REVISED (YYYY/MM/DD) : 2020/09/29

CHAPTER THREE - PART ONE

I'm Kaminari Denki Now (2)

Denki didn't notice it himself, but he never once addressed the man as 'Otousan'. But the man had and it made his guilt worse. The boy, his son's words rang in his ears and was unstoppable.

"Are you… Are you going to hurt me…?" His son asked, he was gripping tightly on the wooden frames. His golden orbs lit up in the darkness, a similar pair of golden orbs he sees in the mirror all the time. The fear, distrust, and bewilderment in the gaze were overwhelming.

"I- I don't believe you…! If you don't have bad intentions, w- why did you come at midnight? Wh- why didn't you turn on the lights?" That was a deep stab. The boy was right. If his thought had been just, he wouldn't be sneaky just to come back to his own house.

"W- Why are you taking the form of that man? T- That's a bad choice, I tell you! R- Rather than him, y- you should have taken Tsubaki-san's appearance!" His son was pale, shivering, and anxious. It was as clear as day.

"D- Don't you know that h- he doesn't l- live here? His h- home is somewhere else, he p- probably already has a fa- family too! I k- know for sure t- that he hasn't come here for seven months!"

He was dumbfounded by the boy's assumptions, also from the fact that the boy realized that he hadn't been visiting for the last seven months. 'How?'

Yuugo remembered how his son - it hurts to see him because he's the spitting image of his beloved wife - looked as he contemplated jumping out the windows while thinking that his house was infiltrated by a kidnapper who was targeting him. His utterly trembling and scared figure… he doesn't think he's capable of getting rid of the image.

The fear in his gaze, the fear he could see in his late wife's gaze when her water broke as she worried whether their child would be born safely with her weak constitution. Yuugo felt suffocated.

The finishing blow was what came after that.

"I have to take care of myself that's why please don't go after me, Kidnapper-san! I don't want to be captured and have my organs sold and I don't want to have sex," his son was crying and outright sobbing at this point. He was stuttering his words but Yuugo could hear him just fine and his entire body had gone cold and stiff. "You can take whatever from the house but not me, okay? If I die, okaasan in heaven will surely be upset because she gave up on everything so I can be here!"

Yuugo staggered. He didn't have energy left to stand upright, so he crouched down.

'What have I done? How am I different from a villain at this point? I made our son insecure, I made him think he can rely on no one except himself when he is only four years old!' he thought, bile rising up his throat. His stomach had been churning, his heart had been throbbing, and he wanted to throw up. He would if not by his son's next words.

"Um… Mr. Kidnapper? The… stomach medicine is in the drawer inside the closet…"

He felt like he had to do something. He has to, no matter how painful it is just to see the boy. He felt like he would be gutted and gutted again by his wife in the afterlife if he ran away now.

.

.

"Now that you understand that I'm in fact not a kidnapper, I want you to know that I never had any intention to harm you physically or mentally," Yuugo said. "I just… feel like seeing you today."

Denki looked toward him, startled. "Huh?"

"And while I do live elsewhere, I don't have a lover, or family that is not you," he said, his gaze was firm. "I don't live here neither because I hate nor am indifferent about you, it's simply because seeing your face which is the spitting image of Sachi's is painful."

Seeing the blank look on his son's face felt strange. It's a familiar expression on Sachi's face, but Yuugo didn't hate it.

"Umm…" His son tried to speak up. Yuugo shook his head and smiled a little. He felt heavy inside, but he had no intention of forcing his son to do anything, to be anything, in front of him. He knew very well that he had no right.

"I'm not asking for your forgiveness. I'm saying all this because I know how much I messed up earlier and I wanted to at least apologize for scaring you horribly."

"Ah… I understand," Denki murmured. "I'm sorry too for calling you stuff…"

He shook his head again, smiling lightly. "Don't say that. Your reaction is the correct one. It's always good to have wariness, Denki."

After a momentary silence, he spoke up again.

"I usually checked up on you around this time when I know you're sleeping, but it's true that I haven't been able to do that lately because of work. I didn't know that you sleep lightly now either. If I do, I would have found another way," he confessed, feeling guilty again.

"Um… so… you have another home…?" Denki asked after a moment of silence.

Yuugo looked up from where he's crouching. "I do."

"And you don't have a girlfriend, lover, or a child other than me?"

"I swear I don't, not that I know of."

Denki looked confused.

"I'm pretty popular."

Denki's cheeks were pink. "O- oh? I see…" the boy said awkwardly.

