Disclaimer: I don't own Boku no Hero Academia
Chapter 142:
Well, Zach swung his legs off the side of his bed after the doctor had walked out. Now that I have a few hours before they'll notice I'm gone.
He stood up and walked over to a chair in his room that a fresh set of clothes were on. They had been brought in for him with a note from the prison staff at Tartaros, telling him to get well soon. Zach smiled at the letter signed by the guards he knew best from the prison, though he rolled his eyes when he did not see Kaitou's name on the letter but a small mention of him being worried in parentheses under Oda's message. He pocketed the letter into the sweatshirt pocket and then slid his left arm into his jacket as well. He was slow to put his right arm through the sleeves of his layers, but he needed to do so and only hurt himself a little before getting his arm back into the sling over all his clothes.
Recovery Girl was here again, though I was awake this time, Zach walked around his bed and he glanced around to make sure he had all his things. He slid on his shoes that were in the room along with the pants he had been wearing two days before, though he left the pants behind as they were too small on him anyway and still coated with blood too. The new pants fit better and Zach smiled as the guards had taken into account that his ankles were showing when they led him out the other day.
His distraction over his clothes only lasted a few seconds though. Zach's eyes shifted to his left shoulder, and he thought about the way Yaoyorozu looked at it which had him lowering his gaze down to the floor again. "Sazaki," he heard Recovery Girl's voice from when she visited with his doctor the night before, after the last of his old Class A classmates had left. "They took X-rays of your body after the surgery to heal your wound. I saw… Your heart, was operated on. Your lungs as well, but the most shocking was your new kidney. Sazaki, I called the staff at Tartaros and they say that you have not been taking any immunosuppressants. It's as if your body is completely accepting the new organ, not as a foreign entity. This only happens with identical twins…"
Guess Gentle's my identical twin, Zach thought, though he could not smile and his expression just stayed dark after the thought. "It could be because of a change in your body after you were revived by Monoma. Every person you have revived thus far has been incredibly healthy after their revival, however I have discovered over the past two years that they are still susceptible to the same kinds of injuries and illnesses as the rest of us, even if your Quirk will no longer work on them…" I knew that too. There were others in the Army, who got transplants and needed to take those drugs. Hank was as confused as you were. Curalia said it wasn't her Quirk either. They had me on them for a few days, Recovery Girl. I missed my doses though on multiple occasions. I stopped taking them to test my theory, and I know why it adapted. I know why the cancer didn't stick. I couldn't just tell you how though. I couldn't explain to you, how killing people doesn't just increase my physical strength…
Zach stepped to his window and shook his head around. People are going to see me, he told himself, which forced his thoughts to something that would keep his expression different. Remember to stay on guard. I was looking for assassins on my way off the bridge in the first place. Checking all the rooftops and the crowds, but I let it down. That was stupid. They are out here. I know they're coming for me. I can't let it down again. It's not just my life that's in danger if I do that.
Zach slid the window open in front of him and glanced back once more towards the door of his hospital room. Then he climbed up into the windowsill and darted his eyes around one more time at all the nearby buildings he had just been scanning as he thought about the assassins. His eyes dropped to the sidewalk below he had also been watching for a good moment, and all the people on the sidewalk were currently walking in different directions as him. He dropped out of the window with a leap to get him a good distance from the edge of the hospital. Zach landed down on the sidewalk and bent his knees on the landing, before turning to his right and just walking after a group of four people in suits heading down the sidewalk in the same direction as him.
One of those people started to turn, and Zach turned himself to look back towards the hospital and the open window of his hospital room. It's not illegal to do that, I think. It wasn't a suicide attempt. I checked carefully to make sure it wasn't reckless endangerment. I didn't use my Quirk either. In the corner of Zach's eyes he saw that the person who had turned to the side to talk to a friend had looked back forward, not noticing who it was following behind them.
Not as cold today as two days ago, Zach thought. He brought his left hand up and rubbed his upper right arm with it, though he grimaced at the cold feeling of his hand for a second. Rubbing it around did help though, and he blew air out of his mouth making a buzzing noise with his lips. Zach shook his head and then looked ahead and far down the street to an intersection of a more main road in Rairosu that he was going to have to turn one way on.
Zach had his long black hair tucked down into his jacket to avoid people recognizing his new look. He had his hoods down and bunched up around the back of his neck, both of his sweatshirt and the jacket he put on over it. As he walked down the road though, even covered in so many layers and with his hair partially hidden, he glanced to the left and across the street at a pair who just walked out of a building and gawked across the street at him. He took his left hand off his right arm and waved over at them, and they stared even more when he turned to do that since they could now see his right arm in a sling across his chest.
"Lifebringer?" One of them asked, looking at the guy next to him as if asking if he was seeing things. They said he was alive on the news, but, I didn't think it was his arm that got shot! The guy looked back across the road, but Zach was already looking ahead again and continuing forward.
Doesn't take much for them to recognize me. The scars, the hair, the arm, they all give it away. Alright, time to go get cleaned up. My appearance matters, and a smile even looking like this doesn't do much for me.
Zach headed farther into the middle of the city. Various thoughts were on his mind, but he had to keep turning and smiling at people when they looked at him on the sidewalks and recognized who he was every time. I forgot this feeling. All eyes on me at all times. I feel like it was never this bad before though… probably because it wasn't. Before, they all thought they knew everything about me. They'd seen my life out on display. Now I'm as much of an enigma as I always was, with a whole extra layer of mystery thrown in. Zach lifted his smile up a little more at what he was thinking about as he saw some kids across the street wearing yellow helmets and walking with a schoolteacher point his way and call out about him with smiles on their own cute faces. At least the media has been treating me better lately. Apparently, even kids think I'm a good person. I'm a murderer. Zach Sazaki killed people, in case you all forgot.
