Chapter 15 Lightning Serenade
The zoo was fantastic. More amazing than any of them had imagined it would be.
Shinsou was expecting a boring day, wandering around without any friends. Or worse: being the unwilling tag-along to an uninterested group that the teacher forced to include Shinsou. Shinsou had sighed in resignation, sorry for whoever was being stuck with the new kid, and was pleasantly surprised that Denki stood there, staring at him like a deer in headlights. Shinsou had a small moment of self-doubt, that Denki wouldn't want to be seen with a boy that he had met in a mental institution and that their friendship was only supposed to last for the duration of their stay, but those thoughts were completely erased when Kaminari lunged forward without hesitation and squeezed Shinsou like he had just saved him or something.
And to Kaminari, Shinsou did save him. Kaminari no longer had to worry about spending the field trip making sure to keep an active eye on his friend group so that they didn't leave him stranded the second he got distracted by an animal exhibit. When Kaminari had stared at the lions a little too long, he frantically looked around, expecting to see that Shinsou and Monoma had walked off on their own, but they were still there, just as intrigued by the lions as he was. He wondered if they looked at the lions and were listing the similarities to Monoma like he had been. That is where Monoma's codename, Raion, had come from, after all. When Kaminari got lost in thought watching the penguins, and he looked left and right after a few minutes without seeing his companions, his heart dropped down into his stomach. When he turned around though, Monoma and Shinsou were just on the other side of the exhibit, having back-tracked back to the seals. They didn't leave him the whole time, not even to duck around the corner and play a prank to make him think that they had left him. It was the best field trip ever.
Monoma was hoping that Kaminari and Shinsou would end up being there, too, with it being a popular destination for the local schools and with the zoo being closed to the public in the interest of attracting more schools. He didn't expect for them to come to his rescue at the same time, ready to jump in and act as a team to get him out of an annoying situation that he had found himself in. Monoma noticed his classmates actively avoiding him, even more so after they saw Shinsou next to him.
Monoma wouldn't admit it to Shinsou, but he basically became the new Shinsou of the class. Everyone had always been so paranoid of Shinsou and his quirk, but now that he was gone, but his soulmate who also happened to have the ability to copy quirks was still around, they avoided him. Monoma figured that it had more to do with them being afraid of retaliation against them for how they had treated his soulmate before they knew they were bonded, and he would be correct. They didn't actively target Monoma, but he was excluded more often than he had been previously, which was still a lot. As far as Monoma was concerned, he already had two strikes against him. One was his own quirk that could copy anyone else's (except mutation quirks, of course). Two was his soulmate bond to someone that the class had always feared since learning of his quirk a year and a half ago when Shinsou was first transferred to Katsuhhiko Middle School.
Monoma didn't even really mind it, really. He felt a little heroic, actually, being able to suffer in silence and experience what Shinsou must have felt, minus an obnoxious blonde always trying to instigate him, of course, but there was no substitute for the enigma that was Monoma Neito.
Monoma was really happy that he found Kaminari and learned his full name and other personal details that they weren't allowed to share on the unit. He felt like he found a good friend and he was lucky that he found him again so quickly. He obviously just had to invite Kaminari to his birthday party that was happening in a few weeks.
"Me?" Kaminari asked dumbly, mind going blank at the unexpected invite.
Kaminari felt stupid and expected a response of either 'who else would I be talking to' or even a 'never mind.'
"It wouldn't be a party without you," Monoma insisted, holding steady eye contact with Kaminari until he gave him an answer.
"I would love to!" Kaminari gushed. "But I'll have to ask my parents if I'm allowed."
"I'll send your invitation with Hitoshi, and he can give it to you in school, if that's okay," Monoma stated, already planning on the logistics and knowing how some parents can be. If you don't have an invitation, some parents think that you weren't really invited.
"That's perfect! Mine is at the end of June, and of course both of you will be invited!" Kaminari exclaimed, a skip in his step as they walked to the next exhibit, more attention on each other than the animals for the moment.
"Really?" Shinsou asked, glancing at Kaminari as they walked. "Mine is on July 1st."
"No way!" Kaminari squealed. "Mine is June 29th! We're two days away from being twins!"
"You'll have to tell me which weekend you're having yours, and I'll ask my foster parents if I can have my birthday party the next weekend," Shinsou said, already smiling at the thought of two weekends in a row being taken up by spending time with his friends and eating a bunch of cake and ice cream.
"How are your foster parents?" Monoma asked, turning the conversation to a more serious note.
Kaminari remembered that Shinsou had told him that he hadn't even had a chance to talk to Monoma about the transfer.
"They're actually really nice," Shinsou admitted with a shrug. "They seem a little uneasy, but I think that's because I'm their first foster kid and not specifically because of my quirk." Shinsou barked out a laugh at the thought before adding, "I haven't even seen the muzzle since I was dropped there yesterday. Usually, they like to have it out as a precaution, like a warning, if not make me wear it until I 'earn' their trust that I won't use my quirk on them."
When Shinsou didn't get a response, he looked over at his companions to find that they were still walking in line with him, and he didn't lose them. Instead of a reply, though, they were both looking over at him with a shocked, sad look on their faces.
"Oh, no! Don't even start—" Shinsou tried to warn but was cut off by the force of the hug from the duo, squeezing him as hard as they could from either side.