"I'm kidding." His gaze softened as he lowered it to the floor in front of him. Denki's awkwardness and easily flustered self were very much similar to Sachi too. "Anyway, can you close the windows now? Isn't my explanation enough to assure you that I will bring you no harm?"

The boy turned his head around and looked down. "Mm… I will close the windows… but please stay there…?" His son requested.

The man felt his heart being clenched. Nonetheless, he nodded. "I won't enter your room until you give me permission."

The boy looked at him carefully, his gaze was searching.

"... alright then."

After the windows were closed, Denki didn't move from his desk.

"Um… can I ask what your job is…? Tsubaki-san told me okaasan was an engineer, but when I asked about you… she only said that you do a lot of stuff."

Yuugo pondered.

"It's alright if I'm better off not knowing about it…"

"No, well… it's not really something to hide. You see, I work at a hero agency as a sidekick," he said. "I'd like it if you keep it to yourself for your own safety."

"I understand."

He interlaced his fingers. He's starting to feel nervous about his son's reaction with the things he's about to say.

.

.

"About me… there's not many days off in my line of work. In short, I'm always busy. And you know now that I really do think of you as my son. It's my fault though that you don't feel the same way haha…"

He looked to Denki in his eyes, to his son's glowing golden orbs that very much like his. Why didn't Tsubaki tell him that Denki inherited his quirk too? It's vexing, but he doesn't have the right to ask the boy about that. And there's a high chance that the boy didn't tell the woman since it isn't harmful.

Denki looked nervous again. His gaze was conflicted, Yuugo realized. The man wondered if his words were burdening his own son. Although it would be nice, he didn't wish for his son to feel forced to go along with him.

"I'm busy saving other people even though my own son is neglected here and I'm avoiding my son because of my cowardice. Despite all this, can I come and visit you, Denki? Can we spend time together once in a while? I… I realize today that more than the painful ones, I want to remember all my good memories with Sachi."

Denki's eyes widened, and his lips parted.

For a long time, they stayed like that. Yuugo, crouching in front of his son's bedroom, and Denki, sitting on top of his desk on the other side of the room.

"I… you… o- o- otou… ghh…" the blonde managed with so much difficulty, his face was scrunched and there was sadness and guilt and frustration in his eyes and force in his tone, "Yuugo-san can come and visit this house anytime you want. The master bedroom is yours, and Tsubaki-san always cleans it every single day," he said, looking anywhere but to him.

There was sadness and guilt in Yuugo's eyes too.

"And I… Denki doesn't feel hatred or indifference towards Yuugo-san too. Although Denki doesn't remember ever meeting Yuugo-san in person," that stabbed really deeply, "Denki doesn't hate Yuugo-san. Denki… he feels lonely. He knows Sachi-san loved him because she carried him in her stomach for so many months, it's unreasonable to go so far for someone she disliked Denki right? But Denki always wondered if Yuugo-san despised him.

"Yuugo-san gives him a place to sleep and hires Tsubaki-san so he is always clean and full and well-rested, but Yuugo-san is never around on Christmas, New Years, summer festivals, birthdays, and grave visits… Denki thought Yuugo-san thinks of Denki as obligation, not family. Denki doesn't expect a lot of Yuugo-san nowadays so he doesn't know how to think, how to act, and how to treat Yuugo-san. We are tied by blood… but Denki finds it really hard to address Yuugo-san properly…"

'I never once thought of Denki as obligation,' Yuugo thought. It was the one thing he is sure of.

"I'm sorr-

"No," Yuugo interrupted. "Don't apologize for something that isn't your fault. I should be the one to keep apologizing, over and over again."

He let out a long breath.

"Being called Yuugo-san is still pretty nice of you," Yuugo said softly. His words were sincere. "But there's something that has been bothering me. You're four years old right?"

"Denki is four years old," the boy spoke up. After a moment, the boy looked to his lap. Yuugo saw the conflict in the boy's golden orbs. Yuugo couldn't possibly expect the bomb Denki was going to drop on him.

… … … The man couldn't possibly.

"But seven months ago, Denki woke up with another person's memories."

… … … 'Um… what now?'

.

.

He blinked. "What?" It escaped his lips before he could stop it.

"I'm Denki, I remember everything as Denki…" he clarified weakly, "but for some reason, I also remember being someone else. That person who had died after being hit by a truck… had lost his parents too. That's why I thought it's fine even if Yuugo-san has family elsewhere too… That person has lived by himself for a while, so I thought I can do something similar… until someone entered my home around midnight."

