in mind, and all these little pieces on my desk. I have almost finished the entire frame, but I still need to put all the remaining pieces in the right spots. I really love plot-building, it's so much fun!
2. Thank you so much for reading, and if you are still into this story, let's start!
Day 2. Middle Afternoon. Countdown 24: 02: 18
"Kiri… my god, Kiri, please sit down. Just sit down, okay? I am not asking for the moon on a golden plate! You are really white… like sick-white. The doctor is coming, just sit down." Yu-boss-daughter urged, insistently tugging on his sleeve.
He did not sit down. He just stared at this woman, disgusted.
She had left Eri.
She had left Eri twice, once in both timelines. She had abandoned her own child, left her with her uncontrollable Quirk the moment she needed guidance and reassurance the most, left her with a psychopath… and that woman was just standing there, fussing over him as if she was worried?
She did look worried, as if she cared, as if she was not a mean bitch, as if they were really friends, as if he was important, as if she was scared for him.
Kirishima was usually the forgiving kind, but he had been in that lab, he had seen Eri's scared eyes, he had witnessed how hard it was for her to learn to fit in a normal, happy world. Maybe that woman did have circumstances. Maybe she did have a good and very valid reason.
Maybe.
But at that very moment, Kirishima was not ready to forgive her or question her motivations. He was still too shocked for that.
How dared she be worried?
How could anyone but herself be important in her own, selfish eyes?
How could she care about another kid when her own was in that horrible place?
How could…
"… shit, what is he doing?! I told him it's an emergency! I'll have his damn skin, I swear, and I'll send him back to father in separate packages!"
"Who?" Kirishima reemerged.
"The doctor, Kiri. Just the doctor. Sit down. He should be there any minute."
"The doctor? ... Your dad's… didn't you say he was his favorite? A-are we speaking about the guy I met earlier?"
"Yes he is, but does it matter?! Sit the fuck down before you faint again!"
It did matter, because that guy… he had gloves. And a mask. And he was making Quirk erasing drugs. And cherry on the cake, now he was the boss favorite, and odds were not on Kirishima's side.
"What's his name?"
Coincidences that big were something only in books and movies, but he was already inside Shie Hassaikai, next to Eri's mother. That was a huge, improbable coincidence. It would not be so odd, after that, to run into another bunch of unpleasant coincidences ready to ruin his day. So a masked and gloved coincidence suddenly felt like an acceptable possibility.
"You don't know that either?"
"I don't even know your name! I also could not see his face and fuck… I need to get out."
He had to do that before dad-'s-favorite-gloved-and-masked-doctor arrived. He had brown hair, and he was young, and… and Kirishima was completely panicking, his mind playing the worst-case scenario at full throttle.
"Kirishima!"
Too late. He was not taking any more chances. He rushed towards a door, any door leading outside, while his hands were fumbling in his pocket, reaching for his phone… because fuck everything, he was calling Midoriya and Bakugo for help, they'll manage to come and they'll manage to also stay safe in the process – somehow – , while he couldn't, he was temporarily Quirkless, and this was a nightmare, and…
…and he ran into someone. Because of course! This was just his luck, this damn corridor was narrow, and there was Yu-he-hated just behind him, and…
…and he stopped.
He did not just stopped running away. He stopped. Like, everything in him stopped. His limbs and his thoughts, his breath and his attempts to get away.
The guy he had run into was not any guy, because this was definitely a nightmare, and nightmares were not having random nobodies running into you, or they were dreams, not nightmares.
That man put a hand on his stopped-shoulder, and Kirishima stopped even more.
He had never met that man in the real world, and yet, he knew his half-a-face as if he had spent months looking at his picture. He should have sat, because suddenly his body totally forgot it had legs.
"Hey!" The man said, barely managing to slow his fall towards the floor. "Wow, breath, it's fine, everything is fine!"
Everything was perhaps many things, but not fine.
"He has a memory loss, stupid dickhead! How is that FINE?" Yu-who-couldn't-just-shut-up echoed from behind him.
"Memory loss?"
"Yeah! Fuck, he doesn't even know our names!"