He looked forward since he felt he was about to lose the genuine expression he was giving these people. This is exhausting. Maybe it was better staying in the hospital. I'm sure there's a plan being made about me. The government's plan moving forward. How they're going to deal with me, especially if I do get that license Nikko wants me getting so badly… What's his deal? I could see why he would want to have a press conference right after I get out. He wanted me to assure the populace that I'm not the person I was, that I'm ready to change, but he never talked to me beforehand about it. He released me based on, popular opinion? Or was it to give him popularity? The press conference could have just been a stunt for him to talk about himself, or maybe he wanted me to work with him about bringing about policy change in Japan. I can't do that. I doubt that was it, but I couldn't do that. And I can't get up there and support this guy either. He might support me without ever meeting me, but I won't be used like that.
I'll help him if he deserves it. But I'll figure that out for myself first. Zach turned into a door and he walked inside a barber shop he had seen the sign for from two blocks away. He walked inside and the door made a dinging noise showing they had another customer. It was a weekday and in the middle of the day so most people had work, though there were two kids in there with their moms. Most students had off for the week, though some preschools were still going on as many adults had work, but the two kids in front of Zach looked to be middle schoolers.
The boys were sitting on seats getting their hair cut, and the barbers had scissors up near those boys' heads. Zach got a nervous look on his face as the barbers glanced his direction but kept cutting like whoever entered would not be much of a distraction. Luckily neither of them cut the boys' ears or anything, though they did freeze and drop their jaws at the sight of Lifebringer standing inside their store. Zach reached his left hand up and he put it behind his neck, pushing up and bringing all his hair out that he let drop around his jacket. He rose an eyebrow and cracked a smirk after doing it, and everyone in the barber shop heard him loud and clear without him saying a thing.
There was a small crowd gathered outside the barbershop looking in, though one man stepped away from the crowd and pulled out his cellphone quickly once he saw Sazaki looked to be staying inside.
"You want, a haircut?" The head barber asked, walking up towards Sazaki and then nodding at his staff to get back to cutting their other clients' hair. The other two boys in the store had to be told to keep their heads still now though, as they could not help themselves from looking over in awe at the famous person who just walked into the store like it was no big deal.
One of the moms was staring at Zach in amazement, while the other had a bit of apprehension on her face and kept darting worried glances back towards her son. "Yeah well," Zach began. "I feel like it might be a little too long. Don't you think?" Zach asked, and he shook his head in a way that made a lot of his hair fall down in front of his face and pretty much cover it all up. He shook his head again and then blew up towards his bangs to clear his eyes, then he grinned while looking over towards the boy of the worried mom who laughed at the way he looked there for a second with his face fully covered.
The apprehensive mom looked over towards her son and then back at the young man to her left. Her hands loosened on the armrests of the seat in the waiting area, and Zach gave her a small nod which she saw and went wide-eyed at the sight of. Zach looked back at the barber and said still smiling, "But really, could you cut this mess off? I think I'm going back to my roots."
"Short and spiky?" The barber asked. He smiled at the boy who looked surprised and then smiled in a soft way too at the barber's look. "Just like Titanium," he continued, and Zach nodded at the guy who knew him well apparently.
Which means he could be a potential assassin, trying to get me to lower my guard while holding a pair of scissors to my neck. I'll keep the inside Death the entire time just past the skin layer. Just as a precaution, even though I'm sure you're a great guy. Zach's eyes did not turn red, but Death seeped out of his brain that was thinking several sentences in a single second when he had the suspicion that he was faced with a great killer. His thoughts simmered and started thinking at a normal speed again though, but inside of his neck his muscles and bones started to disappear. His skin covered it up, but Death swirled around inside him in preparation for anything that stabbed him to go right through.
The barber was no assassin though. The man made jokes about Lifebringer's hair being absurdly long and how it was dirty too. Zach joked back that he hadn't had the chance to shower since he got shot the other day, which he realized was too dark a joke with two children in the room who gawked over towards him. One of them even said 'cool' in a drawn out way at Lifebringer's smile and relaxed face even after mentioning how he had just been shot the other day. Zach caught the kid's gaze in the mirror and looked over to him with a grin as well after hearing that, though he looked back forward and into his own eyes in the mirror as his barber continued. Don't look up to me as your role model, kid. At least not what I've done so far. If you start looking at the me from this point forward, that'd be okay. Because I'm going to be a hero who does things right now. So you all know. So there is no question about what is right and what is wrong.
Shigaraki wanted you to question the difference between heroes and villains. I thought what I did was alright because he got mad, because all of you didn't see me as a villain so his original plan didn't work. But it wasn't alright that you still supported me, even just me, as I acted as a villain. All it takes is supporting one non-hero, and you might be willing to accept anything. People used my name to defend their actions. I've only seen good people do it so far, but they defended themselves using their Quirks in situations they weren't supposed to be. To change laws, and not just in this country. People used the idea of me for change. As good as some of those changes might be, if they're saying that Lifebringer is responsible for making those changes then I need to show them who Lifebringer is. The people can never look up to someone like who I was. That's too dangerous. Sets precedents to break the rules. Death knew it, that I couldn't let people know all I was doing or they would look up to me and do things in similar ways. That's why everything was a secret. That's why no one knows. That's why this world was created by heroes and the ideals of heroes. But they still believe in Lifebringer. So Lifebringer needs to change.
My image first. Then to prove what they already think might be true from me just turning myself in. Be a hero they can look at. The symbol doesn't matter as much as my actions. That's what I thought when I was leaving, but then I continued to think it all mattered. With crime as low as it is everywhere else though, and with me unable to do things as I was, then making the symbol is the best I can do right now. Until they show themselves. And they will before long.
I know they will. Zach lifted his left hand and touched one of the spikes the barber had just finished making. He had thought about a lot through his haircut, to the point that he was barely focused on it at all anymore. His neck was already full of Death, but he reminded himself as he checked out the finished cut that he should have focused a little more just in case. His attention shifted around the room even as he focused his eyes on his new doo. An assassin across the street, would have had to shoot through the crowd just outside that I was focused enough to notice someone in. And I would have reacted to the glass shattering first. One already in the room might've gotten the drop on me, but that's why I didn't plan out my route beforehand. There was no way they could have known where I was going. I even walked past the first barbershop I saw, just in case they predicted my moves.