"I was really really scared. I realized I'm not that person who was already an adult…" Denki ended his rant before looking towards Yuugo who was stupefied. "Denki isn't a normal child. Yuugo-san doesn't need to force yourself to make me comfortable…"

Yuugo snapped into attention, completely disagreeing to Denki's assumption.

'But I'm not… Denki and Sachi were all I have… now that Sachi is not around, Denki is…'

Yuugo's eyes hardened.

"Psh, what exactly is 'normal'? Normal is overrated. Compared to being not a normal child, I'm the world's most pathetic and disgraceful father. We all know which one is preferable."

The blonde was unseeing. He was completely shocked to the core, as if he had prepared himself to get rejected all along.

"What was that about another person's memories? That's fine. I was only asking because you're so mature even though you're a four year old child anyways. Besides, I've seen a lot of strange things over the years, things so much stranger and unnerving than that." His lips curled down.

"And didn't I say it? We're family! Sachi was the only woman I have ever loved and you're the child born out of our love! There's no way what I feel for our son is anywhere close to obligation!"

"It hurts that you speak and look as if you're sure that I will cut our ties from something so trivial. Sure it's hard to see you, but I have never once thought I didn't want you! I was so happy out of my mind when Sachi told me about your existence, you know?"

That's the truth, the truth he had forgotten after Sachi passed away. He had been blinded by grief and despair to remember the good times, the good memories.

"Even now… I want to hug you so bad, Denki! But I don't want to make you scared or worse, hate me, so I'm still crouching down here with my hands where I can see them."

The boy stared at him with a dumbfounded expression. Yuugo saw the boy swallowing thickly, his eyes watering.

.

.

"Is it okay…?" The boy asked meekly. "Is it really okay even though there's more than your son inside of this body? Is it okay even though I'm not really four years old?"

Yuugo's gaze was steady. "Are you not my son?"

The man was feeling confused and uneasy now.

The boy heaved his shoulders. "I d- don't know anymore… I think I am, I remember everything… b- but that person lived four times more than me… he died when he's twenty two… compared to him, Denki's life is so overshadowed I don't know who I am anymore…"

Yuugo processed everything he heard from the moment he was mistaken as a kidnapper to this moment. He recounted everything properly and asked what he felt about it. In the end, his thoughts about the matter didn't change. Then again, it was his fault. It's not like he knows what Denki was like eight months ago. He only checks up on Denki when he's sleeping.

"Can I go there?"

The boy looked as if he's going to refuse, but in the end, he nodded instead of shaking his head.

So Yuugo stood up for the first time after what seemed like forever, and went to his child's body. His son, Kaminari Denki. He easily picked the boy up in his arms, the boy was so very light it was unbelievable that such a person tried something so suicidal. He then sat down on the chair near the desk, placed the boy on his lap, before embracing him.

After a long moment of silence, the boy asked again, "Is it fine to be here…?"

Yuugo couldn't answer immediately. After all, what can be done if the person mentioned really had taken over his child's body? There's nothing that could be done. That child is dead, he has nowhere to return to. He's Denki now. What can he do about it? Killing his own child to try to see if Denki from before seven months ago will return? He doubted he would feel anything other than regret after doing that. Besides…

"It's okay. It's fine," he said without hesitation. "My son becoming aware of everything that child has gone through in his short life means that your souls resonate with each other. For all I know, that child and my child are actually one person who lived in a different timeline. I can think like this because… Denki, you… you don't feel unfamiliar. Your expressions are so like Sachi's, and your attitude and the way you talk are so much like me haha…" he chuckled before patting his head.

"I'm sure you're my child," he said quietly, sincerely. "I'm confident that you're Denki, that Denki is inside here," he said, poking the boy's chest. "I'm Denki's father. I'd recognize my child."

Probably.

Well.

He can't have the boy Sachi gave birth to and one that looks like her committing suicide or having identity crisis. Yup. Besides, he's sure of everything except the last bit. Everything will be alright.

Seeing Denki broke into tears and becoming a sobbing mess as he clutched to Yuugo's front, there wasn't any other way of going about it anyway.

Yuugo's embrace around his son's warm body tightened. He had done so many wrongs in the last four years. He should be the one getting a grip. 'What have I been doing? I can't continue like this. For Denki and that child who I still don't know the name of… I have to be more firm and decisive. I'm not a teenager anymore who can run away from responsibilities.'