Kirishima's eyes met the man's, and he wished for any miracle to fall from heaven and save him… but nightmares did not work that way either.
"You don't know who I am?"
Oh, he certainly did.
He just wouldn't tell him. Not that he could have if he wanted. His throat was so tight that it wouldn't have been able to mutter the four syllabes of Chisaki Kai even if wanted to.
Inko closed the front door, trying to control her shaking hands. The keys were heavy. She had barely enough focus and strength to hold them.
Her apartment was quiet. So quiet she could hear neighbors voices from afar. So quiet she had never noticed how loud her own breathing was.
Her apartment was empty. No more police officers, no more Izuku, no more Katsuki.
She stayed there for what felt like hours, but she knew it could not be more than a mere couple of seconds, contemplating the door and refusing to admit she had lost both kids.
The keys loudly fall form her hands, and she stared at them, wondering when and how they had slipped off her hands… this was stupid. Izuku was outside, he was not lost, and Katsuki-chan… she turned around, almost tripping on her own feet, and rushed to her son's room.
The door was still ajar.
The room was still empty.
She looked under the bed, inside the closet, and her hands started to shake harder. Katsuki-chan's parents were going to murder her.
Oh God, oh God…
She rushed back to her living room, she looked behind doors, under the sofa and even franticaly inside the kitchen drawers, even if knew that Katsuki couldn't fit inside… but what was she supposed to do?! She had to find him, she just couldn't have lost him… and oh God, maybe he had time to get outside, and where were her keys…? How did they ended back in her hand? She had not reached for them...
She turned around and… Katsuki-chan was in the corridor, if anything, looking a little pale. She instantly fall on the couch, feeling her legs were about to fail her.
"How…. How… how?" She repeated, baffled by his magic stunt. The boy was not having an explosion Quirk. He had a disappearance Quirk!
Katsuki-chan smirked, but did not explain. "Told you all, I'm not getting caught."
"Oh… that's fantastic." She breathed out.
"Say…" Katsuki-chan began, pointing towards the wall with a finger. "Who's your neighbor on the apartment just there?"
For one second or two she stared at the wall, and then frowned. "Nobody."
Katsuki-chan eyes widened slightly. "What do you mean nobody?" He asked prudently.
"I mean the apartment is empty. The neighbors left for Kyoto and they haven't put it up for sale just yet… but why are you asking? And how did you manage to disappear like you did?"
For the umpteenth time, he ignored her, but it was the first time that there was such a worry on his features. He shrugged, and slowly returned to Izuku's room, staring at each piece of furniture with a weird level of attention.
It almost felt as if he was looking for someone.
Inko took a moment to breath, and then, did the only reasonable thing to do. She called his parents, because they had managed to keep him under watch for ten years, when she had not managed to do so for more than ten hours.
Midoriya Izuku promised Sumire-san he'd tell her everything - not happening - , and left her in the café, running down the street the faster he could without using his Quirk.
When he arrived in front of his building, for the first time in his entire life, he felt it was a blessing that his ID was displaying the word "Quirkless" in big, undeniable letters. The police officer standing guard in front of the entrance smiled at him, and handed it back.
"You can go. Don't disturb the inspectors, they are making routine checking, and they haven't finished some apartments."
"I won't, sir." Izuku promised, rushing instantly up the stairs.
He accelerated, and it was out of pure will that he refrained his own Quirk from activating and go Full Cowling. He crossed the corridors, and opened his door wide.
His mother was on the couch, looking shaken, the phone in one hand. With a finger, she pointed towards his room, and Izuku felt a wave of relieve wash over him.
Of course. Kacchan must be okay. He had worried over nothing, but there was too much happening, too many missing people. He just could not help it. He was just worried for everyone.
He rapidly took his shoes off and went back to his room. Opening the door, he found it empty. The window was wide open. A quick look to the corridor taught him that Kacchan was not in the bathroom. What…?
"Hey, nerd."
Izuku jumped. Kacchan was now perched on the windowsill, as if there was nothing more normal. He stepped over the desk and closed the window behind him.