"It looks great," Zach said, looking to the barber and giving him an affirmative nod. Then he froze and his bottom lip dropped before he turned back to the mirror and looked himself in the eyes. Oh fuck. Six months straight, and so long in- even before that for another six months for at least most of the time, I just got all my stuff… I don't have any money! I already knew that and have been planning things about this, but I just walked in here like an idiot. Well, no point in panicking. Zach stood up and he turned to the barber with an apologetic look on his face. "So, could I leave you with, an I.O.U?" Zach asked. "I actually don't own anything right now but I'll have some money soon, I totally forgot, but it's not like it'll be hard to find me. I'm guessing the news isn't going to leave me alone-"
"I'll pay-" one of the women in the waiting area started quickly, before the other next to her could speak up as the first was worried about.
The barber held up a hand towards her though, and then he shook his head at Lifebringer with a chuckle. "Your money's no good here anyway. The cut was on the house." Zach looked hesitant and opened his mouth to say that he would come with payment once he had it anyway. The barber cut him off though, "I'm sure just the free advertisement of being the shop that Lifebringer came to get his hair cut will give me way more than enough business to make up for it. So think of that as your payment," the barber gave the kid a wink as he finished.
Zach shrugged his left shoulder before laughing as it did make some sense what the man just said. Apparently I am really popular, so it's probably true. I'm definitely more popular than when I got put in Tartaros. I don't know if it was because I turned myself over, or because of the election. The election definitely brought up a lot of the past so it's fresh in people's minds right now. Nikko, and Ashido apparently, were very vocal about all the good I did though. And the people voted for me to get out. Which also means that everyone seeing me walking around feels like they're the reason I got out, at least the ones who voted for Nikko. They feel good just seeing me walking around free and happy. So I need to show them that I appreciate everything they did for me, and I have to pay them back for it.
"I'm just wondering though, Lifebringer," the barber started before Zach could turn and leave his store. The man looked over at his scissors and then at Zach's arm, and he asked, "Were you sure about this right there? A stranger with scissors near your neck, so soon after you got shot at?"
"Don't worry, I've got a good eye for barbers," Zach said in a completely serious tone. The barber looked surprised and rose his eyebrows up high, and Zach continued with a nod at the man, "I could tell you were a professional, at cutting hair," Zach specified only after a brief pause that made another of the barbers in the room chuckle at his boss who started shaking his head with a grin of his own. "Really, I do appreciate this. Thank you," Zach finished, and the man he just joked with reminded him that it was no problem and that Zach was doing him a favor.
Then Zach turned and headed for the exit. Good, so other people know that being close to me might be dangerous too. That's for the best. He didn't seem to want to stay away, but he was more just worried that I was going to get hurt not being too careful. What a nice guy. And a great barber. Zach looked to his right once more as he was nearing the door. I bet no one will even recognize me. I had a response ready that I had let my guard down in prison but wasn't going to let them get the drop on me again, but I like my improv better. I don't need to be serious all the time. Or at all. I spent the whole time I was in here joking about. A hero needs to stay positive though. Well, this haircut looks great. And now people definitely won't recognize me too much…
Zach opened the door with a laugh as there was a media crew already waiting for him outside thanks to a source that told them where he was right after he had gone inside. There were some other people on the sidewalk around them, but it was just the one news crew so far that Zach could see. I'm eighteen now, so there's not going to be much I can say in the way of getting out of these things. Harassing minors was always a great excuse to use to escape media attention. I think they just avoided walking up to me on the sidewalks very often because of that. It's going to be tough being famous. I really thought they might avoid me though, after getting shot just two days ago. I mean, do you all really feel safe or are you that gung-ho about your jobs and getting this story?
He walked out of the shop and smiled at the camera pointed at him before turning his attention to the reporter who rushed towards him. His expression was friendly and disarming which let the reporter run up without hesitating at all, though internally Zach was checking everything around him and in the city anywhere close to him. "Lifebringer! Are you alright?"
"We're live," the cameraman said and motioned an arm down for his reporter who turned to the camera herself after hearing it. "This is Trisha Furaima coming to you live from Rairosu City with Zach Sazaki. Would you be willing to do an interview, Lifebringer?" Trisha asked as she saw the boy looking away to the right like he might start walking away.
Zach looked back towards her and he nodded his head. She came up right next to him to get in the camera shot with him, and she held her microphone up to her own mouth while standing next to a boy almost a foot taller than her. "Do you know who shot you? Hero officials have released that there are still no leads or suspects in the case."
"I don't know," Zach replied, an apologetic look on his face that made the reporter hesitate as she figured she must have asked that too strongly to make him have to feel defensive over getting shot. "I'm lucky though, the wound was not too bad. Plus the doctors did a great job at patching me up. I feel great already." Zach had a strong expression on his face again to show he meant it which had the reporter looking surprised at how lively he was. She had been one of the reporters out there two days ago and had seen from up close how much blood pooled around him after he had been taken down.
Trisha took a moment as she heard a voice talking into her ear from the studio, then she asked the young man, "Everyone wants to know, where were you for that whole year you went missing? Are any of the rumors true? Have you heard those rumors yourself?"
"Some are true," Zach admitted. "I saw some security footage of a convenience store from when I was in America. In it I didn't keep my head down well enough," he chuckled as he said it but then got a more serious look on his face before the reporter could ask another question. "Before we continue, I just want to mention how sorry I am. To everyone out there who I let down with what I did in the Enudora Forest."
"In the Lifebringer Incident," Trisha specified, and Zach nodded his head. "I was actually the first reporter on the scene that morning, and I remember clearly the devastation you caused in the forest." Zach noticed some of the other people in the crowd gathered around them but staying out of the frame started frowning over at Trisha for her line of questioning. He kept his expression steady though even as she continued, "Your classmates and teacher, All Might, have said that you used Trigger that night. Were you not worried that you could have lost control using such a dangerous drug and accidentally attacked your classmates?"