After a few minutes, Shinsou laughingly fought his way out of it, and Kaminari and Monoma were feeling a little bit better, too.
"Sorry," Shinsou apologized, rubbing the back of his neck. "Sometimes I forget that what I go through isn't normal."
"Stop," Monoma commanded, holding out a hand to reinforce the idea that Shinsou should stop talking.
Kaminari enthusiastically nodded beside Monoma, encouraging Shinsou to hear them out.
"You can tell us anything at any time. I'm your soulmate, Hitoshi," Monoma reprimanded.
"And I'm your best friend!" Kaminari added with a stomp, trying to match Monoma's dramatics.
"Best friend?" Monoma asked, whipping around to focus his intense stare on Kaminari and giving Shinsou a much-needed break from the intensity. "I want to be your best friend, too!" he demanded.
"I thought we already were!" Kaminari yelled, stomping his foot, and throwing his hands in the air.
Kaminari couldn't hold up the dramatics for long, though. Seconds after, he broke down into laughter.
"You're soulmates, so you'll just have to share me as your best friend," Kaminari said matter-of-factly.
Kaminari was so comfortable with the two that he didn't even beat himself up over his cocky statement. Normally, he might think that he assumed the wrong thing and was acting overly confident, but that thought didn't even cross his mind. It probably helped that he didn't even get time to second-guess or doubt himself because his best friends were right there, hemming and hawing, and finally agreeing that maybe they could both have Kaminari as a best friend.
"Just remember that we established our best friendship first," Shinsou quipped before quickly walking away toward the next exhibit and pretending to be fascinated with the animals within.
Truthfully, though, Monoma had his full attention as he watched him in the reflection of the glass, mouth gaping and looking back and forth between Shinsou and Kaminari. Monoma would never admit it out loud, but he kind of liked the way that Kaminari was rubbing off on Shinsou. He liked the cheeky, sassy retorts and the swift exit that left no room for argument. Kaminari was thinking the same thing about how Monoma must be rubbing off on Shinsou. And Shinsou was just so happy that he felt comfortable enough to actually let his personality start to shine through instead of hiding behind quiet obedience. Yeah, with Shinsou's new school being Kaminari's, and his new foster placement already starting out so well, and his soulmate and best friend spending the day with him, he was pretty sure that that was the best day of his life so far.
Luckily for Shinsou, he was going to have a lot of best days ever going forward with Kaminari and Monoma working hard to make every single day even better than the last with the common goal of making every new day Shinsou's new favorite.
Kaminari's friend group spotted them after they just got out of the concession stand line with their ice cream and decided to see what was keeping Kaminari from sneaking around behind them and trailing after them the whole field trip.
"Hi guys!" Kaminari greeted, just as cheerfully as ever, like his friends weren't actively trying to make him feel bad. "This is Shinsou, he's new to our school. And this is my other friend, Monoma."
"Oh, I'd love to stay and chat, but we were just off to see the zebras," the ringleader of the friend group said, turning on his heel, obviously hoping that Kaminari would follow along with them, and not even really caring if he let the strays follow along, too.
"Uh… zebras are that way…" Shinsou offered, pointing in the correct direction.
Monoma and Kaminari laughed, pleasantly surprised that witty Shinsou seemed to be sticking around. The trio then wandered off toward their next destination, leaving Kaminari's friend group behind, wondering what the hell had just happened. When had Kaminari ever been so relaxed and comfortable in such a small group of friends? His friend group had only ever seen him be more confident in the middle of large groups, so they did not understand why he seemed to be so at ease and comfortable within the little trio. And how could they? They only saw what they wanted to see. They saw Kaminari as a stupid little boy who they allowed to tag along for comedic relief. He was annoying and stupid and was always talking about off-topic things.
But now that he was spending time with other people, the group was sorely lacking on topics of conversation. Their silences spread out awkwardly between chats and no laughter, that was usually either with or at Kaminari, was bubbling throughout the group like it usually did. They had thought that they were doing Kaminari a favor, but it seemed that Kaminari was the glue that kept the large friendship group going for so long.
By the end of the field trip, Kaminari's friend group was rolling their eyes and scowling at each other, annoyed with the lack of interesting conversation. They didn't even have the common courtesy to ask questions to engage the conversation and keep the topics flowing from one to another like Kaminari did.
By the end of the field trip, Kaminari was feeling grateful to have two close best friends, and he wondered why he always felt the need to have large friend groups when Monoma and Shinsou filled every second of his day with happy memories.
By the end of the field trip, Shinsou was even more confident in his new position in life, especially now that he had his soulmate and best friend to talk to, even about his tragic time in foster care if he felt like it, and they wouldn't make it awkward or guilt trip him for it. Sure, they might send some sad eyes his way and squeeze the breath out of him, but that was nothing he couldn't handle. Actually, it was kind of exactly what he needed.
By the end of the field trip, Monoma wished that he was going to Shinsou's and Kaminari's school, too, because he could imagine all of the mischief that the trio could cause if they were to spend every school day together. That was a lot of hours for a lot of scheming and just plain messing around with people he enjoyed the company of. Monoma had never felt so lucky before. His family was wealthy, but he had already learned that money can't buy a soulmate or a best friend. He was so grateful and would hold on tight and never let go.