"K-Kacchan...?"
"Did you ditch Trouble?"
"Trou... Sumire-san? I did not ditch her, I gave her the best explanation I could and… what were you doing?"
Kacchan leaned against the wall, and there was hesitation all over his face. Izuku felt instantly something was very wrong with that expression. Kacchan was never hesitant. "Checking the apartment next door." He answered quietly.
"Why?"
"Something really weird happened." He admitted. "I went on their windowsill so that the policemen wouldn't bring even more trouble, and I saw someone in that apartment…. But after one second, she disappeared."
The first thought that crossed Izuku's mind was that maybe the person next door also had a Quirk. An invisibility one, for example, like Tsuyu-chan could do. The second thing crossing his mind was it could not be just that, not with the whitey shade on Kacchan's face.
"In the real world, is there someone living there?" His friend continued asking with this quiet and calm tone that Izuku really did not like.
"I don't think there is, but since we've moved to the dorms I am not keeping tabs on the neighbors, I am not sure it's still empty, I did not ask my mother."
"This place," Kacchan said very slowly, "There is something seriously wrong with it."
Izuku knew instantly he was not speaking about what was obviously wrong.
"I mean, there is a bunch of things not adding up. I've been thinking. Your hair. My eyes."
"…I am not following you here."
Not at all.
Kacchan was not shouting anymore. Kacchan was not raising his voice. Kacchan was barely looking at him, his eyes checking the room every corner as if there might be something funny happening with them. That, and what kind of conversation were they having?
They should be discussing Todoroki, Ashido, Kaminari, how Kacchan had just escaped the police… but Kacchan was talking about neighbors, hair, and eyes.
Right, something was wrong, but not just with this place.
"Your hair is black… but not exactly black." Kacchan told him, as if it was important – when it was obviously not exactly his main concern at that very moment –, "It's also a little green and green is not normal. Also, in my living room, there is a picture of me as a baby, with my red eyes and all. Are all my parents' friends dumb? Don't they question why that dead kid had abnormal features? These two details, it doesn't bother anyone. It should, but it doesn't. It's as if… it's overlooked."
Izuku had no idea as of what to do with that. It was true, Kacchan was right, he always right, but who cared, and why was it coming up in the first place?
"Well… I am Quirkless. I was. My hair color never had anything to do with it, so I guess it is normal. As for your eyes, maybe they did question it, but since you are dead, maybe they are sensible enough not to ask." Izuku answered, trying to look interested in what his friend was trying to explain and not dead-worried about his behavior.
"That's not all." Kacchan continued, falling for the interested tone Izuku had used - or maybe he just did not care if he was or not. "My parents. My Quirk is a genetic mix of theirs. If I've got mine, they should also have theirs, that's just how genetics works, but they don't."
"… right." He said, because that time, it felt that Kacchan just pointed something more interesting than neighbors, hair and eyes.
If his parents did not have their Quirks, the Kacchan of that place should not have his.
But he did.
How was that even possible?
Bakugo Katsuki would not admit it, and even less to Deku, but he felt that brief encounter with the disappearing lady was…
… was what exactly?
He could not put it into words. It just felt wrong, as if she should never have been there, and she had not. She had not been there.
Had she?
She had been there, then she was not anymore, and every certitudes he had the second before flew to pieces. A part of him was telling him she might have never been there. Another part was screaming he was not crazy, she had been there.
That, and the nightmares, and the failing memories, and the fact that he apparently spoke in his sleep now, it was starting to be a lot to take. There was something wrong, and the more he was thinking, the more he knew it was true.
"It doesn't add up," The nerd repeated for the third time, deep in thoughts. "It doesn't add up."
"Are you a damn broken CD Player?"
Deku shut up, and then, sat directly on the floor. "Kacchan, I had Kaminari on the phone, earlier."
Bakugo felt his heart hammer a little faster. He would not call it fear, he was not even close to feeling scared, but it was definitely apprehension.
"He is fine," Deku told him – as if it was obvious he wanted to know – , "but I can't understand why… like me, he's got an ID stating he is Quirkless. I thought I'd be the only one. I can't help but be surprised."