No one likes to watch the news unless it's controversial. There isn't a story if I tell them things that people already know or expect to hear. Sure, people might be willing to hear anything I have to say anyway, but she's the one who got the amazing scoop if I say something outlandish or am caught off guard. Even if that would make people lose faith in a hero many of them believe in. It's not her job to care about things like that. It's my job. So I need to respond correctly. Zach replied without hesitation after her question, "I was not. I knew, from my time infiltrating the League of Villains that there are strains of Trigger that do not impair mental functions. Although they are still against the law to obtain, I knew it would be safe to use and that I would maintain control."
"How could you be sure though? It's an unstable drug-"
"Not always," Zach countered. He said it immediately and continued, "I am not just saying it because of rumors or some occasional times that I might have seen it work that way, but because of the science behind the drug itself. Juno Kawasagi, the villain known as 'The Chemist,' who we apprehended in Hokkaido the May of my second year at U.A., was the League's scientist who researched thoroughly the effects and strains of Trigger." Trisha was staring at Lifebringer with big eyes though she tried to get her expression back to neutral and just nodded at the boy who continued speaking to her in a calm voice. "While I was with them I tried to see as much as I could of their operations, and I looked at the Chemist's research myself which is why I was so sure that it would be safe. I knew it was still illegal to obtain and use, and I was wrong to do those things, but I was not putting my classmates or All Might in danger by using it. If there was the possibility of losing control, I wouldn't have taken the risk."
I had to specify there how I didn't put them in danger by using Trigger, but that opens up the fact of how I still did put them in danger by initiating the Lifebringer Incident itself. "As for those rumors though," Zach continued after a second, while the reporter was hesitating as she came up with her follow-up question. Zach used her hesitation to continue along the lines of an earlier question he had not fully finished as if helping her continue with her questioning that she might have forgotten. He made the end of his previous statement sound like he was finished talking about it too, and this way it would seem like Trisha was getting too caught up on one question if she backtracked now. There was more she wanted to know too, especially about the rumors that the producer in her studio told her to listen to instead of asking more as he had started telling her to a few seconds ago.
"I'll answer the one that still seems to be on everyone's mind," Zach continued. He looked at the reporter and then at the camera with a somewhat skeptical look though also appearing not to treat it as a joke. "I'm not Death. I know there are a few people still saying I am, but I don't really get it. I understood that people might think so when I first came back. I was actually worried about that a little," he turned to the reporter and rose an eyebrow at her while continuing, "But after I turned myself in, Death and the Army of Death kept doing their thing. I thought that would just be the end of it."
"The one known as Death is responsible for bringing back the dead," the reporter started to argue. "It's easy to see why some people might be suspicious that you are he."
"Yeah, I get that. But like," Zach paused and then regained a more serious look and steadied his voice in a more public-speaking tone. "I mean, some people have similar Quirks as each other. I always kind of thought that there were other people in the world who might have Death as a Quirk, but I also thought that they were probably keeping it a secret like I did for most of my life." Zach nodded at Trisha after the reporter stared at him in surprise at that response. "I thought there could have been someone else like me, but I doubted anyone else who had Death would have done anything to train it to be able to realize how powerful it really was and what it could do. My personal theory, is that whoever Death is may have seen me using my Quirk and realized they could use it in different ways too. I really don't know though," Zach added at the end, shrugging his left shoulder with a furl of his lips for a moment like he was saying 'who knows.'
"And what do you think about this Death?" Trisha asked.
She thinks she caught me talking about him not in too negative a tone. She wants me to say something suspicious which would be agreeing too strongly or disagreeing too strongly based on my past. Might've been a hard question to answer, if I hadn't planned out my answer for years and didn't just lead you into asking it. Zach nodded at the woman and hummed like he was thinking about it for a moment. "Well, I think that their intentions might be good, but they're breaking the law."
"Just as you did-"
"Just as I did," Zach agreed before she could continue and start calling him a hypocrite. "And I was wrong, just as they are. What they are doing, and what they have done were acts of vigilantism, and if I ever come into contact with one of the Army of Death members I would be required to capture them. Should I acquire a hero license, that is," Zach finished.
"The new Prime Minister has set up an extra licensing exam just for you," the reporter started, building off what Sazaki just said without realizing that he had intended for it to happen. "This coming weekend-"
"It's not just for me," Zach countered with a shake of his head. "It's a make-up examination for others who have taken it before, as well as an opportunity for people who haven't taken it before at all. I fall right into the middle of that category, since I need to get my license back and yet I never took an exam like this the first time I was granted my license…"
"When you say that you 'need' to get your license, what is it you're planning to do…"
Across the country in Class 3-A's common room, Hagakure flipped the channel quickly when she got a text from Komori in Class B. "Hey-" Ashido started as they were in the middle of watching something. Her eyes lit up though as Hagakure switched to a news channel that had a boy on the screen with short and spiky black hair. The scar-faced boy's new haircut revealed a couple of scars that the girls had not seen when they saw him the day before.
Zach was talking about his plans for becoming a hero again that the two had already heard from him themselves in just as much detail when they went back into his room after his "secret" talk with Bakugo and Midoriya. So they focused more on the split in his left ear that was more defined than the last time he had been there, a wider gap splitting it with a larger chunk of ear missing though it still looked like he could hear out it. Aside from the middle of Zach's left ear being split wider, he also had a scar on the right side of his forehead that had been too covered by bangs for them to see the day before, though it was still partially covered by even his short hair that covered up that part of his scalp. It looked like no hair was growing out of that spot but whoever Zach got his haircut from planned for it and left the hair on the sides of the scar a little longer to partially cover it up.
"Do you think that you can come back after all that happened? Do you think that you can change your ways and really act as a hero this time around? Some people are afraid that you will revert to your old ways as soon as something happens."