Seeing the crying face of his child cemented his determination. 'I need to remember that I was the one who agreed to have a child with Sachi. I totally forgot about that.'

.

.

"From now on, I will drop as often as I can and we will spend time together as a family," He murmured.

Denki sniffed. "Y- you don- don't have to…"

"I don't have to," Yuugo agreed, "But I want this, so I will do it. You don't hate me, right?"

Denki shook his head. "Neither Denki nor I hated you, even though both of us couldn't address anybody by 'otousan'... I'm sorry…!"

Yuugo rubbed the boy's back soothingly. His back was tiny. "I understand. I will wait until you're ready to call me your father, Denki and…?"

The boy stiffened, Yuugo could feel it clearly because he had his palm on the boy's back.

"...ei."

"Hm?"

"That person's name was Rei… but please don't address me by that name. That person's time has ended and only his memories are left in this world. I'm not that person," His son said, looking up to him seriously with a clear and cloudless gaze.

"I understand," Yuugo said.

They stayed like that for a long while before a yawn escaped Denki's lips. Yuugo glanced at the clock and saw how late it was. 'What a night,' he thought again.

"Come, let's get you tucked in. This is no time for a child to be awake."

He couldn't place the boy down because the boy was clutching to him tightly. "... are you leaving? It's fine if it's no good, but if it's not much of a problem, I'd like to sleep with you, Yuugo-san."

His eyes widened and his lips twitched in bemusement. "Hey now, did you forget I tried to kidnap you?"

Through half-lidded eyes the words that came out of the child's lips shook Yuugo from the core.

"If it's you… I'd like to be kidnapped if it's you, Yuugo-san… Talking with you was fun and I'm really thankful that you accepted me. There was nobody… I had nobody who was on my side… not as Denki, not as Rei. And this house…" the boy buried his face on Yuugo's shoulder.

"Rei lived alone and it was lonely, but this house… It's bigger and feels empty and lonelier. If I can, I'd sleep from dusk to dawn, but I can't… and everything here is so big and overwhelming that most of the time after Tsubaki-san left, all I do is lock the place, hide under my blanket, and read until I feel sleepy."

"I was scared before, but now that I know Yuugo-san is not going to hurt me, I'm glad you're here. I really do. So please… will you stay with me until I'm asleep, Yuugo-san?"

How can he say no after that?

"I coincidentally have a day off tomorrow. Tsubaki cleans the master bedroom, right? Come, the bed there is much bigger than yours."

Denki's eyes widened. "Really? I didn't expect you'd say yes," he mumbled. "Is it really okay? What if you get an emergency call?"

"If that happens, I'll leave after returning you to your bed of course. But it should be okay."

.

.

The man carried him in his strong arms and gently placed him down on the king-sized bed before taking off his shirt and pants and took out a pair of pajama pants from his wardrobe.

Yuugo wore the pants and turned around, only to see his four year old son buried in the blanket he brought along from his bed, leaving only his eyes and small tufts of blonde hair left. It was an utterly adorable sight. The boy was still awake though looking like he's about to sleep any moment now.

"I'm surprised. I heard your quirk manifested three days ago, but I didn't see any sign of it."

Denki pulled down the part of the blanket that covered his mouth. "I'm still consciously controlling it… I've been suppressing it all the time while being conscious. That's why I need my blanket. I may hurt you when I'm unconscious, Yuugo-san."

"Ehh… it's going to be alright," Yuugo said easily, climbing up the bed and embracing his boy.

"Wha-

"Sachi and I were childhood friends. I can handle being electrocuted for a bit also because of my quirk. No biggie."

Denki was still trying to wrestle out of his embrace, the only result was loosening the blanket that wrapped around him. "B- But-

"Hey, you wanna be able to do it unconsciously too right? I'll wake you up if you sting me. Think of this as training, yeah?"

After a moment, Denki didn't stay shy. He returned his embrace tightly too. "S- since you offered, you know…"

"Haha… such a cute dishonest kid."

Safe to say, Tsubaki went nuts the next day when she couldn't find Denki in his bed. And Denki who woke up easily, woke up from the moment Tsubaki opened the front door and had been trying to wrestle out of Yuugo's embrace for a while. In the end, he woke Yuugo up and Tsubaki had another dose of shock.

Her employer who had never visited openly not only visited, but also stayed the night!

She looked ready to faint there and then.

Author's Note: Look forward to your Follow, Favorite, and Reviews~ See you in the next chapter!