Bakugo did not give any apparent reaction. Deku being Quirkless was not too odd… well, not odd at all. Having Pikachu being Quirkless was another thing entirely, because it just was not making any sense.
That just made another one, another incoherence, another thing that made this place a wobbly one.
He had not remarked straight away, but meeting with Deku's trouble-friend triggered a troubling thought. That girl, he did remember her. She had been there, in real life, when they were small.
They met each other, and they probably did in this other life too. She must have met a red-eyed baby Bakugo Katsuki in both lives, and at that time, it did not bothered her.
It should have.
Babies with weird features always developed Quirks.
It did bothered Deku's mother now but it did not bother his parents before. It was just not logical.
Like it was not logical for his house to have an additional basement it never had, or like it was not logical to have Kirishima living at Shie Hassaikai – what were the odds? – or like it was not logical to have Deku be the most popular guy in high school (okay he was just being petty on that one, but still.)
Or like it was really not logical to have Pikachu registered as Quirkless.
"He is not, he still have his Quirk, his memories, everything but…" Deku completed, probably because the surprise was readable on his face. "… but the Kaminari from here, he is really supposed to be Quirkless. Also, now that you point that genetic topic out, I am thinking… When we were younger, in the real world, I was the only Quirkless person around. Our classmates, all of them, either they should not exist anymore because their parents should not have met, either they should be stuck in situations like yours. But no. They are just magically Quirkless… that is as you said. Incoherent. History seems to follow a different route, but there is obviously more than this… or your parents should have Quirks, but not be free, and we shouldn't even be born."
For once, Bakugo actually listened to Deku's damn mumbling. In substance, they were saying the same thing.
"Great. Now we agree that whoever did that shit did a bad job, and is not even capable of making a coherent parallel universe. So fucking great! The guy must have a powerful Quirk and be bad at using it. Reminds me of someone. Any more bad news nerd, or are we done?"
It was ironical, but unfortunately, Deku took the question literally. "There is." He said, switching is phone on, and opening a news website. "Check this."
Bakugo grabbed the device and had to read twice to make sure he was not seeing things. On the screen, two pictures were next to each other. Under the faces of Raccoon Eyes and Icy Hot, warnings were written in big red letters. … call authorities immediately… highly dangerous… thirty three people injured… major breakdown…. Prison security is being questioned…
"Fuck," he said, his voice feeling almost distant. He was not friend with any of them – and certainly not with Half-and-Half – but this was serious. "…and I thought I was screwed."
"W-We need to find them, Kacchan."
"Ah. You sound smart and all, Deku. You got telepathic abilities now, to send Icy-Hot your address?" Frankly, he half-hoped Deku would have that in store. His Quirk was like a magic Doraemon pocket with a great deal of possibilities to unravel.
"Kaminari told me Yaoyorozu-san is working on it, but frankly I don't know how she could contact them. They probably don't have anything to communicate with, maybe they did not even notice how wrong this place is and…"
Huh.
"Ponytail? What the fuck? How many other people did you heard about?" He half-yelled – not too loud that time –, interrupting the nerd in what was obviously the beginning of another mumbling spur. "For God fuck, stop dropping new names in the conversation as if I was reading your shitty mind!"
The look Deku gave him clearly meant he was half-doubtful, half-thankful Bakugo felt the well-being of their classmates was a matter of importance. Which was annoying as hell.
"She is fine."
"I did not ask."
"You did not." The nerd said, and Bakugo felt the desire to have him choke on his shitty comment. "I actually only spoke to Kaminari, but he was is in contact with her, and he is making a group so we can speak together easily. Check it, he might have explained more, I was running back home, I did not read."
Bakugo eyes fall on the screen. Pikachu had indeed invited Deku to a chat group, and explained he had to dye his hair – who cared? – that Ponytail had set a personal Locator Beacon at U.A. – that shitty Mrs. Perfect was a smartass – that Frenchie was in Europe and had yet to answer – somehow this backstory felt a little coherent – that All Might had also attended U.A., and that the school was just a ruin.