"I think I can, and I know I'm going to try. I spent my time outside of Japan trying to do what was right in my own way. I acted as a vigilante in different countries, but around May and June of last year I started to realize that what I had done was wrong. It was a disrespect to my dad who lived his life as a hero, to my teachers at U.A. who had such a big impact in my life and fell as heroes, and to everyone I left behind too." Hagakure and Ashido stared at their old classmate's eyes with their own huge at what he was saying without hesitating or looking nervous. He stood there speaking about his own faults and yet looked strong while doing it. It sounded almost like a public apology but at the same time a promise to just do things better. "In those last few months when I accepted that I was doing things the wrong way, I stopped hiding as much as I had been and that's where the rumors of me being in Germany, and Italy, and Greece came from. I stopped hiding at first I think because I was hoping that I would get caught, but I realized that I hadn't turned myself in yet just because I was too afraid to do so. I was scared to face everyone here and apologize for what I did, and I'm sorry for that too and for not turning myself in sooner. I never should have ran in the first place. I know, I made a lot of mistakes. And I know it's going to be hard for anyone to believe it when I say I'm going to follow the rules this time, but I do mean it. I want to live up to everyone's expectations of me. This time, I want to be the hero that all of you believe I am."
The reporter nodded her head a few times. Trisha held back the deep breath in she wanted to take while a few people started cheering behind her just hearing all that. She instead cleared her throat and then began, "Along with taking the hero licensing exam, Prime Minister Nikko has also stated multiple times that you would be required to return to a hero high school. This is so that you can graduate and to ensure that you have the ideals of a hero before going out as a fully licensed one. So, will you be returning to U.A. for the next term?"
Zach turned away for a moment looking like he wanted to get going after what had sounded like a finishing statement, but he turned back at the question and lowered his smile down a little. Inside Class A's dorm, Bakugo glared across the first floor from the kitchen to the live interview a few more of his classmates were gathered watching now. Not a chance, Bakugo thought with a dark glare, while most of the others just in front of the tv had sadder frowns on their faces at the look on Zach's.
"…I know. I lied to you, over and over I lied to your face. You warned me I would be expelled, so I didn't expect anything else. It wasn't your fault. Thank you for taking care of me as long as you did. I'm sorry that I let you down, Principal…" Zach shook his head at the reporter in front of him who held up the microphone more for him to speak into even though he had been doing a good job as speaking loudly and clearly so far. He thought about the phone call he had his lawyer set up during the days leading up to his release, and he smiled softly before responding.
"I have spoken with Mr. Principal already, and I am not going to be returning to U.A. High School. I will be applying to hero schools around the nation however…"
All Might looked at his tv screen and then let out a sigh while lowering his gaze for a moment. He was sad, but he nodded his head and rose his eyes back up. The Principal is right not to accept Sazaki back. We do not know if we can ever trust him again. I wanted to look in his eyes and ask him his true intentions, but he would not meet with me. Was it because he thought I might figure out what his plans are? Or was it the same reason he never met with Young Midoriya, or any of the others who visited him? I wanted to know before he put his plans into action, but it is too late now to stop whatever it is just by speaking with him. I do not know what a talk with him would accomplish. If what Young Midoriya told me is how he is acting… though, no matter how he was acting, we would all believe it was just that. "Acting."
"…in order to get in to any of the schools I am applying for though, I will have to test in. So I have to go and get to studying for it," Zach was trying to get the sudden press conference over with as he was still just standing on the sidewalk and answering questions. The crowd was getting larger, and another two press vans had just rolled up. "Though I was keeping up with my studies while in Tartaros too, so I hope I'll get in," Zach added, and he flashed a smile at the end of that ridiculous remark. It sounded so crazy that a prisoner of the strongest prison in the country and perhaps the whole world had been studying for high school entrance exams while in there, but that was why Zach smiled as despite it being so ridiculous, it was actually true.
"Lifebringer! Wait-"
"One last question!"
"Have you killed anyone else while you were gone?"
"Where are you going to live now?!"
"Can we trust you?!"
Zach was turning away but he stopped and he turned his head at the sound of that. He hesitated and then looked towards the reporters and the cameras and the other people crowding him with an intense gaze. "I know it's the people of Japan who voted to get me out of prison early," Zach started. His lips lifted up into a smile, a grateful one that he held for a moment before continuing, "I'm going to show my appreciation for all they did, by sticking to the rules this time. I'll pay everyone back for my freedom, by being the best hero I can be. So I can prove to you and to the others who did not think I should have been released that it was the right decision, and to make Japan safer from villains."
With that, Zach turned and he tossed his jacket's hood up over his spiky hair. He started jogging down the sidewalk and picked up speed when the reporters who had frozen after his great response realized they were letting him get away. Zach was fast though, so the paparazzi-like crowd that started running after him could not keep up as he escaped through Rairosu. I don't want to be this controversial issue. Getting everyone to think it's good that I'm out is the quickest way to get less media coverage. No one cares about something uncontroversial. Well they still will, but I won't get as hard of questions when the reporters just want to confirm positive statements and beliefs. I'm not just a positive force though, and pretending to be one would just get half- maybe a quarter of the country calling me a liar. They'd say I'm trying to make myself out as this perfect good guy, if I tried defending my actions.
Somehow my words might still be spun some bad way. I'll have to deal with it though. It doesn't seem that hard to me, doing stuff like this now. It's not easy to change perceptions and get everyone to see the new me, but it is easy to stand up there and talk even knowing everyone's watching me. Because they're watching Zach Sazaki… not me. I am Zach though. Remember that. You're Zach now…
This is a really nice city, Zach kept up a steady pace on his run around Rairosu. He had crossed the city through two different districts, and now he was running in an area full of three and four story tall buildings. It was a residential area made up of mostly apartments though the main roads did have ramen shops and food chains next to clothing stores as well. Usually even those buildings would have apartments above them too though. As Zach was jogging, (with his hood up for some cover), he noticed more of the people in the residential area who were walking around were wearing kimonos and hakamas even for the guys.