There was also links to news websites, one about Half-and-Half arrest a few years back, another about Pinky, a third one about Bird-Head, and a fourth about his own death. Fuck. He hated it.
"If he doesn't delete that shit right away, I'll fry him." He threatened, texting back without asking Deku if he was invited to do so.
The nerd got up from the floor and came closer to also look at the screen. This was so annoying. Even if his damn parents were not bringing a phone back, – which he considered a fair possibility – he had to find a way to have one. That situation was terrible.
A little sound came from the phone.
From: Yaoyorozu Momo
Bakugo-san, Midoriya-san, I am so glad you are both fine. I believe you have checked the news as we did. Can you please add Kirishima-san to this conversation?
"Who the fuck does she think she is, ordering us around?"
"The class vice-rep,"Deku answered earnestly.
"Shut up, that's not even the start of a damn joke." He grumbled while texting her to stop giving him orders but complying all the same.
From: Yaoyorozu Momo
Thank you Bakugo-san. I am sorry if I sound a little bossy, I must be a little stressed.
Kaminari-kun, could you please let us know if you checked any heroes' agencies?
It was infuriating. Ponytail seemed to be one step ahead of them, if not many more. While Bakugo was stuck dealing with his shitty parents and disappearing old bats, she was actually doing something constructive. Fuck. He could not let her take the lead.
From: Kaminari Denki
I am doing it
I found a laundromat
A love hotel
And a chicken restaurant, but no heroes
That universe sense of humor is terrible
Ponytail being ahead of them was infuriating, but it somehow felt normal. She truly was the smartest of the class, even if Bakugo would never admit it… but Discount Pikachu? Discount Pikachu exploring the city looking for clues? Bakugo took a breath in, and Deku gave him a worried look.
"Kacchan…?"
"Shut the fuck up!"
"Could you ask Kaminari to check Endeavor agency? Todoroki… he could try to go there first."
Fuck, even Deku was having good ideas.
"I thought about it before you did!" He enraged, texting down and ignoring the half-amazed, half-doubtful expression Deku had. The response from Kaminari came straight away.
From: Kaminari Denki
next on my do to list
who bets it turned into a hotline company?
From: Yaoyorozu Momo
Thank you so much, Kaminari-kun. You are doing an amazing job.
Bakugo shoved the phone back into Deku's hands, who, startled, almost dropped it. He put his hands in his pockets, and looked through the window.
"Deku. Ask these shitty extra what it is they remember, to see if it matches with our memories."
The nerd nodded, and answers flooded a second later. Surprisingly, Ponytail was the faster one.
"She says she remembers a normal school day, having trained, sharing dinner with Hagakure-san in the common room, and then nothing. Oh, she also says she remembers the dinner being burned and Aizawa coming."
"Useless. We know that already." Bakugo commented.
Discount Pikachu was writing. It took so much time that they both expected a novel-length answer, but it was actually not the case.
From: Kaminari Denki
Same
Deku met his stare, and Bakugo agreed instantly to the thought crossing the nerd's mind. There was a lot unsaid behind this little, stupid word.
"Ask him if he remembers fucking up the dorms' damn electric network."
Deku did – using much nicer words – and specifying he did not remember anything after class. Ponytail was surprised and Pikachu took his damn sweet time writing a few words.
From: Kaminari Denki
I don't
But I might
Aizawa talked about expulsion
"Which means shit, he speaks about expulsion on every other day."
"It's been a long time since the last time he did," Deku said, also leaning his back against the wall.
From: Yaoyorozu Momo
To come back to the Todoroki-san/Ashido-san topic, which I believe is the most urgent, I am working on several ideas now, but time is against me. The only thing I am confident I can do is creating fake papers for them.
But of course, that will only come handful if we can find them before the police does, and at the moment, I am running short of ideas. Any input is welcomed.
There was a short pause – everybody obviously thinking – and then, Ponytail wrote something more.
By the way, Bakugo-san, I am sorry if this is not delicate of me, but aren't you dead?
Would you also be in need for some papers? It would be better if as many people as possible could move around.
His eyes widened a little, and mixed feelings washed over him. Yes, he was dead. No, he did not want her damn smartass-charity. Fuck, with an ID, he could go around, but he hated having to rely on this perfect-extra-girl. He was going to murder her for even implying…
From: Midoriya Izuku
He does.
"For God fuck! DEKU! I can answer on my own behalf!"
The doorbell rang. They both froze, and fuck, he was not going back to the creepy disappearing lady windowsill if this was the damn fucking police.
The police. The police had come into that apartment. They had checked all rooms, and Katsuki was still safe.
Bakugo Masaru hardly believed the whole story, and yet, Katsuki was there, standing at a reasonable distance, looking angrily their way, alive, unharmed, and not even looking shaken.
"We are not replaying yesterday evening," He welcomed them, his red eyes burning, "Either you've got everything I've asked for, either you can go fuck off."
Inko made a face, as if she was less and less putting up with the way he spoke. Masaru himself was starting to wonder when his son would drop it. Katsuki had never been an example of politeness, but he also had never kept this level of swear words for so long.
"Yes, we aren't." Masaru agreed. "You are not making a scene, and you are coming now."
Midoriya Izuku, just behind Katsuki, winced without even looking up from his phone.
"Yeah? I'd like to see you try making me."
Bakugo Masaru never had to face that level of refusal. Katsuki was standing tall – he was tall, as if he had a growth spurt in the night – and unimpressed by what he was telling him.
"We told you it was just one night."
"I never actually agreed."
"Katsuki…"
"Kacchan, look. She said she can come after her dance class, so we solve that today."
The two boys ignored them instantly, as if they all were very much unimportant, and Katsuki almost snatched Izuku's phone from his hands.
Of course, they never formally ordered the Midoriya to check what he was doing with phones and computers… had Izuku let his friend use it as he wished? How many new people had he managed to call?
"Fuck, Ponytail is such a damn princess, seriously dance classes? What could be less important, with the shit that's taking place?"
"Her parents told her she can't skip."
"Fuck them."
Masaru felt his blood pressure rising. From what he understood, in less than two days, their son had managed transgress a consequent number of rules he never transgressed before, and the number was steadily increasing.
"Katsuki. What are you doing?" He asked, and his own voice had rarely felt that cold.
Inko shot him a worried look, and Izuku actually shot him a sorry one.
"I'm setting my life back on track, since you messed it up." Katsuki answered without batting an eye, handing his phone back to Izuku. "I'm not fucking staying dead any longer."
His wife took a step back.
Masaru instantly saw red. Katsuki perfectly knew how such a sentence would hurt his mother, and he was overlapping the limits with such a smug, self-content smile, that it was just enough… Bakugo Masaru crossed the kitchen.
His son's hands sparked to life.
It was not even loud at all.
It was just one or two sparks, really, and little light, but his smile had dropped and it was clearly a warning. A very serious warning, it seemed, as Katsuki took a step forward, eyes dead-set on him.
There was a rage aura that irradiated form him, burning and dangerous, something screaming he knew what he was doing, as if he had warned bigger, tougher, stronger people that way.
"What, you got a damn problem with me being alive?!"
Bakugo Masaru gulped. Inko had completely frozen. Mitsuki tears had stopped. The only person in the room who seemed not worried was Izuku. He rose a tired eyebrow towards Katsuki, as if he was used to it. The problem was, he could not be used to it. He did not know Katsuki, and even if he did, he should not be used to it, because Katsuki barely ever used his Quirk.
It was dangerous, he was scared of it, and he was not controlling it at all.
Katsuki suddenly was in complete control, and Izuku knew it.
How?
"Mum," Izuku called, cutting their awe short. "What Kacchan is saying is that I've got that friend, she would like to help…"
"…she fucking doesn't help Deku! She does it because I ordered her to do so!"
There was a lot of tiredness in Izuku's eyes. "… anyway, she also has a Quirk, one that can actually create things. She is confidant she can make a fake ID for Kacchan."
Masaru almost believed his ears were failing him. He saw eleven years of careful precautions shatter to very tiny, useless pieces, and Katsuki took one step closer, stomping mercilessly on every one of them.