Is there a festival today? Maybe it's a local one, Zach continued his run and he turned the direction of a local shrine that he could see over the tops of a few buildings. He smiled under his hood at the group of people walking through the middle of the street once he passed a barrier that blocked off the roads after for the small parade going on. He looked up the path towards the top of the shrine where there were tents set up and food stands for the festival going on. There was snow pushed off to the sides of the path and filling the dirt areas around the temple, and Zach realized it must have snowed there a little while back. The snow was cleared off the roads and sidewalks already, and he did not remember seeing any the day before while in the hospital, but it had been cold for long enough that even if it snowed a week back he could see there still being some on the ground.
Zach jogged past the shrine instead of going up towards it. The people in the area were happy and enjoying the festival, and he did not want to become the center of attention and draw away from what they were doing. He smiled though as he looked back towards them, It's nice seeing the streets so crowded again. Two years ago, things were really bad. The Sports Festival made it so much worse too, twenty months ago when the streets were deserted. It wasn't just in the rebuilding Musutafu either. People were scared all over the place. City streets were empty… Zach moved to the side of the sidewalk and slowed down, allowing a group of kids to go running past him towards the more crowded festival area. There were some parents behind them talking and laughing, not paying much attention to their kids which made Zach smile even more.
I don't see that anymore. I don't see the constantly scared looks on people's faces like they could be attacked at any moment. Zach continued on his way and he lowered his eyes down to the floor in a darker way. How quickly people remember peace. His smile lowered and he darted his eyes around, I'm getting too much into the peaceful atmosphere myself.
His head dipped down some more with his hood shadowing more of his face. What am I doing? Zach's lips rose back into a smile. It's okay to be happy about this. All these people are able to live like this even if I have to stay serious. Even if I have to pretend, and live a…
"Zach Sazaki!"
Zach stopped where he was on the sidewalk and lifted his head. There were some others ahead of him on the sidewalk who looked up too in surprise at the voice that came from above. FlyGuy, Zach thought and watched as the hero dropped down in front of him between him and some other pedestrians. Those other people looked past the hero in more surprise as they thought about what he had called out when dropping, and they gawked at the teenager with his hood up standing on the hero's other side.
"What?" Zach asked, looking at the man in front of him who had a harsh expression on his face and a dark look in his eyes. SkyLord and ReBird died capturing Faith and his cult. Easy to see the blame. Zach's eyes stayed dark right back at the hero who gave him a dark look right off the bat while he was just out jogging.
FlyGuy hesitated at that dark look right back at him, then he continued glaring at the boy and said, "What are you doing out here? There are search teams out looking for you." Zach looked down the road past FlyGuy and he saw a cop car driving their way, he figured cops that FlyGuy had just called. Zach kept frowning at the man who continued harshly, "You left the hospital without telling-"
"I thought I was free," Zach said. He looked into the hero's dark blue eyes and continued in a calm voice that was not apologetic at all. Zach was not trying to make excuses like FlyGuy expected to hear, and Zach just frowned deeper at the hero who got an annoyed look covering his face. "And I'm an adult," Zach added, as he was eighteen years old.
"Well you, you were just shot and need to…" FlyGuy looked closer at the boy and then to his arm in a sling. Was it not as bad as- we were told he got hit in the chest. That's what I saw! "You went missing without informing anyone."
"I didn't know I had to," Zach replied. The cop car was rolling to a stop on Zach's side, and Zach glanced at it before looking back to FlyGuy and right into his eyes. "Was it not a 'full pardon' like I was led to believe?"
"Lifebringer," an officer stepping out of the passenger seat of the car began after she heard what the teenage boy was saying. "You have to be officially discharged from the hospital." Zach turned from FlyGuy who did not seem to know anything or have responses for what he was saying, turning instead to the older female cop who at least had a good reason to give him and one that he had suspected was the likely reason anyway. "My name is Officer Riumi, please come with us." She stepped to the back and opened the door for Zach to get back into.
He nodded his head at her and stepped to the back of the car. He gave her a smile and then looked back at FlyGuy, "Sorry for inconveniencing you." Zach grabbed the door himself and nodded at the cop in front of him to show that he had it, and she turned to the passenger door herself to get back inside instead of closing the door on Lifebringer. Zach had to make sure that he closed the door himself, as he noticed a few people filming on their phones to his sides on the sidewalk. Without ever looking towards them he changed his expression to show that he was voluntarily going along with them, even closing his own door behind him instead of having the cop close it on him like he was being arrested.
I'm supposed to be using everything, but there's way too much. Every time I talk to a cop or a hero, they're going to tell other cops and other heroes what I say to them and how I act. People are going to get hundreds of videos of me out there just in everyday life, and with the way I've been acting I can't show them my bad side anymore. I can't look too dark like videos they got of me the last time I was Zach. Zach leaned back inside of the police vehicle and he let out a long deep breath.
Officer Riumi got into the front seat while Zach was sighing, and she looked back behind her while the driver started off back for the hospital. "Did you really think we weren't going to go looking for you?"
"It wasn't like I was hiding," Zach said. "I was just on the news," he mentioned, in case the woman had not seen the sudden press conference he did outside the barber shop. "I needed a haircut, and I went for a run. I didn't see what the big deal was."
"But then why not tell someone you were leaving to do those things?" Riumi countered.
"I thought someone would try to stop me. Plus, the more people I tell where I'm going, the more chance the assassins after me could set up a trap." Zach offered the second bit because his main reason of not wanting to be stopped was flimsy. He said the second one as if it were the main one though that he was just keeping on the down low, and the officers' eyes opened wide up front as they glanced back at each other. "Doubt they've given up," Zach continued after the cops shared that look. "And I'm sure it won't be long before they figure out what hospital room I'm staying in."
"We'll post security," the driver began.
"It doesn't matter," Zach countered before the man could continue thinking up a plan. "I'm not going to be back at the hospital long anyway. I have a lot I need to do these next few days..."
Riumi hummed and she sat back in her chair in a less tense way. He doesn't seem worried. Strange for someone talking about assassins coming after him. Maybe he's used to it though. The woman with short gray hair under her blue police hat turned her head to the side and mentioned, "You're going to need some cash to get any of that done." Zach was just talking about getting a cell phone and working out a plan, getting new clothes, choosing a school, and preparing for his entrance exams and the licensing test. "And so I'm supposed to give you this," Riumi leaned back over the center console and extended a red card for Zach to take.
"What is this? A government credit card?" Zach asked, looking at the card with his eyebrows lifting as he examined it.
Riumi hesitated and she shook her head which made Zach look back into her dark blue eyes. "No, that card is attached to an account that you own." Zach got a confused look on his face that turned surprised and then sad as Riumi went on, "When your aunt, Maye Sazaki, was declared deceased, her will and testament released all of her assets. You did not receive much," Zach started to nod, but he stopped and closed his eyes as the officer continued softer, "But there was a separate account meant to be a college fund for you, I believe. In her will, she had it down that if anything were to happen to her that you would be the sole recipient of that money."
"He tortured her, you know," Zach's gaze was down at his lap in the backseat. His eyes opened and he stared at his thighs with a depressed look, the faces of both his aunt and his cousin appearing before him. "Raijin, he tortured her to death."
Riumi stayed quiet, as she did not know what she was supposed to say there. They never found a body. I know, that's what the reports say though from the kids who heard Raijin that night-
"Not for information on me or anything," Zach continued quieter. "He knew she didn't have that. Same with my cousin, Tsura. He just… wanted them to hate me before he killed them. So he tortured them until they did."
"I'm sure they just told him that to…" Riumi started, but Zach lifted his head and looked in her eyes with a dark expression. He shook his head, and Riumi paused as she did not know if she could finish that in a convincing tone. The look in his eyes told her that he knew better, and she imagined that the two who were being tortured likely did hate whoever was responsible by the end of it. "I'm sorry," the officer finished, instead of trying to convince him further.
Zach nodded at her condolences then pocketed his new bank card. I'll check how much is in it later. I doubt it's a lot, but it's more than enough. Aunt Maye, Tsura, I love you. And I'm so sorry.
"Once I get back to the hospital, am I free to check out and leave?" Zach questioned the officers in the front of the vehicle.
The driver glanced to his side but refocused on the road as a light turned yellow up ahead. Riumi glanced back to the boy again after just turning away, and she began, "There's still the matter of the press conference. A real one," she added, as she had heard about the spontaneous one he did earlier. "The one you were meant to do with the prime minister as soon as you were released from prison…" Riumi hesitated at the boy's expression that looked unexcited and disdainful as to what she was saying. She continued after a second, "Prime Minister Nikko is scheduling a new one for once you are released from the hospital, so the fact that you were suddenly missing made him very concerned…"
I'll definitely have enough money to buy some new clothes. I'll need several sets. Normal clothes, winter wear- I'm sure there'll be some colder weather in the rest of January and February for me. Some shorts and a bathing suit, a lot of black, I'll need some different disguises for just walking around normally. A lot of makeup. A cellphone and a data plan, a motorcycle maybe? I should probably walk or fly places. It's too risky having a vehicle I'd have to check the inside of every time I let it out of my sight for a bomb planted in it. Then rent, for wherever it is I'm going to be staying. It's only four months for a final term of whatever hero school I go to. Four months of not working and not getting paid, but I'm sure if this really was a college fund then there'll be enough for four months of food and living expenses in the account, along with whatever other expenses I may need.
"It's not going to happen," Zach said, shaking his head when Riumi finished talking.
"Huh?" She questioned. It slipped out more than she actually considered what he just said, as he said it in a very flat-out voice like it was not up for debate even though she had not been giving him much of a choice at what she was just describing. "You, have to-"
"No I don't," Zach said. He looked past Riumi and out the windshield of the cop car, "I would have had to do it on my way out of Tartaros with the stage already set up and everyone waiting for me, but I don't want to now. And I don't have to," he added with a shrug of his left shoulder, looking back to Riumi to see if she was going to counter with a law or something. She just looked confused though and then started trying to think of how she could counter what he just said. "I don't know what he wants me to have a press conference with him for, but you can tell the prime minister this…"
"What do you mean he said no?!" Prime Minister Nikko exclaimed at the police captain reporting what he had been told by the officer who took Zach Sazaki back to his hospital in Rairosu earlier.
"Well, Zach Sazaki gave several reasons that he declined the request-"
"I wasn't making a request," the prime minister began, shaking his head at the police captain and getting a deep frown on his face. "What does Lifebringer think he's doing?!" Nikko snapped. The blond man's wife walked around the side of his new desk to her husband who was shaking angrily and in confusion at what he was hearing.
The older police captain cleared his throat as Mrs. Nikko brushed her husband's shoulder and tried to soothe him. "The thing is, Sazaki made some good points. As he is not technically yet a hero, he is not subject to a summons by you, the prime minister." Nikko stared at the captain with his angry look lifting up and getting replaced with solely confusion now. The captain continued, "He also added… that he doesn't 'suck up' to anyone."
"What's that supposed to mean?" Nikko snapped, though he was also hesitant while asking it.
"He said that he was grateful to be released, but that he 'hoped' there was nothing expected of him in return for his full pardon." The police captain hesitated more while both the prime minister and his wife started giving him more hesitant and even nervous looks. "Sazaki said that he hoped he was let out because it was the right thing to do, not so that he could give political favors-"
"That's not-"
"He didn't suggest it was," the captain continued quickly as Nikko got to abruptly defending himself. "He just said that, if he were to go to a press conference with you, then he would feel it was just a charade to show everyone that he was supporting the prime minister. Sazaki said that since he does not know you, nor your intentions for releasing him, that he would not agree to something like that… though he added that he believed you pardoned him because you thought he deserved to be out of prison."