"You heard that, shitty dad? I'm taking my life back, it's my win."
If it were not a nightmare, but a nice, colorful videogame, the narrator would probably take over and propose two different scenarios.
Option one: Run for it.
Option two: Stay there and see what happens.
If it still were a videogame, he would obviously chose option two. The non-playable character – Chisaki – would probably continue talking with the even less non-playable character – Yu-he-was-incapable-of-remembering-her-damn-full-name – and they would conclude something making the game advance towards the next level.
If it were a videogame, in all likelihood, Chisaki would be the key to get to Eri and to solve the entire plot. Kirishima would continue faking a memory-loss sickness, the Villain would take him with him to his secret lab in order to run more tests, and then Kirishima would explore the place and find her. There would be some fighting, but after a few tries, he would manage to beat the boss, grab the damsel and escape.
The end, great game.
Option one wouldn't be so bad either. There would be some good fighting. Sooner. Probably meant to fail since it was not the right option to choose, but with Kaminari, they would have tried it without doubt, with the excuse it was just to check if there were no hidden plots, some sub-stories only accessible by making mistakes.
In a videogame, Kirishima would have chosen any option with a smile, but the only tiny, tiny, tiny, issue was that it was not a videogame.
There were no lives with an "s" at the end, there were not "chances" in the plural form, and game over did mean it was over. There was no "we'll try again tomorrow." There was no "Too bad, but it was still fun, man."
So, back to the main question. Option one or option two?
Chisaki and Yuthing-chan were talking, but he couldn't care less. The door was there, reachable, and then a courtyard, a wall, and then the street…
There was no good option, no good option at all…
His phone buzzed in his pocket. For one fleeting second, he considered not looking at it, because it was dangerous… but why would it be dangerous? Yuchiko – That just finally came back – was his former babysitter. Chisaki was there to help – for now. Why would they prevent him from checking his phone? He was not a prisoner, he was a kid they were supposed to watch and heal.
He took it.
Option three.
There ought to be an option three.
There was always a great, surprising option three coming from nowhere, something the spectators in the theater couldn't have anticipated, something coming to the help of the main protagonist and saving his ass…
There ought to be an option three coming from the buzzing of multiple messages.
Yao-Momo's name popped up, followed by Kaminari's. Midoriya answered too, and Bakugo was there as well, his angry writing very easy to distinguish from his childhood friend. Kirishima was completely oblivious of the two adults having an intense argument above his head. Something about "How incompetent can you be?" And "I am not the one kids actually forget, so shut up and make yourself actually useful" Ouch. As much as he hated Yu-bad-at-parenting, that one must have hit home.
He was completely not listening to their weird and unexpected teenage-ish argument. He was just staring at his phone, waiting for his option three to fall from Heavens.
Please.
Just a tiny option three.
The thing was, he was not the main protagonist, and sometimes, in some movies, there were no options three, not even tiny ones, just a harsher blow coming down.
"To come back to the Todoroki-san/Ashido-san topic," Yao-Momo wrote, and Kirishima, not understanding, went back to the beginning of the conversation, until reaching the first messages Kaminari had send. It was press articles.
With Mina's and Todoroki's faces on them.
Shit.
Option three did exist. His friends were trying to plan it in front of his very eyes. It was just not an option three for him.
It was an option three for Mina and Todoroki who needed help, much, much, much more than he did.
He was alone, with a life-changing-choice to make.
He shakily turned the screen off, feeling empty and scared, but he still looked up. Chisaki must have asked or said something, because he was staring. His eyes were cold, judging, surgically assessing.
There was no option three for him, there was no option three in reality, it was just in movies, and only in good ones.
He was a hero. He was a hero. He was a damn, not-scared hero. He did not need that stupid option three. He just needed to face it, to get past the shaking in his hands and past his reeling mind.
Kirishima knew which option to choose.
He had always known. Always, since that day. The day he had faced Ashido and apologized for not helping her. Seeing her face on display on the news just helped him remember his decision.
There was no option three, because he was option three.
Eri's option three.