"That is exactly it," Nikko stated firmly, nodding at the police captain though still with a frown on his face.
Riumi was shaken, and that's not easy to do. Captain Usagi thought while nodding back at the prime minister. I'm paraphrasing her report here. Lifebringer suggested without really claiming it was true, that the prime minister could have been abusing his power by promising to release him just so that people would elect him. A lot of people in the country already consider that might be true and he used it as a political tool, but if he tried to keep using his support for Lifebringer to stay popular after being elected, Sazaki was not having any of that. "He told me, 'There should have been no ulterior motives for releasing me from prison.' He almost sounded upset that he was released early, though he said he accepted it because our justice system has a provision for pardons by the top executive…"
"If I may, sir," Usagi mentioned again after pausing for a moment. The prime minister's response sounded sincere to him if still angry, and Nikko's expression showed he was pissed about this outcome that made Usagi feel the need to continue. "I do not suggest attempting to hold a press conference even after Sazaki receives a provisional license, if he does succeed in acquiring one. If you force him to be there, just for him to have that same attitude," the captain trailed off but was suggesting it might not be what Nikko was hoping for by trying so hard to get this joint press conference thing working out.
"Thank you for your advice, Captain Usagi. You may go now," Nikko nodded in a respectful way at the officer who was older than him, then he motioned back at the door to his office. The room was large and had bookshelves on the sides, windows behind the desk, and a large fancy carpet on the floor designed with a topographic map of Japan over the Japanese flag. Nikko waited for Usagi to walk out of the room, then his fists clenched and he turned, stepping to his desk and nearly slamming his right down on top of it. Right before his fist hit though, he stopped and opened it up, curling his fingers into the top of the desk instead with a frustrated look covering his face.
"Kaizo," Enri began. She stepped up to her husband's back and rested a hand on his mid-back that she rubbed up and down. The woman was shorter than her husband by a couple of inches, she had brick-red hair that fell just to the top of her shoulders, and a bland yet pretty face with a smile on it for when her husband looked to the side at her. "He's still a child, and it's clear why he might be paranoid."
"But I released him," Kaizo Nikko retorted back at his wife. "If I was a villain, someone trying to abuse my power- why would I let Lifebringer out? If he just thinks about that for a second- rgg," Nikko growled and he curled his hand into a fist to press his knuckles on the wood of his desk. I had a plan! This isn't how his release was supposed to go!
"Lifebringer's just trying to make sure he's not being used as someone else's pawn," Enri contended. "He doesn't know you," she added, and she smiled more as her husband turned to face her with is hands loosening up. "Once he sees the kind of man you are for himself, and he has a hero license so he can't decline…" she lifted the left corner of her lips higher in a suggestive smirk, and Kaizo finally smiled too at what she was saying. "Then I'm sure things will go well. We had a great run with no hiccups," she added, and she brought her hand up from her husband's back to his shoulder. "But no one said this way going to be easy."
The prime minister let out a long breath and calmed himself down. "You're right," he said, and he brought his arms up and held his wife by the outsides of her upper arms. He squeezed in a gentle way and added while leaning forwards, "Like always." She laughed, then Kaizo pulled his wife into a brief kiss. He pulled back after and let go, turning back to his desk and steadying his expression while running a hand over the top of it. His small smile lowered back down into a frown as his gaze rose from his hand that stopped moving on his desk. His eyes rose to the windows behind his chair, and he glared through the glass and into the city of Tokyo. Lifebringer…
A/N Thanks for reading. Hope you enjoyed! Gonna be a short rant here in case you want to skip. Sorry it's been a couple of weeks. Still working on my thesis (way past due at this point), and I'm going to be working on later drafts and then my defense of it for the rest of the semester. I do have the next chapter finished up already though, so expect that one soon! Been procrastinating something fierce lately, and not just with Death, but I went to NOLA for Mardi Gras this weekend which was a lot of fun. Drunkenly catching beads and flashing my tits- I mean, having a wholesome cultural experience. ;) Anyway, I'll try getting the next chapter up sooner than this last one. I also have Japanese class starting in 12 minutes from now, so review responses probs going to have to be cut short below. Leave a review telling me what you think of this chapter though, and any questions (not that I'm going to answer) and predictions for what's coming!
diddles321 chapter 141 . Feb 21
Thank the gods it finally feels like shits getting real Again. Will you go back to your crazy update speed of 1-2 a day? Thanks for the chapter!
Zach is back to the BNHA world, with lots more characters to interact with, again! As for that update speed... sorry 'bout that. Probably get another out tomorrow, but it's going to be sporadic from here forward for at least a while. Thanks for the review!
lolmyster42 chapter 141 . Feb 22
The words "truth" and "lie" have all lost meaning to me thanks to Zach.
XD At this point, I've made it so you guys can't trust me nor can you trust Zach. Which I think is great (if evil), lol thanks for reviewing and hope you enjoyed the chapter!
Todorokiii chapter 141 . Feb 22
They finally reunited. Our wish finally came true. I find it very cute that Zach can't pretend infront of Momo, the only part where I was able to figure that Zach showed his real self. To be honest, I was having a hard time lately trying to determine which is true or not since his classmates also thinks that Zach being shot was a part of his plan. I do wonder what will happen to Zach, I believe he will successfully be a hero like he wanted even though I dont want him to be a hero again, but hey it must be a part of his plan. And they will see his skills, y'all. Looking forward for that. But then again, Zach is better off to be Death. Do hope that Zach and Kaminari meets each other again, and boy it must be epic, and ofc AFO and other major villains. Looking forward for the next chapter. Hehe
I love how you guys are trying to figure out what Zach's up to and what he's really thinking beneath all the lies and deceit. It's awesome and I'm loving all the predictions! Won't say much about what's coming or about those interactions he's had, but I'm glad you're looking forward to what's coming, and thanks for the review!